Monkey Hill, and other adventures

We left Friday at about 11. By noon we were at Crystal Springs. By the time we reached Brookhaven, we had stopped about 3 times for potty breaks. All in all, it took 4 hours to get to New Orleans. I know this is normal for traveling with kids, but remember, we haven't traveled with them in a long time. We used to make that drive at least once a month and could do it in less than three hours...so it felt like we would never get there.

Anyway...we stopped first at Target in Metairie. My favorite Target EVER. It's 2 story, with a cool thing by the escalator to put your buggy in. We got some snacks and I got a backpack to carry to the zoo (my mom bag). Aidan found a toy he wanted. A $10 knight costume. He asked us for it ALL weekend. He begged, he pleaded. Anyway...

Checked in at Providence house at NOBTS. Molly had never been in a "showtel" before. They spent an hour jumping from bed to bed. Then we cleaned up and went to the quarter. The kids were a bit overwhelmed by all of the activity. There were people all over dressed as pirates (maybe they had a convention?) and Aidan thought they were real. After all, there were big boats on the river...who's to say the pirates didn't get off on one of them? We saw the silver guys, the musicians, the artists, and all the whatevers. Going to the quarter for the first time as a parent was strange for me. I realized that I have tried so hard to protect my children from evil and to show them only good things. I have walked through Jackson Square a hundred times in my life, and this time my eyes saw it differently. I wanted to put my kids back in their little bubble and protect their minds from absorbing any of the sights and sounds. I realize I can't do that. One day they'll have to make their own choices and they'll need a knowledge of what the world is like. But for now...we've been there, they've seen it, and at their ages (5 and 3), I can and will help them "Avoid every kind of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22).

Saturday was great. We started out getting dressed and driving through our old neighborhood. I haven't been there in 5 years. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. The Katrina damage is still so great. My heart hurt for those still trying to rebuild.

After our drive, we headed to the zoo. The kids had fun, but have such low tolerance for seeing the animals. They wanted to DO something. Then we found Monkey Hill. When Michael and I climbed Monkey Hill years ago, it was just a hill. Now it's a waterfall and a rocky stream thing with cold, clear water and you climb up and down. We spent a LOT of time here! Pictures will tell it better than my words could. Anyway, we pried them away from the Hill and saw the rest of the zoo, then went back to Monkey Hill to get REALLY wet and then went on our way. The kids were drenched, and I had clean clothes in the van, but Molly was cold. Aidan was too, but he laughed it off with his blue lips. Molly cried and cried and cried. She was freezing. I'm sure it didn't help that everyone that saw my little wet girl in her tie-dye dress boohooing thought it was funny. We stopped at the gift shop, got the tshirts that you're supposed to buy, and headed to lunch.

We ate at the Superior Grill on St. Charles and then went to the Children's Museum. They were having a street festival, and so we had to walk a LONG way to get in. We got in and they were selling tickets for over twice the usual admission b/c of the street festival. We told them we didn't care about the concert, and just wanted to do the museum. They said it didn't matter, and oh yeah, they close in an hour. So it would have cost us $60 for one hour of play. We were ready to leave with our sad kids when a lady walked by with 2 extra tickets and gave them to us. I hope God has done something really good for this lady this weekend, because that really helped us a lot. We bought our other 2 tickets and played hard for a little over an hour. The pics will tell the story here.

We went back to the PH and changed clothes and cleaned up. We told Aidan he could get his Knight costume at Target, so we went back to Metairie. We got in, went upstairs, went to the toys and Aidan said, "I think I want this for Christmas, I want something else now." After we beat him up (just kidding), he picked out a cool Imaginext airplane and Molly got another Cinderella set, just like the one she already has. Fancy that. We checked out and went to get beignets (finally!) and then went back to the PH and crashed.

The drive home was great. 3 hours. One stop. The way it's supposed to be. We had lunch with Mom and Dad, who had a great weekend with Paisley. We went home, I unpacked and started the laundry, and then went to our Sunday School party at the Walls' farm. The kids had so much fun, and we loved being outside with good friends. Honestly, tonight may have been the best part of the weekend, because we were with people that we are loving more every week. They are precious to my kids and so much fun to be around. I have to learn to laugh at myself when I can't hit a stinkin' whiffleball, but other than that...

Pictures coming soon! Hope your weekend was marvelous as well!