On Wednesday we took Kaia to Oschner Hospital to see the nurse that took primary care of her when she was born. Tanek and Betty stayed at the apartment and got their things packed.
Arriving at the hospital was a little strange. It's hard to believe we spent a month of our lives in 2001 standing vigil over our daughter in NICU. Jennifer came out to see us and talked to us for a little while. She is a great nurse and we were so lucky to have her as Kaia's nurse. We discussed how her family faired during the Hurricane last year. The hospital is in good shape and Jennifer told us that it faired well during the storm.
We had lunch and then went to the National D-Day Museum. We could have spent more time there but Betty and the kids were leaving at 3:00pm to head home. I particularly like the 45 minute film they showed. The museum is pretty big and filled with lots of info. The people working in the museum were friendly and helpful.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
New Orleans Part 3
Tuesday we split up for the morning. Betty and I went shopping in the French Quarter (mostly window shopping). Unfortunately many shops were closed (mainly the ones we really wanted to shop in). After walking until we thought we would drop we started looking for lunch. We were in the River Walk but the only restaurants in the River Walk open for business on a Tuesday were the Sushi Bar, and a Mexican Food place. Since neither one of us eat sushi and we weren't particularly in the mood for tacos we left the River Walk to find food elsewhere.
Vins had taken the kids to City Park to play but much of it was closed and not being very well cared for. They drove around and finally found a small park but it also was in need of some maintenance. I guess with loss of money and employees the parks are one of the last places to be maintained. They also had a hard time finding a place to eat. The lines at the fast food restaurants were long so he called us and we had him pick us up. We went back to the apartment and had leftovers for lunch.
We spent the afternoon at the Audubon Aquarium of the America's. We all enjoyed the aquarium more than the zoo. Kaia had only been once when she was a baby so it was a whole new adventure for her. We had a great time and even got to touch a baby shark, a starfi
sh, a horseshoe crab and a sea urchin.
If you are ever in New Orleans the Aquarium is a must see even if you don't have children.
For supper we ate at Bubba Gumps. We were a little disappointed in the food. We were expecting a more southern flavor. At least we got to say Run, Forest, Run!
Vins had taken the kids to City Park to play but much of it was closed and not being very well cared for. They drove around and finally found a small park but it also was in need of some maintenance. I guess with loss of money and employees the parks are one of the last places to be maintained. They also had a hard time finding a place to eat. The lines at the fast food restaurants were long so he called us and we had him pick us up. We went back to the apartment and had leftovers for lunch.
We spent the afternoon at the Audubon Aquarium of the America's. We all enjoyed the aquarium more than the zoo. Kaia had only been once when she was a baby so it was a whole new adventure for her. We had a great time and even got to touch a baby shark, a starfi
sh, a horseshoe crab and a sea urchin.If you are ever in New Orleans the Aquarium is a must see even if you don't have children.
For supper we ate at Bubba Gumps. We were a little disappointed in the food. We were expecting a more southern flavor. At least we got to say Run, Forest, Run!
New Orleans Part 2
Monday morn
ing we drove out to Laura Plantation near Gramercy. The plantation tour was very interesting. The tour guide (her name was Laura) walked us through the main house across the property and through one of the slaves homes. It was about a 50 minute tour. She told us the history of the property as it was passed through the family. She even asked Tanek to ring the dinner bell.The main house is being worked on at this time. A few years ago they had a fire that destroyed a large portion of the house. Even though we couldn't walk through the entire house it was still worth going on the tour. Laura also talked about Creole life and about the architecture of the house.
