Monday, July 30, 2007
The Grand Voyage
I have finally arrived in New Orleans after two days of delays due to thunderstorms. Though it was an irritating circumstance, it in a minor demonstrated some of the struggles the people of New Orleans had to go through after the storm. The tie was that people were waiting around, some stranded and sleeping in the airport (a public space not meant for sleeping), while a commanding authority fed them lies about when the problem would be fixed. Though this was a trifle circumstance in comparison it was interesting how people bonded together talking and comparing their troubles. However, what I have seen of New Orleans so far is beautiful, though there is alot of devestation to see. It seems to be just like people have described interluding with the slight jazz music playing in the airport hallways. Though this place has seen the worst it seems to hold a feeling of peace, a reminscence of the past, and friendly people. I am excited to be able to have a chance to help, and hope many more people will follow in our efforts.
The Schmutzies Blog part II
Sorry about the interruption...stupid internet. After lunch and the huge sandwiches we made a special stop at Walgreens just for the schmutzies. We felt very important, just kidding, we had both just forgotten our tooth brushes. When we got back to the house we worked on personal budgets, after we had both brushed our teeth of course. And now since I am writing this outside in the sauna, and have had lots of complications with this special blog the schmutzies are going to go swimming in the pool and Randy is going to take a dip in the large bird bath type thing that is quite green. Well anyway until next time.... the schmutzies
Blog from the Schmnutzies
Well all of us are finally here except for one extremely special boy, who we are quite disappointed in but we won't go there. Travel days are always kinda uncertain. I(cat) got stuck in a holding pattern over witchita for an hour thinking that Lisa and Brian had gone on without me and worried that I would be stuck in Dallas by myself, but as soon as we were allowed to turn our cell phones on I called my schmutzie(lisa) and she answered. They weren't gone and I was very relieved. The whole Dallas airport had been closed for a bit. So I met up with Lisa and Brian and we got on our airplane and finally got here. Diana met us at the airport and when we adventually got all of our luggage stuffed into her car we were on our way. We were showed our room and from the sounds of it, we got the good one. All of them are very nice but everyone was quite impressed with ours. Me and Lisa didn't even know we were in the same bed except for when Lisa said I rolled to the middle, but I didn't know it, so like I said I never knew Lisa was there. We had dinner here at the house which was amazing and we ate way too much, but I know Jean told you what we had so I leave out those details. Then we went to bed...sleepies time. We got up this morning and had a very tasty breakfast. We had pancakes, sausage, and fruit. I acted like I hadn't been fed in months because I ate almost all of it. Then we went off to see the town. We saw lots of the different neighborhoods and how they were each differently affected by Katrina. You could still see the water lines in lots of places. We looked at the new flood walls and Bear was telling us how they had broke. Its crazy to imagine cars on the roofs and refrigerators in trees and boats turned over everywhere in the park...very devastating. Then we had lunch at Cooter Browns and had huge sandwiches as big as schmutzies head.
Blogs from Al & Brian
Monday, July 30, 2007
hi im al and i dont like airports or airpeople, not only do they lose my bag but they almost lost my sister....but thats ok bc both jus showed up. ya so yesterday i woke up early and was gonna go to the airport but quickly learned that i was gonna have to wrangle my bro into the car. within minutes dad and i had quite the snazzy suitecase packed for pat that was garunteed to keep him fashionable (for a 5th grader). throughout the sharade dad and i made attempts to talk to pat but eventually learned that pat was the only person who knew where his ID was so after that we said forget him ZAN needs to get to the airport bc he hates them but needs to get goin. my trip thru the airport was fairly uneventful and i made all my connections etc on time, yet while fiddling on my cell during my time of travel it started to look more and more like i was gonna be the only person that was not only actually going, but that i might be the only person that would even make it due to sped storms and sped airport people....did i mention how i dont like airports and airpeople? i was ok with that though bc i figured i could always just meet up with bear as planned and i would jus go check out some local bars and music. after talking with bear when i had just met him at the baggage claim he sounded like a knowledgable person on local music so at that point i was kind of hoping that no one else would show up so that that way diana, bear and i could just go see music shows all week. that sounds like a nice vacation doesnt it, a week of music, yes but anywho my cuzs and the rr peeps did show up, tho not all together. oh ya and NEITHER DID MY DANG BAG! i hate airpeople... so ya we went on a drive to the place where i am at now and we got to see some of the city on the way here