07 August 2007

Hot days in New Orleans

Time for our annual summer journey to the hottest place we can imagine! Last year, Nanchang, this year New Orleans. David, Julia and I are at a clerks’ "convention," meeting really because there are only as many clerks of state supreme courts as there are states, plus some court administrators and families. We went to Key West two years ago, and last year David went alone because we were traveling for Julia the next week. David goes to meetings during the days and we play, and then we all meet up for great dinners.

It is really hot and humid here. Can it be more humid than Indy? This is VietNam humid. And the sun is intense. It feels much better walking in the shade. Julia is not much for this kind of heat – And she being the kid from on of the four furnaces of China. She has definitely adapted well to air conditioning and cooler climes.

Julia and I spent part of yesterday at the kids’ museum. Not nearly as up to date as the Indy museum but lots of good manipulatives. Julia loved making giant bubbles and Japanese sand gardens, and playing in a kid sized grocery store (she filled her basket with some of the same stuff I shop for every week – gosh, the kid is watching) and with a giant kaleidoscope.

With the help of some locals, we found a great place for breakfast. Julia had the best pancakes I’ve tasted in years. They were kind of like a rough flour Bisquick type of hot cake with some spice I couldn’t place. Julia ate three of them and then finished a bowl of rice (the restaurant was getting ready for lunch and Julia saw the rice and mommy begged for it) and some of my eggs. For supper, we had a shrimp etoufe (no, I can’t spell it). It was quite spicy and served with rice. Julia thought it was delicious. She also loved the chocolate covered strawberries.

Today, we walked around part of the French Quarter, visiting a church, eating New Orleans’ fried dough, and buying a few souvenirs. With that as our busy morning, we went back to the hotel room for a bit of a rest before visiting the Aquarium with David in tow. Lots of sharks of all different sizes to look at! Fish, turtles, snakes, a white alligator, and sea horses. Many of the exhibits had small models of the bones of the animal that we were looking at. Julia loved these little skeletons. I have to teach her more about bones so we can talk about similarities.

Julia is enjoying this trip. She did have a tantrum in the airport – with a 3 hour delay she may have been channeling what we all felt – but it was no where near as bad as at the beginning of the year. She loves flying and staying at a new hotel. I am tempted to comment that she must view her experiences traveling which are mostly her trip home in a positive light, but who knows. I do know that she does not act scared or anxious about our traveling which I am very happy about.

The hotel room also is a good place for down time for her. She plays with her little animals – dinosaurs, pandas, and a little statue of liberty – or watches a video. She seems to be able to be out and taking in new stuff for about 3 hours at a time before she gets overstimulated. On another note – David and I have to be careful about putting her between us when we go out for dinner. Although she rarely takes food from our plates for her own, she has done it a few times when we are sitting on large banquet tables. People tend to be gracious and excusing but I’d rather we not put temptation in her way.

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