After Graham and Anderson were dressed, they sat and played with their toys-until they started hearing airplanes. Each time they heard a plane, the ran to the window and pushed back the curtains-and each time they didn’t see the plane. I think the planes were going the opposite direction from our room. Even after 5 or 6 planes, they kept running to the window!
Breakfast was very good today-pancakes on a stick, waffles, sausage and egg biscuits, excellent blueberry muffins-and the kids had fruit loops and hard boiled eggs! I couldn’t even convince them to try the pancakes on a stick. After Anderson finished his breakfast, he said “let’s get on the road.” Reagan told him that we were in New Orleans and had 2 more nights at this hotel. They started raising their voices until Robby intervened-we do have 2 more nights and we did need to get on the road.
It was a quick drive to our destination-in front of Audubon Park and Tulane University. We missed the first St Charles Streetcar but the next one came along fairly quickly. Graham was so, so excited on the streetcar. Thrilled would be a good word to describe him. Anderson took it very seriously. We were in the front and he busied himself watching the driver. At one point, I heard him yell “go, go, go”-my little back seat driver. Reagan enjoyed standing up while holding onto the pole. Campbell was flapped her arms and bounced. I don’t know if she knew she was out of her car seat (which she fussed each time now I put her in) or if she just enjoyed the wind through her hair.
Anderson and Reagan noticed the big houses along St. Charles and Reagan even noticed an ivy covered building which was very unique. The trolley ride was fairly long but the weather was breezy and cool and we had plenty of room to move around so things were very pleasant. We hopped off at the end of the line-hop is probably not the best way to describe us getting on or off of a trolley. I had the baby and a huge bag (full of days worth of diapers, bottles, clothing, food and drinks for 6 people) while holding Graham’s hand. Robby’s task is folding and loading or unloading and unfolding two double strollers (no easy task!). Poor Reagan and Anderson just have to fend for themselves – even if they are on Canal Street. (Tara did receive her first ever “Kate plus 8 reference” comparison (already have had the Duggar comment before) when a street vendor yelled her way – you must the “Kate plus 4”. Really?)
We had a little bit of a trek towards Cafe Du Monde. But on the way we did stop for a quick picture in front of Bourbon street. We did venture a few feet down the street and then decided the kids had seen all they needed to see-actually we had seen all we needed to see! Seriously, we didn’t even see much-you can just see anything you want all over New Orleans. They are strange, strange people around here. Speaking of strange, Robby and I must have left our stickers on our shirts-our stickers that say “Please tell us we have our hands full or make some other comment about our children.” We make it a practice to not talk to strangers but people around here don’t! If we had one person speak to us, we have had thirty people. Reagan asked me at least twice if Robby knew who talked to us. I just said that they were new friends!
Also on our way to Cafe Du Monde, we saw a praline place I had read about but it was closed so we moved on. At Cafe Du Monde the line was long, long, long. And the sun was already hot, hot, hot! So Robby eyed another praline shop next door. Since we had really been talking up the beignets, we had to find something to eat quickly. Reagan was about to have a meltdown over the line-Robby told her it would be as long as watching 6 Authur tv shows. She said that she would wait. He said that he would not! Though once Robby passed out pralines for everyone, all was well.
I had on my list the Jazz National Historic Park to see. When Robby and I were here last time, he just circled the block while I ran into get the stamp for the park. We remembered that it was hard to find but this time, we just walked right into it. I had seen on the internet a few pages (crosswords, dot to dot, matching) for the kids to do and then turn in at the park and receive their Junior Ranger badges. Reagan and I worked on hers at home-she was very diligent about finishing it correctly. Graham colored all over his and colored and colored! Anderson was napping while everyone else did theirs at home. So he had to finish his last night!
As we walked into the Jazz NHP, a jazz concert was about to start. They had professional jazz people alongside young kids from the area playing their instruments. The music was good and loud. Reagan sat in her chair like it was too loud for her-she even covered her ears occasionally. Campbell was wide eyed but didn’t seem to mind. The boys sat straight up in their chairs and took everything in. They eventually started acting like they were playing air instruments! The park ranger walked by and passed the kids tambourines to play along. All 4 of them got their tambourines and started to shake along with the music. After 3 or 4 songs, we thought we might be pushing it and headed back to the book store area. We turned in their worksheets so they could get their park ranger badges and the nice park ranger gave Reagan, Anderson and Graham one. (Very nice since usually there is an age limit and since Graham didn’t really do any of the worksheets-he just colored them).
Next we headed back to Cafe Du Monde to check on the line-it was still long, long. The line had gone down some but still not enough. Seriously, the line was nuts. Since they are opened 24 hours, Robby had almost decided that we would come back at a crazy time-but the kids really wanted their doughnuts. We walked on to Jackson Square and would check back on the line later. In Jackson Square, we took our picture by the St. Louis Cathedral and played chase on the grass.
Then we headed way down to the road to catch the Algiers ferry. It was quite a trek down there-as in I don’t think I have ever sweated that much in my life! Dripping sweat! The ferry takes you right across the Mississippi river-a 10 minute ride-and then brings you right back. We had a to wait a few minutes on the ferry but were in the shade so it was nice to cool off. The weather is hot in the sun but okay in the shade. It is even pleasant in the shade some places. Once the ferry arrived, we boarded and headed downstairs in the open air area. The kids couldn’t get over that there were cars on the ferry. Anderson wanted to know what everything was and what everything did. They were very interested about everything-and then on the way back that could have cared less. They even crawled around and played “cats.”