and this place is nice. the hotel is like an older southern plantation style house with a great cook and an interesting owner...and a chill lil dawgie.but ya not much happened last night but today we went on a tour of the city in a van with bear telling us all bout all the katrina incident and it was nice to learn about the city and also get to see what really happened bc although there is still much work to be done there are still nice parts of the city that are not as damaged. it also was a good tour bc bear has grown up in this city so he actually knows something about the area and how to get around. and so after we drove around a while we stopped for lunch at a sweet bar that had delicious samiches that i want more of. and then after that we came here for meetings where spags showed up and she even had managed to pick up my bag for me hip hip hooray! so ya i dunno i think ima go inside and see if that katrina video is over bc im thirsty and wanna go find a beer...that is all...for now...ok byeps if i get lost, just follow the sounnd of the roaming brass bands, im trying to go find them.ok bye now
Posted by RRTC 2G at 2:11 PM 0 comments
You know it is going to be a long trip when...(7/30/07)
Of course a trip gets much more interesting when you encounter delays at the airport, and when you have people flying from 7 or 8 different locations it gets REALLY complicated. It all started when I got to the airport and my bag weighed 53.8 pounds, and the lady told me I would have to take something out and carry it on with me. I really didn't have anything easy to carry though so I had to take out a pair of shoes and she said that that was close enough. So she puts the tag on my bag and tells me to carry it around the corner to the TSA check point. I start bringing it around and notice that there is a large divider between where she is sitting and where I am standing, seeing this opportunity I repack my shoes back into my bag and give it to the TSA guys who don't say anything.After standing in security forever I finally got through and got a call from Lisa asking how the hell do you get anywhere cause the trains don't move. She finally figured out she was in terminal C and could just walk to the gate we were at. So we meet up and are waiting and then we hear an announcement that the airport was closed down. We think oh great this should be a ton of fun, and we wondered if Cat was circling us in the air right then. Turns out she was and our next flight was delayed quite a bit. Cat met up with us then and we then had to move gates all the way down to the other end of the C terminal. We finally get on the plane and of course my worst nightmare comes true. I get to my seat and the man behind me says he has the seat next to me, I take one look and think oh sh.. He must have weighed 400+ and took up a good portion of my seat. I didn't say anything though and sat in my seat and got hit in the shoulder and elbow any time a flight attendant walked by.After what seemed like the longest hour I have ever spent on a plane we finally arrive in New Orleans and make it back to our bread and breakfast, where Jean, Randy, Christy, Pam, and Alexander are all waiting for us. Problem is that is two Beers two short. Adrianna made an honest effort to get here and should be arriving very shortly today, while the youngest decided he needed to take a vacation from 2G this year and will not return any of our calls. Anyways after a late dinner Xander and I head to our room and alas it has 1 bed and a pull out couch. Well since he had been there for hours Xander had claimed the bed and I said aight then and prepared to get on my pull out couch. I have slept on some pull out couches before and they aren't they greatest thing in the world, but this one....oh man. I think I still have a mark from where the center bar is on my back today. Lets just say one of these nights I will be taking the bed so I can get a decent night of sleep.Another very interesting thing about the room that Xander and I share is that we have a very large jacuzzi tub with no shower. I don't know when the hell the last time I took a bath was, but I sure as hell took one this morning rubber ducky and all. After coming out of my bath refreshed, but still a little sore in the back, we had a tremendous breakfast, which I hardly ate any of because I don't eat breakfast, but just ask Catherine about it. After breakfast we loaded up into our Econoline Van and Bear, one of the Rustic Pathways guys gave us a driving tour of New Orleans. There was this one part where he said there used to be hundreds of houses, but now it is pretty much open fields and he said the houses were just floating away. It was insane, another part of town you could see where the water line was on the houses and it did not look like it was a good situation. After driving around and learning more about the different neighborhoods, we stopped at Cooter Browns and I got to sample a Muffaletta or something like that which is apparently a staple here in New Orleans.After lunch we got back in our van and made our way back to our very interesting little bed and breakfast and worked on some personnal finances, and here I am blogging. So after one night it has been far from uneventful, Adrianna just arrived, and I don't know what the hell it is, but I think I might just have to take a pull off that strange bottle of liquor in my room so I can makeit to sleep tonight.