After the tour we drove back to Gramercy and stopped at the tourist area to eat lunch. They had a nice covered pavilion with picnic tables which was just right for our picnic of sandwiches and chips. They also had a very short nature trail that Vins and the kids walked d
own. When everyone was done we cleaned up our mess and went back to New Orleans.Our next stop was the Imax Theater. We were planning to see "Wild Safari" but they were no longer showing it so we saw "Into the Deep". "Into the Deep" was about ocean life and was in
3-D. Kaia sp
ent most of the movie trying to touch the fish. It was fun to watch the kids experiencing a big screen 3-D movie.Ralph and Kacoo's was our stop for supper. The food was delicious and we ended up taking half of it home in a to-go box.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
New Orleans Part 1
We are back from our week long vacation in New Orleans. We all had a great time. The weekend started off with me, the children and my mother in law sitting in New Orleans traffic for an hour. Not a fun way to start vacation but the kids were pretty good and didn't whine too much. Vinson met us at the apartment later that night after he got off work. He had a quicker trip since he didn't have to sit in traffic.
Arriving the even
ing before gave us a fresh start on Saturday. We woke up and got ready to head to the Audubon Zoo. It was hot but we still had fun seeing the various animals. After a long day of walking in the zoo we went back to the apartment and rested. Later in the evening Vins and his mother went to Pat O'Briens for a hurricane and some piano music then they went to Preservation Hall for some New Orleans Jazz. The kids and I spent the evening reading and resting.
On Sunday we went to Cafe Dumonde for a breakfast of
beignets and chocolate milk. You can't spend a week in New Orleans and not eat a beignet. When we arrived the place was packed. We finally located a table inside. We would have preferred to eat outside but sometimes you take what you can get. This was Tanek and Kaia's first time to have beignets. They loved them and got pretty messy from all of the powdered sugar.
After our heavily sugared breakfast we went to the Odyssey's Shipwreck Treasure Museum. It was advertised mostly towards children. While it was enjoyable we found it to be more for older children. We started off watching a film about the company and some of the treasures they have found. After the film you go through the museum where they have some fun interactive things to do. There were several games that took a lot of reading in order to play so they were a little out of my kids age range. I think the most enjoyable thing about the museum was the hurricane chamber. You step into a small glassed chamber and experience hurricane winds reaching up to 78mph.
For lunch we went back to the apartment and made some sandwiches. We rested for a little while and then walked down the street to find a place to watch the Southern Decadence Parade. I'll post some pictures for that in a separate post. When the parade was finished we had supper and then walked to St. Peter's square to listen to the street musician. We heard a really good singer playing guitar and sat down to listen for half an hour.
To end the evening we walked down Bourbon Street taking in the lights and sounds of the French Quarter.
Arriving the even
ing before gave us a fresh start on Saturday. We woke up and got ready to head to the Audubon Zoo. It was hot but we still had fun seeing the various animals. After a long day of walking in the zoo we went back to the apartment and rested. Later in the evening Vins and his mother went to Pat O'Briens for a hurricane and some piano music then they went to Preservation Hall for some New Orleans Jazz. The kids and I spent the evening reading and resting.On Sunday we went to Cafe Dumonde for a breakfast of
beignets and chocolate milk. You can't spend a week in New Orleans and not eat a beignet. When we arrived the place was packed. We finally located a table inside. We would have preferred to eat outside but sometimes you take what you can get. This was Tanek and Kaia's first time to have beignets. They loved them and got pretty messy from all of the powdered sugar.After our heavily sugared breakfast we went to the Odyssey's Shipwreck Treasure Museum. It was advertised mostly towards children. While it was enjoyable we found it to be more for older children. We started off watching a film about the company and some of the treasures they have found. After the film you go through the museum where they have some fun interactive things to do. There were several games that took a lot of reading in order to play so they were a little out of my kids age range. I think the most enjoyable thing about the museum was the hurricane chamber. You step into a small glassed chamber and experience hurricane winds reaching up to 78mph.
For lunch we went back to the apartment and made some sandwiches. We rested for a little while and then walked down the street to find a place to watch the Southern Decadence Parade. I'll post some pictures for that in a separate post. When the parade was finished we had supper and then walked to St. Peter's square to listen to the street musician. We heard a really good singer playing guitar and sat down to listen for half an hour.
To end the evening we walked down Bourbon Street taking in the lights and sounds of the French Quarter.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Crocodile Hunter
I couldn't believe it this morning when I read online that Steve Irwin had died. Tanek had always been a big fan of Steve Irwins. He will be missed by his many fans.
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