(click here for pictures) (click here for video #1) (click here for video #2 – you won’t see much of the gator jumping up in this video, but here’s what was the sounds are related to, click here for photo)
We also posted videos from yesterday pretty late last night, so if you haven’t seen it then scroll down.
We had to get up and get around early this morning-which was no problem since 2 kids were in our bed before the alarm clock went off. The boys really enjoyed the pancakes on a stick this morning, Campbell had her yogurt and Reagan ate her rice krispies. She eats them one at a time, so it was no wonder that she was asking for a snack before we had gotten out of the city.
We left early so we could make sure we found our Cajun Encounter swamp tour. We had no problems getting there-even arrived 45 minutes early. But 45 minutes isn’t that long by the time Robby and I straighten the van, load up for our outing, look around the gift shop, change diapers and take half the crew to the potty.
Anderson saw the large alligator out front and then said that we didn’t even need to go on the boat to see an alligator. This caused Graham to stop in his tracks and ask “it real?” Even after we told him it wasn’t real, he was a little hesitant to go near it. The kids had to wear life jackets and they didn’t complain at all about it. Probably because we were walking towards the boats! Four boats full of people left at the same time. Since we had 4 kids with us, no one wanted to sit too close-how good for us! We were able to spread out nicely!
Our boat headed out and Graham shouted “here we go.” They so enjoyed the boat-taking everything in. The first thing we saw was an authentic Cajun village. There was a parking lot on one side of the water and on the other was rows of houses. Some were pretty rustic but our guide pointed out that most of the houses had DISH network. He said that they loved watching their New Orleans Saints play.
Next we headed down more into the Honey Island Swamp area. Before we started, the guide told us that if we saw something that we thought he was going to hit, then to hold on because he was going to hit it. He even made me and Robby switch places. I was sitting in the front of the boat with Campbell. Before long, we knew what he meant-the waterway narrowed and trees and branches were on all sides of us. Robby had to bat them away quite a few times.
The first alligators that we saw were fairly small. But each one was saw was on our side of the boat. Reagan and Anderson ate it up! Graham who has been saying that alligators will bite him also enjoyed it. Campbell had her bottle, sat up and watched and even had a nap during the tour. If you now ask the kids what you feed an alligator with, they will reply marshmallows and hot dogs. At one point, Graham was sitting on the front of the boat with Robby and he was about to fall asleep. His eyes were rolling back in his little head-Robby moved him off of the edge of the boat and onto the seat. He perked up just in time to see the really big alligator.
We hadn’t seen a big alligator so the guide was really looking. We finally spotted one and it was a big one – 14 foot. They called it “Big Al.” He swam near our side-Reagan made sure that Graham’s hands were inside of the boat. Then the guide teased the alligator with the hot dog on a stick-and finally Al jumped up and grabbed that marshmallow. Robby was trying to take pictures, take a video and made sure the rest of us came back with the same number of fingers we started with! And that is the reason that the video misses out on some of the action!
After we saw Big Al, we sped back to the dock and passed out lunch for the ride back. We stopped at Chalmette Battlefield-the visitor center was closed still due to the effects of Katrina. But it was a good place to get out and walk for a few minutes. And it was especially worth it with those cute pictures of all 4 kids that we took. I was practically doing handstands and cart wheels to get everyone to look at Robby.
Next we headed towards Barataria Preserve which is also part of the Jean Lafayette National Historic Park. On the way there, we drove through St Barnard Parish. Evidence from Katrina was still there. Many houses had the big X spray painted on it that indicated when the house was checked, who checked it and possible the other number was a count of victims. Like any big city, sometimes you drive through and think that this just can’t be America. Anyways, we made it to the Barataria visitor center and it was very kid friendly. They loved pushing all of the buttons and the park ranger even gave them Jr. Ranger badges.
Afterwards, we headed down the road to walk on a short hike through the swamp land. It was a nice little walk-shady and breezy-if you were sitting down. But if you were pushing a double stroller, as we both were, it seemed very sunny and hot! Reagan was disappointed that we didn’t see more alligators. So Graham said that the alligators must have been night night. By the time we made it back to the van, everyone was hot and thirsty. But before loading up, we had spotted a giant insect – not sure what it was but it looked like a giant cricket. I got a kick out of Robby taking pictures and the kids standing right behind him. After inspecting a bit, we loaded up and were on the hunt for something to drink! So we found a Snowball stand-they call snow cones snowballs here! The ice was incredibly smooth-the kids all had rainbow, Robby had orange and I had dreamsicle. Anderson said that he could eat those all day long-just like his daddy.
Robby’s muffaletta store (Central Grocery) was closed today, so Les gave us a recommendation in the Garden District. I could drive through there forever, so that was fine by me. We parked and walked right up-and even had to wait at 4 in the afternoon. The wait was short and soon we had our 5 stools around the counter. The restaurant was all counter service and no tables. It was quite entertaining watching our food be cooked and seeing all of the busy-ness of the workers.
We were exhausted by the time we headed home, Reagan looked so tired but she perked up quickly when Robby mentioned swimming. Back at the hotel, I unloaded and started packing while everyone else worked on their bathing suits. The pool was perfect again tonight and the kids are getting so brave. Graham loved diving in-but unfortunately he has no clue about not diving in near the edge! Reagan jumped in and went slightly under water a few times. And Anderson was practicing going underwater too by jumping off the top step.
Baths were next and then everyone crashed again. This van starts heading home tomorrow!
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