(click here for pictures) When we went to bed last night, Anderson was halfway hanging off of the sleeper sofa so we decided to move him and his sleeping bag on to the floor. Everyone slept well until Campbell woke up at 6 to eat. I didn’t know what time it was and just guessed it was the middle of the night, so I tried to keep her from eating but she would have none of that. As I was getting back into bed, I tried to cover up Anderson but couldn’t find him. Since it was still dark, I started feeling around on the floor for the boy and had no luck. Eventually, I did look back in the sleeper sofa and there he was all cuddled up by Reagan.
Graham woke up just about the time Campbell and I got back to sleep. He laid in bed and talked and talked to us. Once he was quiet, we heard “Let’s go eat some breakfast.” Anderson and Reagan were both sitting up in their bed and he was ready to go to breakfast. Anderson did later ask about who moved him out of the bed. We couldn’t believe that he had found his way back to the bed in the middle of the night! Reagan and Anderson judge our hotel by if they have breakfast. In fact, Reagan wanted to go down the hall last night to eat breakfast! So before 7, we were all dressed and heading down the hall for breakfast. Campbell even managed to spill Reagan’s juice-needless to say our group was the entertainment for the others eating. After waffles, muffins, apples, juice and cereal we were ready to load up and head to New Orleans.
The kids are great car travelers. Graham enjoys getting to sit in the back some and can look through all of the toys in the toy box. And Campbell is just as noisy as ever!-when she is awake! The kids are on a kick about saying that have seen the biggest _______ they have ever seen. We have seen the biggest tractors, biggest bridges, biggest plane, biggest river, biggest cookie…you get the picture! We do believe that they did in fact watch the longest movie ever-it was a Goofy movie over 2 and a half hours long!
This is a conversation between Graham and Dad that has taken place more than once in the van today:
Graham: How do you spell Daddy?
Robby: D…
Graham: How do you spell Mommy?
Robby: M…
Graham: Huh?
Robby: M….
Graham: Can you hear me?
About halfway on today’s drive, we stopped at the “biggest” McDonalds for the kids to play some. They ran off quite a bit of energy and Campbell even got in on the act. We put her on the slide and she would just squeal when the kids came sliding down into her. We were so close to New Orleans and Robby uttered the words “we are making good time” when suddenly the traffic comes screeching to a halt (not really screeching but we did halt). For about an hour, we were in stop and go traffic due to road construction. This took place on a bridge which made the kids think that we were on the “longest” bridge they have ever seen-every time they looked up we were still on the same bridge! Reagan said that we had been on that bridge for hours!
Our aim today was the aquarium but as we were driving towards it, we passed Mothers and since it was on our list and it was also lunchtime we stopped. After finding a parking spot, we loaded up and went in. The line was fairly long but we were able to find a table in the very back. Reagan and Anderson stood in line to order our food with Robby and I entertained Graham who really wanted to be with Robby. The food was delicious-Robby had the Ferdi Special with debris (baked ham, roast beef and roast beef shavings) and I had red beans and rice along with jambalaya. Graham liked my jambalaya and Reagan devoured the red beans and rice. Anderson was pretty interested in the chips but did eat a few bites. For dessert we had the “biggest” cookies the kids had ever seen. When the waitress delivered our food, she was very worried that we didn’t have enough. Made us feel bad-did she think we were poor or starving our kids. We did clean our plates but everyone had plenty!
After lunch, it was a short walk back to the van just to reload and grab the other stroller. We then took the long walk down to the Aquarium. On Fridays this month if you bring a pepsi can to the ticket window, a family of 4 can get into the aquarium for $20. We had to only pay for one more child since Campbell was free and we saved over $40. It would be no surprise but they saw the “biggest” fish they had ever seen. Reagan liked the sea otters and the penguins. Anderson especially loved the slide and Graham saw a frog to climb on and looked to me for the okay to go and he was off. Campbell even enjoyed looking at the fish-she skipped her usual naptime and stayed awake the entire time. We took a break and sat in the food court and watched the ferry and barges float along the Mississippi. After a few more exhibits, we had seen it all and the parking meter was about to expire so we headed back to the car. And as soon as we turned the corner from the Aquarium, we saw the “biggest” train the kids had ever seen. A freight train was traveling right along the street car tracks through town. Since we were trapped, we had to watch it for a few minutes and the boys loved it.
Since we first mentioned coming to New Orleans, I have been telling Graham about getting to ride the trolley. Obviously, in his 2 year old mind that is what we are going to do the whole time we are here. He saw a few and became so excited. He has asked about the trolley a zillion times and I was a little afraid that he was going to meltdown when we told him the trolley was tomorrow. Fortunately, he was calmed quickly with the idea of going swimming.
We checked into our hotel which is very near the airport and unloaded and then suited up for swimming. The water was perfect and we all got in. Once Graham was out of the pool standing near the edge. About that time, we saw a plane flying over the hotel (remember we are RIGHT by the airport). The plane was loud and low!-the “biggest” one they had ever seen. When Graham saw the plane, he was so scared that he dived into the pool! He was soon used to the planes flying overhead, by the time the 6th or 7th plane flew over.
Since we had not had our picnic today, we carried our stuff into the breakfast room and started unpacking. The kids must have been very hungry-grapes, cheese, meat, chips, pita bread, jelly sandwiches-that was just what was eaten before Mom could fix her plate and sit down! After re-reading our story about Jazz music and playing cars it was soon time for bed. The kids crashed since they hadn’t had naps today. Tomorrow, we are headed to the French Quarter.
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