Robby had seen a Walgreens and on our way back to the French Quarter, he ran to pick up some more drinks. The ice chest was in the car and we only had a few drinks with us and we had already drank them. The only thing left was a few bottles-I was thirsty enough on the walk to the ferry that I contemplated opening up one! Anyway, he came out with a jug of juice and some cokes for us. We had cups for the kids, so we just poured away. It was a nice stop! (and their juice lasted them for awhile until we had finished the jug)
Back to Cafe Du Monde we went. This time the line was better so Robby waited in it while we hung out in the shade. Two teenagers came up and sat on the bench beside us. They sat our their box and began playing their trombone and trumpet. Anderson decided that he wanted a trumpet and Graham also said that he wanted a trumpet at his house. So if you are thinking about presents, remember that. (Seriously, don’t buy them a trumpet, unless you plan to keep it at your house. I have already hidden the tambourines!)
Robby came back with the beignets. I believe it was 6 beignets and 2 pounds of powdered sugar. Funny thing is that the boys had navy blue shirts on-that hides powdered sugar very well! The beignets were hot but once the cooled off they were devoured. Reagan said that she liked them better than she liked the pralines. They were definitely worth the wait!
On our walk toward our lunch stop, we noticed that the first praline shop we had looked at was now opened. We felt obligated to stop in there too and purchase a little pre-dinner snack. By then, Campbell and Graham were both snoozing in the stroller. So they missed out on the second round of pralines. Next we made it to Acme Oyster-the line was long but we decided to wait. Soon the lady asked how many we had and the next thing we knew, we were going ahead of everyone else. Robby said they must have put us at the sympathy table. We were starting to feel bad for everyone else in line-but it turned out, they were a very large group waiting on a table.
Robby had a fried shrimp and fried oyster sandwich. He seemed to enjoy it-I tried an oyster and it was edible (if I didn’t think too much about it). I stuck with my jambalaya and red beans and rice. Reagan again ate most of my red beans and rice. Anderson didn’t care for them but he did like the hush puppies Robby ordered-he ate most of them! Campbell’s stroller was pushed up so far under the table since it was very crowded. The tablecloth was hanging in her face-but she didn’t mind as long as I kept shoveling green beans in her mouth. Graham was in the other seat of the stroller and he was sound asleep!
We then called it a day and headed back to the trolley stop. Robby started waking Graham up a few blocks early and as soon as Graham heard the word trolley, he almost jumped out of the stroller. Apparently it was peak trolley time and we had to wait on the next trolley. That was fine since they came fairly quickly. This time there was little room and still a long ride. Our strollers were up front by the driver and we were way in the back. People were still standing in the aisles even after dropping many off when it was our stop. Robby said he would go up front to get the strollers while we got off the back. He went one way, I went the other, the kids didn’t know where to go, the back doors didn’t open for me, so we turned and went his way and then the trolley started moving-I am sure Robby and I had panicked looks on our faces until we saw we were both still on the trolley. Actually it wasn’t that big of a deal-we just got off at the next stop about 20 feet down the road!
We probably won’t make it back to this part of New Orleans again and had to pick up some éclairs for Pops. Robby had researched it and had seen a new little bakery in the Garden District got good reviews. Since we were parked nearby, we headed that way. He walked in quickly to see if we all needed to get out or just him. We got the thumbs up and all unloaded. The lady gave the kids each a small sample of something before we ordered. After talking with the lady about the good reviews Robby had read we picked out Pops éclairs (vanilla or chocolate? chocolate. small or large? small.) We let the kids pick out cupcakes and we each had a little snack too. With our order, she gave us two truffles as well. They were delicious-I had never had a truffle I liked. The kids loved the cupcakes (and made a huge mess!) When we were almost finished the lady came out and brought the baker man out to meet Robby. She was intrigued when he mentioned all of the good reviews he had read. He retold his story about their positive reviews and a few minutes later, she handed us a loaf of honey oat bread to have. We left very impressed. They had been opened for four months – but I suspect they will be open a long while. We would highly recommend it if your ever in the Garden District – Maple Street Patisserie.
Soon we were back at the hotel. I ran around a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off unloading from today, getting swim and night time stuff ready and then getting things ready for the morning. I attempted to do all of this while Robby slowly unloaded the kids from the car. They arrived before I finished but they were ready to help do anything I asked so they could go swimming sooner. So the three big ones unloaded the ice chest and put everything in the fridge. This was entertaining but not nearly as entertaining as listening to them try to figure out how they were supposed to empty the ice into the bath tub like Mom and Dad do. They were all 3 in the bathroom with the door shut. Robby asked me what they were doing and I told him the truth-they were about to spill a few gallons of ice water on themselves. Surprisingly, that didn’t happen. They asked for help after working at it for 10 minutes. Poor somebody who had been putting the ice in the tub one piece at a time must have had cold hands.
We then suited up and headed to the pool. They have all become quite the swimmers-or should I say, quite the floaters. Graham loves to be thrown up and then come crashing down under the water. Reagan and Anderson love to jump off the edge into mine or Robby’s arms. Campbell just kicks her feet and waves her arms. Tonight when they saw the planes, they were as surprised and just yelled, hollered and waved!
After baths, a story about the swamp and a new little toys (just hidden McDonald toys) the kids were put into bed-and everyone was asleep before we knew it! Tomorrow will be a big day too-swamp tour!
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