June 2017, Louisiana-Home, Day 11 and 12

This place is Fun!

 After a late breakfast (we are TIRED), we purchased tickets for the hop-on, hop-off bus situation. You get to ride to all the places while a tour guide talks about them. Our tour guide for the morning spoke in a volume undetectable to the human ear, I found myself lip-reading so I could make sense of it, and then I just gave up. Fortunately, we weren’t too far from our first stop, Garden District.

Mile 2394- We ambled up and down the residential streets of the Garden District, drooling over the collection of historic homes. Fortunately for us, we found one for sale and it was only 6 million dollars! The kids spent the rest of the walk discussing how they would use the rooms of the 6 million dollar house that their parents were inevitably going to buy for them as a “second house”. A nerf room, a movie room, an exercise room, a basement with air hockey table, an insect and animal research room, and as the walk continued in the New Orleans heat, a cooling off room.

Mile 2396-We assumed that the children would love nothing more than exploring a historic cemetery in the hot sun. We began explaining the fascinating burial methods of New Orleans over the last three centuries. They tolerated it, but didn’t share our zeal for funeral practices of the 19^th century. Every party has a pooper…

All of my friends are at the beach.

Mile 2397- Our next stop was the incredible National World War II Museum. Charlotte has been really interested in this topic thanks to her awesome 5^th grade teachers! Please don’t miss this if you are in New Orleans. It is definitely worth it to spring for the film beforehand (Thanks for the tip, Beth Bourgeois!) It is narrated by Tom Hanks, and provides an excellent overview before you start looking at the exhibits.  There are parts of the museum that are very difficult to see. But, it is something that every American should do.

 

The youngest Bullingtons finished a little early while Mr. Bullington and Charlotte opted to read every.single.word. of every exhibit. In the meantime, Mae designated herself as museum greeter. She held the door and greeted everyone who passed through. That Safety patrol training is finally paying off!  Thomas played a rousing game of Cover My Hand With Rocks.

We grabbed a snack supper at the hotel because we had several dessert stops planned.

Mile 2400-We hadn’t had beignets yet, so we headed through the French quarter to Café Du Monde. Oh, the sights and sounds of New Orleans. Would you like to hold a python? Have your palm read? Drink, Listen, Look? We were lucky enough to happen upon local string band, Yes Ma’am playing in the street. Which very well could've been where they slept last night.  They looked like they’d given up showers and opted out of combing their hair, but they were uber talented. 

We stopped by George Rodrigue's gallery because the girls had learned about him in school and painted their own blue dogs. Mr. Rodrigue is also a prolific painter of the female nude. I guess Mrs. Hornsby left that lesson out! Just one educational stop after another up in here! I'm afraid Thomas might be the most "well educated" 2nd grader at West Side come August. 

 After our beignets, we noticed the streets being closed for a parade coming down the street! What do you know, it's Pride time in New Orleans, too! And, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the folks in New Orleans know a thing or two about parades! It was quite entertaining!

 

After the parade, the little ones begged to get more Bananas Foster so we indulged them. We walked back to the hotel and realized that New Orleans on a Saturday night is exactly what you would imagine.

Day 12
Mile 2402- I really wanted to go to the Mardi Gras warehouses. They have tours and you can see how they create the floats and we do love a parade! IT WAS AMAZING! The company who creates them have cornered the market on larger than life creations. We learned that they make all of the Chic-fil-a cows that you see on the billboards, the big statues that you see at The Oscars, and a lot of set pieces at Disney World!

Where there are costumes, there will be Bullingtons

Eat Mor Chikin!

Adrian!

Come on, now. Don't be a hater.

Anybody feel that? 

Oh hey, Elvis! I guess this means we've come full circle!

 Mile 2670-We started the long drive back to Marietta with a brief stop at Bates House of Turkey. The t-shirts told us that their Turkey would make us perky. I think we may be about 3 days past perky.

Mile 2889- Home! It just so happened that we rolled into our driveway while our neighbors, Derek and Becky, and their extended family, who are also friends,  were having drinks on their porch. We tend to do a lot of porch sitting and porch drinking in my 'hood. They hollered and hooted a big welcome home when we pulled in. The kids dashed across the street quick as a wink to see their friends and get to get away from us. Twelve days of togetherness can do that to a kid. But, this is home. 
I remember thinking to myself when we were in New Orleans, and the kids were fantasizing about buying a big ol' multi-million dollar house, that even if it were possible (it's not), why would I want a house here? All I'd have would be my family and a big 'ol house. But, there would be no icing on the king cake. I wouldn't see Mrs. Nancy walking Piper every evening and stopping by to chat about getting the city to move those dumpsters in front of her art Studio. I wouldn't get to see my friends driving their kids to and fro in front of my house all day. every day (I'm looking at you Laurie Gazaway), I wouldn't have Scott and Tracy to call on for every tool, craft item, or emergency. I wouldn't walk to the high school football stadium on a crisp autumn night. I wouldn't have a mayor that makes a special trip to buy lemonade from the girls' sidewalk stand. I wouldn't have bumped into Kristen at 10:00 at the Kroger because even when you swear you won't run into anyone, you always do. I couldn't walk to the church where my babies were baptized. We've been to 34 states now and countless other cities both big and small. But, I've yet to find a place that can hold a candle to Marietta City.  We are doing a good job here at being a community and that is a hard thing to get right. Thank you Marietta, you are a really nice place to come home to!

That would be 55 HOURS in the car! A record for us!

34 States in  5 years! See you next summer when we take on the Pacific Northwest! Look out, Oregon, Washington, and Northern California, We're coming for you!