Mississippi River to Gulf,

Last year while on the Serenade of the Seas cruising down the Mississippi River, I said, "I'd love to do this during the day" since most of the journey was after the sunset until midnight. Click here for last year's journey.  I got my wish this year---not quite how I'd thought it would happen.

We got a text message to delay boarding since a pipe had broken on the ship damaging the electrical panels in the front of the ship (cabins, health center, theater, on board television).  We arrived at 11:30 expecting to board shortly after noon, but we didn't board until 4 PM.  We were among the fortunate ones because we were allowed to wait inside out of the chilling rain.  We also had hotdogs, pizza and lemonade in our waiting area.  Some spent the whole time outside and didn't board until 7 PM.  Part of the problem was 1/4 of the passengers had to stay behind because their rooms were in the front of the ship.

Around 3 AM, I could feel the ship moving, but the next morning showed we hadn't gone far---about a mile down the river to allow other ships at the dock.  The Coast Guard gave us the go ahead to leave at noon.  We sat on our balcony as we sailed down the Mississippi for 8 hours.

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Where we were docked----across from Navy Yards but still on Government property.  On our way. . .most of the trip was industrial and river traffic, but we did pass a few houses and at least one school.

Eventually, the sun went down, but we could see that we had reached the delta---wonderful experience, although not many other passengers agreed.

New Orleans in January

 In January, we went on another cruise out of New Orleans, but this time stayed at a Hampton Inn by the Convention Center. (Click here for last year's cruise on the same ship) It was in a converted industrial building but our room was very nice.  There were several restaurants close and a small park with art---some of which was dedicated to the victims of Katrina.  It was also the beginning of Mardi Gras so decorations were up.

Taken from the park---entrance to the hotel across the street

Some sidewalk restoration that made it difficult with a wheelchair

 The views below are from our hotel room which was a corner room.  The building below was the convention center and the dock with the ship was behind it.  We were able to park our car there and take a shuttle bus to the ship terminal.

First Communion

Above is the display for Libby's First Communion with some family photos made in February and a new painting Rachel painted to go with her newly painted walls. Congratulations, Libby.  We are so proud of you!

Easter in KC

 First, we visited Rachel and family.  We watched while the kids dyed eggs before we went to Rebecca's for a Easter egg hunt.

 The next morning, Roman was asked to "organize the eggs".  His mom wanted him to "nest" them to put away, but . . . .well he organized them!