New Orleans Day One

We started the day at Jane and Butch's. We were SUPPOSED to leave at 7:00... but you know how that goes! Anyway, while we were waiting Ben decided to get into the lemon squares (which are really circles) for a little before breakfast snack.
We stopped two or three times before lunch, but we decided to stop right outside Montgomery for lunch. Butch wanted Burger King for lunch...so we let him decide~ Gail, you would not be jealous of our meals today! These are the candid shots we took while eating lunch.

One of the goals of this trip was for us to go visit all the homes we lived in growing up. Some of you may not realize this, but I went to five different schools by the time I ended back up in Lincolnton. This was our house in Montgomery. I was in the 2nd grade when we lived here. We started school in Lincolnton and then moved in October when this house was finished being built. I had pneumonia while we lived there so I missed a lot of school. I always say my lack of reading comprehension skills was due to this spell of sickness. Anyway, Mama and Daddy let Jim live with Boo-ma and Har to finish out football season for his 9th grade year. When we came home for Christmas Murray offered the insurance agency to Mama and Daddy and they decided on the way back home to Montgomery that we would move back to LC. Needless to say, Jim never enrolled in the schools in Alabama and sat on the couch for two weeks while we waited to move back home.

We never knew the impact this would make on our lives. I went from growing up in a home with a stay-at-home mama who had homemade cookies cooked for us every afternoon to riding a school bus in Lincolnton and being dropped off at my grandmother's house for Mary to keep me. I thought it would be bad, but getting off the bus to a meat and three every afternoon at 3:00 sure was nice. Those were some of the best days of my life. My grandfather, Har, died when I was in elementary school, but I remember spending from 4:30 until 5:00 every afternoon with him waiting on Mama and Daddy to get home. I HATED watching the news with him, but now I am just like him. I love to know what is going on and think of him often when I see the WJBF logo. Sorry for the sidenote, but one day I want my children to know about my childhood memories.

One more sidenote... this house was red...the color of Mama and Daddy's now when we lived in it. I also thought it was the biggest house I had ever been in when I lived there.

After riding in the car from 7:30 to 5:00, we rode past the Superdome. This was in bumper to bumper traffic, but I hope to get a better picture tomorrow.

We were lucky enough to be on the "executive" floor and gained access to the club lounge. We ate appetizers and watched ships come while snacking.

After snacking, we decided to go for a walk around the River Walk area. This is in front of some fountain that I didn't read the fine print about. Doesn't Jamesy look thrilled to be here?

Cole and Boo watching the boats go by on the river.

Boo, Ju, Cole, and Sis were starving, so we stopped by Time Out for a snack!

We are settled in, ready for a long winter's nap, and a restful night. Good night New Orleans!