Rolling out of 2016

Last post of the year...so just a few remaining pics of end of year class parties...making Christmas cookies...watching movies...seeing Santa at work...Sam's carving guys...Ruby loving "MuuAna"...Happy Holidays...

 

New Orleans - Day 3 (Trip Home)

On our way home from New Orleans, we took a quick driving trip through the French quarter, and quickly realized why we didn't spend any time here during our trip.  Davis described that area as "kinda dirty, but kinda awesome, but the houses look haunted". 

 

We then stopped in Biloxi so the kids could see the ocean.  It was very cold, but the kids liked getting a break to chase the birds, search for shells, and see how close to the water they could get without me calling them back. 

 

Then we stopped in Wilmer Alabama to visit Aunt Mary.  She was outside working on some things in her van when we got there, then she took us on a tour of her yard.  It reminded me much of my PawPaw how excited she was to show us the flowers she was growing.  She also had some Satsuma trees, and there were 4 Satsumas left for each of the children to pick.  Fun, and didn't realize we would be in a tropical paradise in Wilmer picking fruit from trees.  And they were delicious, Aunt Mary even had a box full for us to take with us.  Crazy, she also had bananas growing in one of her trees as well.  Huh, would have never thought it, but climate must be pretty good through there for all the fruit.

 

Our cousin Leslie also came by and brought some treats as well.  He brought the boys some shirts from the shipyard, brought us some of his homemade salsa, and shared some silver half dollars that he had picked up recently with the kids.  It was like Christmas time all over again for the kids, and they were all smiles with Leslie and Aunt Mary.  And Aunt Mary was Ruby's best friend because she kept getting her more icing for her cinnamon roll...Ruby never needed another cinnamon roll, just more icing.  I knew it was good to visit our family during this trip, and loved hearing Sam thank God for our "extended family" that night. 

 



 

New Orleans - Day 2 (WW2 Museum)

So we finally made it to the museum, and it was GREAT!  Belle has already told us she wants to go back when she is 10.  Don't really know why 10, but I am on board.  Our hotel is over the MS river across a large bridge you can see from our riverwalk pictures, and each morning the kids try and hold their breath.  Davis said he about passed out this morning. 

 

The museum begins at the train station where everyone gets a "dog tag" that is connected to a real soldier that fought during the war.  There are several stations throughout the museum where you can access your soldiers story during that portion of the war.  And even in the museum store at the end, there is a station that lets you know about your soldier after the war if they survived.  Sam, Davis, and Anabelle each would run up and tell us details of their soldiers life, and things they did.  Magan traveled with a Japanese American soldier that was sent to the Eastern front due to his appearance, and saw his journeys even as a POW in Germany.  The museum had actually gotten his full story on video, as he is still alive.  Davis soldier lived to be in his nineties and died only 1 year before Davis was born.  Anabelle had a photographer that took some amazing pictures while overseas in the war.  The "Dogtag experience" was really great way to connect the "greatest generation" to this new generation. 

 

We learned the story of "My Gal Sal"...Magan would not let me take a picture of the girl painted on the side of "Over Exposed"...Heard the story of one veteran that would "dig a hole" everytime they stopped, never knowing when a foxhole would be needed...we saw the Victory Belles on stage during our lunch....and Me and Sam spoke to a WW2 veteran there who was in the pacific.  I asked him if he ever had a problem with the diseases in that area, and he said no, but that he had gotten a bath one time in one of the local rivers, then about a month later coughed up a 12 inch worm.  "Got in my !?! as an insect and enjoyed all of my food till I finally got him out", he then showed us the purple heart his brother had received during the war, and a patch showing that his brother was a part of the Army Raiders. 

 

After the museum, we went down to the riverwalk, and got in the long line for Café du Monde.  The beiniegts (?donuts?) were delicious, and we only left one uneaten...that was because Ruby just licked all of the powdered sugar off of hers.  Ate at a Mexican grill that night, and maybe that explains the skeleton picture below...or maybe it doesn't...