Easter Week Trip

We spent the week of Easter on the sailboat. Almost entirely, we were tied up at Pontchartrain Landing on the lakeshore. It's an almost unknown RV Park and Marina, and not at all a bad place to hole up for a week. Although it was almost entirely too cold to swim, there is a pool, a safe patch of water for the kids to dinghy and paddleboard, and all of it is in view from the bar. Other than one bartender, the staff was very friendly and helpful.

All lined up for the Gay Easter Parade

And what an eventful week. On top of goofing around at the ol' landing, we visited the zoo, aquarium, IMAX, parades, bowling, a cool lights display in city park, Preservation Hall, and went to a barbecue festival. We probably ate at least five top-notch meals and several more very good ones. We had warm sunny weather, and freezing cold rain.

All of that bookended by two days of sailing.

, and this is one of my favorite collections in a really long time.

One of the things that doesn't make the pictures is a dinghy ride that I took with the kids. We were passing a family on the bank who was trying to fish. One of the family was a litte person.

I saw K looking over there, and right on cue, his eyes got big and he started to point. I grabbed his hand and told him it was rude. And I suggested that he should whisper whatever it was that he wanted to tell me. I knew that this would be my opportunity to give him the "people come in all shapes" sort of lesson.

After walking to the zoo.

He leaned in and stage whispered, "That man just put his hook in the water with no bait on it!"

Ahh, yes. Well there's that too.

I got a couple of good compliments about how independent and confident the kids are. One evening, we were walking down the road, having just finished mauling a candy apple. K looked like a clown with all of the red sugar dye on his hands and face, and there was a looming dinner reservation. The nearest place that looked family friendly was Bubba Gump's, so we dashed into the restaurant, and found the bathroom.

When K and I came out, V had the bar lined up with cokes for us all, and he had even taken the liberty of ordering himself a souvenir glass that lit up.

The waiter made a special trip to tell me what a cool and confident kid he was, and even said that he hopes his own new son grows up like to be like V. It almost made me want to cry. I didn't even pitch a fit about his souvenir glass (which he got tired of and gave to his brother in less than two hours).

The Chinese Lights at City Park are really cool.

Mud, mud, mud at Hogs for the Cause. It was like being a little kid. I loved it. Mrs. theskinnyonbenny found it not so much fun.

Be sure to check out all the rest of the pics over here.

Other tidbits:

• A list of times and places where you might reliably observe grown men wearing seersucker suits:
  • New Orleans on Easter Sunday
  • Oxford, MS on a Saturday in September
  • At the Kentucky Derby
• The little water park at the Audubon Zoo has cabanas with bottle service!
• K standing very still for seconds at a time, holding a hat, looking for tip money for "being a statue."
• Almost 11 years after Katrina, the muni yacht harbor is still a bunch of banged-up docks and sunken boats, without renters, and without power and water at the slips. Everyone involved should be ashamed.