hi im al and i dont like airports or airpeople, not only do they lose my bag but they almost lost my sister....but thats ok bc both jus showed up. ya so yesterday i woke up early and was gonna go to the airport but quickly learned that i was gonna have to wrangle my bro into the car. within minutes dad and i had quite the snazzy suitecase packed for pat that was garunteed to keep him fashionable (for a 5th grader). throughout the sharade dad and i made attempts to talk to pat but eventually learned that pat was the only person who knew where his ID was so after that we said forget him ZAN needs to get to the airport bc he hates them but needs to get goin. my trip thru the airport was fairly uneventful and i made all my connections etc on time, yet while fiddling on my cell during my time of travel it started to look more and more like i was gonna be the only person that was not only actually going, but that i might be the only person that would even make it due to sped storms and sped airport people....did i mention how i dont like airports and airpeople? i was ok with that though bc i figured i could always just meet up with bear as planned and i would jus go check out some local bars and music. after talking with bear when i had just met him at the baggage claim he sounded like a knowledgable person on local music so at that point i was kind of hoping that no one else would show up so that that way diana, bear and i could just go see music shows all week. that sounds like a nice vacation doesnt it, a week of music, yes but anywho my cuzs and the rr peeps did show up, tho not all together. oh ya and NEITHER DID MY DANG BAG! i hate airpeople... so ya we went on a drive to the place where i am at now and we got to see some of the city on the way here and this place is nice. the hotel is like an older southern plantation style house with a great cook and an interesting owner...and a chill lil dawgie.but ya not much happened last night but today we went on a tour of the city in a van with bear telling us all bout all the katrina incident and it was nice to learn about the city and also get to see what really happened bc although there is still much work to be done there are still nice parts of the city that are not as damaged. it also was a good tour bc bear has grown up in this city so he actually knows something about the area and how to get around. and so after we drove around a while we stopped for lunch at a sweet bar that had delicious samiches that i want more of. and then after that we came here for meetings where spags showed up and she even had managed to pick up my bag for me hip hip hooray! so ya i dunno i think ima go inside and see if that katrina video is over bc im thirsty and wanna go find a beer...that is all...for now...ok byeps if i get lost, just follow the sounnd of the roaming brass bands, im trying to go find them.ok bye now
Posted by RRTC 2G at 2:11 PM 0 comments
You know it is going to be a long trip when...(7/30/07)
Of course a trip gets much more interesting when you encounter delays at the airport, and when you have people flying from 7 or 8 different locations it gets REALLY complicated. It all started when I got to the airport and my bag weighed 53.8 pounds, and the lady told me I would have to take something out and carry it on with me. I really didn't have anything easy to carry though so I had to take out a pair of shoes and she said that that was close enough. So she puts the tag on my bag and tells me to carry it around the corner to the TSA check point. I start bringing it around and notice that there is a large divider between where she is sitting and where I am standing, seeing this opportunity I repack my shoes back into my bag and give it to the TSA guys who don't say anything.After standing in security forever I finally got through and got a call from Lisa asking how the hell do you get anywhere cause the trains don't move. She finally figured out she was in terminal C and could just walk to the gate we were at. So we meet up and are waiting and then we hear an announcement that the airport was closed down. We think oh great this should be a ton of fun, and we wondered if Cat was circling us in the air right then. Turns out she was and our next flight was delayed quite a bit. Cat met up with us then and we then had to move gates all the way down to the other end of the C terminal. We finally get on the plane and of course my worst nightmare comes true. I get to my seat and the man behind me says he has the seat next to me, I take one look and think oh sh.. He must have weighed 400+ and took up a good portion of my seat. I didn't say anything though and sat in my seat and got hit in the shoulder and elbow any time a flight attendant walked by.After what seemed like the longest hour I have ever spent on a plane we finally arrive in New Orleans and make it back to our bread and breakfast, where Jean, Randy, Christy, Pam, and Alexander are all waiting for us. Problem is that is two Beers two short. Adrianna made an honest effort to get here and should be arriving very shortly today, while the youngest decided he needed to take a vacation from 2G this year and will not return any of our calls. Anyways after a late dinner Xander and I head to our room and alas it has 1 bed and a pull out couch. Well since he had been there for hours Xander had claimed the bed and I said aight then and prepared to get on my pull out couch. I have slept on some pull out couches before and they aren't they greatest thing in the world, but this one....oh man. I think I still have a mark from where the center bar is on my back today. Lets just say one of these nights I will be taking the bed so I can get a decent night of sleep.Another very interesting thing about the room that Xander and I share is that we have a very large jacuzzi tub with no shower. I don't know when the hell the last time I took a bath was, but I sure as hell took one this morning rubber ducky and all. After coming out of my bath refreshed, but still a little sore in the back, we had a tremendous breakfast, which I hardly ate any of because I don't eat breakfast, but just ask Catherine about it. After breakfast we loaded up into our Econoline Van and Bear, one of the Rustic Pathways guys gave us a driving tour of New Orleans. There was this one part where he said there used to be hundreds of houses, but now it is pretty much open fields and he said the houses were just floating away. It was insane, another part of town you could see where the water line was on the houses and it did not look like it was a good situation. After driving around and learning more about the different neighborhoods, we stopped at Cooter Browns and I got to sample a Muffaletta or something like that which is apparently a staple here in New Orleans.After lunch we got back in our van and made our way back to our very interesting little bed and breakfast and worked on some personnal finances, and here I am blogging. So after one night it has been far from uneventful, Adrianna just arrived, and I don't know what the hell it is, but I think I might just have to take a pull off that strange bottle of liquor in my room so I can makeit to sleep tonight.
