We got off at the main entrance to City Park and started walking. It's a HUGE park, so we knew we'd be walking a lot. Now, City Park is really cool because it's very pretty, has an awesome playground, an amusement park, an old time carousel, a place called Storyland with big things to climb on, a sculpture garden, trains that run around the perimeter, and probably more stuff I'm forgetting.
Unfortunately for us, we only got to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the playground. Everything else was closed. I know I've said this before, but it's a good thing my kids are so little. They loved the playground so much that they were okay with the fact that we didn't get to do anything else. So our trip to the playground was an expensive one... almost $55 between lunch, parking, and fare for the streetcar... yikes! But at least all the playing and running around wore out the kids.
After our City Park adventure, we hopped back on the streetcar and got off near Bourbon Street. We decided we wanted to walk around the area for a bit and take in some of the city. The kids enjoyed the street performers and Josh almost got ripped off by a guy on the street claiming he could guess where Josh bought his shoes.
Luckily, a friend (thanks Kelley!) warned me of this very thing and I yelled, "No! Keep walking Josh!". I didn't want to pay him $20 or be harassed.
So we kept walking and stopped off in a little store off Decatur St that sells Mardi Gras masks. $2.99 each or 3 for $7.99... that's my kind of deal! Well, Max wanted one that looked like Anakin and Ava wanted one like Max. So we ended up getting some that were more expensive (but still on sale :) . They wore the masks for about 5 minutes... go figure.
After that, we decided to get going out of there. Josh and I were both a little nervous about being in a strange place and I was sure someone would try to steal one of my kids.
So we got in the car and started driving East, just to see what we might find. Word to the wise... East of New Orleans, it looks like Kansas... flat land and cows.
Tomorrow we are heading to the zoo, then we're going to do a couple other things on our list and head out somewhere else. Maybe Baton Rouge. Maybe San Antonio. We don't know yet. Any thoughts?
Josh's side of the story is here.
Things I learned today:
1. You should ALWAYS find out what days and hours all the attractions you want to see are open. It really sucks to get somewhere and fid out they are closed... especially when you already told your kids where you were going.
2. Bring extra socks. Ava stepped in a huge puddle of water and soaked one of her socks. I gave her one of mine, but then my foot was cold.
3. Downtown New Orleans is not really a place for kids. I couldn't believe how many photos of half-naked women we saw in the windows of almost every shop! Luckily, my kids are little and they really didn't notice.
4. My kids will find a way to turn anything into Star Wars. Max saw a jet today leaving a streak in the sky. He proclaimed, "All the Southwest airplanes are Jedi cruisers and all the other airplanes are bad guys. Rocket ships in the sky are escape pods". When they got their masks, Max said his was an Anakin mask and Ava's was an Ahsoka mask.
5. 45 degrees is warmer than the temps in KC right now, but it's still pretty chilly. I'm wishing it was about 80 degrees.
6. Don't bring 24 on DVD to watch while you're on vacation. It would be amazing to go to bed early every night, but instead we've been up waiting to find out how season 5 ends.
Max was eager for the streetcar to pick us up.
I love these next 3 images. They are SO my kids. Lia's eating a cookie so she will sit still, Ava's trying to steal her cookie, and Max is just chilling.
Now, they're trying to behave.
And now I'm a bad guy and they must destroy me!
