New Orleans
Summer has officially begun and tomorrow is the first day of Hurricane Season. OH JOY! I really mean it. Hurricane evacuations mean a trip to Disneyworld to visit Mickey and all of his pals for us – always a very exciting time in the Dagwood household!
Tink participated in his first dance competition this Saturday. He did well for his first time. He danced with the instructor’s daughter in a two-hand reel and they placed 3rd. He placed 1st in another one of his dances. The competition was held at the Hilton hotel in New Orleans, LA. Driving through the east side brought back many disturbing memories of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. There were countless miles of destroyed homes, apartments, and businesses. My heart goes out to the families who have lost their dwellings and loved ones. I wish them all the best for their future.
After the competition, we went into town to visit some sites – of course, I had more on my list than we could’ve accomplished, plus I left the stroller at home, so I had to put PigPen in the backpack and lug his 40 pounds around!
I asked for directions to Mardi Gras World before we left the hotel, and the bellman told me to take the ferry and then a shuttle bus would be waiting to pick us up once we came off the ferry – I thought, “Wow!” A shuttle would be there for US – how special!
We took the ferry over to an island and there just as the bellman said, was a shuttle waiting for us to board! Nate was the driver and he was quite an interesting character. He told us stories and sang to the passengers old jazz and blues tunes. Mardi Gras World is where they construct all the floats for the parades to be used around Fat Tuesday.
It was a great experience. The boys were able to try on various costumes and then we watched 2 films about Mardi Gras and the founder of Mardi Gras World. A tour throughout one of the hangars followed and ended with Mardi Gras cake and water. We were tired after the tour, so we headed back to the hotel.
On Sunday, again armed with my long list of sites to see, we headed out. The boys wanted to go to the aquarium and outside the aquarium, Home Depot had a kids’ workshop. So the boys detoured and made a wooden boat. The aquarium had only re-opened the day before after suffering extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina. I thought is was a beautiful aquarium – supposedly one of the Top 5 in the nation.
The boys have been swimming everyday – although this seems like a no-brainer for kids, it is very important that my boys become strong and competent swimmers. There are too many variables here at the ocean: an unfortunate caveat to all the sun & fun.
Lucky me – the kids were tired and wanted to head home. So we began our 6 hour journey eastbound. I’ll just keep this list of sites to see and things to do. I was so enchanted with the city, it’s culture and surrounding mysteries, that I feel certain a return trip is imminent.
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