New Orleans Highlights - Part 1

Andy, Sam and I traveled down South at the beginning of July, and had a great time visiting with family and friends. We weren't able to see everyone that I would have liked, but I think we did our best with the time we had. The first place we headed after Mom picked us up at the airport was Morning Call for beignets (at eleven at night). And the last thing we ate before Dad took us to the airport were beignets at the Cafe du Monde in Metairie (or is that Kenner?). I have pictures of neither occasion, but thought I'd let you know where our priorities were.

The first day we visited the New Orleans Children's Museum. Here are Mom and the boys swinging on the porch of Mister Rogers' house.

Andy and Sam scaling the Mississippi River ferry.

Driving the street car....

and a tug boat.
Sam posing as Andrew Jackson in front of St. Louis Cathedral.


And Andy serving some food at the cafe.


My hand on the plasma globe.


We then cooled ourselves off with a snowball. Thanks, Mom!


AND Claire treated us to some ice cream after dinner that night. Thank you, Auntie Claire!

Otto was even able to hop over and join us for a couple days because of a conference in Houston. Yay! Him and Dad enjoying their tasty treats.


The next day we headed to the amusement rides at City Park.

Having fun on the carousel.


Riding the train around the park.

The skyline from the Ferris Wheel. Very pretty!


It was Sam's first ride on a Ferris Wheel! He held my hand and made me feel better when we came up and over the top. :o)

Then the kids played in the nice new fountains in the park, complete with gardens, a beautiful lawn, and lots of big double-sided bench swings.



The fountain was kicking Sophie's long hair up in this shot.


A couple days later we were able to have lunch with Kim, Lupe, Isaac, Nathan, and Gabriel, who were on their way from Texas to move to Georgia. We had a yummy lunch at Deanie's, then a short walkabout. I thought we could walk over and see Lake Pontchartrain, but it proved difficult/perilous, so we settled with checking out the 17th street canal instead. And a parting shot next to a pretty crepe myrtle. (It had been so long since I'd seen one, I forgot what it was called!)

It was the 4th of July, and that evening we headed to Zephyr Stadium to catch a ballgame.


There were fireworks after the game, AND the kids were able to run the bases. Here they were running home!

We also saw our friends Nicole, Wayne, Sullivan, and Harrison at the game for a bit, but had a longer visit the next day at their house. Here are the boys posing with the inlaid street names at the corner by their house.

So I took a picture of their corner, but forgot to take pictures of them. Nicole graciously gave me permission to use this cute picture from her collection.


And more to come later....