July 29, 2007 - Travel day from #$%@
Hi everyone! Here is the first post from beautiful, humid New Orleans. It is Monday morning and the kids are all still in their rooms. Today is the only day that they don't have to be up early - breakfast is not until 9:00 a.m.
Yesterday was quite a day.
So we finally all arrived at the New Orleans airport and met our new friends Bear & Diana. They both work for Rustic Pathways and are both natives of New Orleans. Bear was here when Katrina hit and was stranded for 5 days before he was airlifted out of the city. He seems like a very nice guy and has so far been very interesting to listen to (oh yeah, Cristy & I have determined that he is cute too!). He put a care package in each of our rooms which included a DVD that he made of his experience during Katrina, along with beads, hot sauce and other New Orleans goodies.
So by the time everyone got to the House on Bayou Road last night it was about 9:00. The inn is owned by a very nice woman named Cynthia and her dog Odie. It is a beautiful, old indigo plantation. I am pretty sure there is a ghost in my room! We also met Chiquie and Anna. Chiquie is a chef and a darn good one! She had snacks set up for us outside - crab dip and crackers and Cajun biscuits with hot jelly/cream cheese dip. Dinner was delicious! Started with a salad, then pasta in garlic & olive oil with broccoli and chicken and sausage balls also fresh from the oven garlic bread. Yummo! For desert bananas foster. After that we were all very tired and went to bed, so no posting last night.
This morning after breakfast we are going on a tour of the city. The kids will all write about that this afternoon, so be sure to check back later tonight for news from them. Hopefully Adrianna will arrive today about 1:30, then we just need to see if we can get Patrick down here and our team will be complete.
That's all for now...
Jean
Yesterday was quite a day.
- Patrick did not make it on the plane - so no Patrick in NO
- Adrianna's plane was delayed over and over, so at 9:00 she finally gave up and went home - so no Adrianna in NO
- Alexander made it, but it luggage did not - so no clothes for Xander in NO
- Jean, Randy, Pam & Cristy sat in Chicago for hours, but finally made it 2 hours late
- The Wolfe's ran into thunderstorms in Dallas, but finally made it 2 hours late. Cat's plane circled for over an hour waiting to land, but luckily she made her connection.
So we finally all arrived at the New Orleans airport and met our new friends Bear & Diana. They both work for Rustic Pathways and are both natives of New Orleans. Bear was here when Katrina hit and was stranded for 5 days before he was airlifted out of the city. He seems like a very nice guy and has so far been very interesting to listen to (oh yeah, Cristy & I have determined that he is cute too!). He put a care package in each of our rooms which included a DVD that he made of his experience during Katrina, along with beads, hot sauce and other New Orleans goodies.
So by the time everyone got to the House on Bayou Road last night it was about 9:00. The inn is owned by a very nice woman named Cynthia and her dog Odie. It is a beautiful, old indigo plantation. I am pretty sure there is a ghost in my room! We also met Chiquie and Anna. Chiquie is a chef and a darn good one! She had snacks set up for us outside - crab dip and crackers and Cajun biscuits with hot jelly/cream cheese dip. Dinner was delicious! Started with a salad, then pasta in garlic & olive oil with broccoli and chicken and sausage balls also fresh from the oven garlic bread. Yummo! For desert bananas foster. After that we were all very tired and went to bed, so no posting last night.
This morning after breakfast we are going on a tour of the city. The kids will all write about that this afternoon, so be sure to check back later tonight for news from them. Hopefully Adrianna will arrive today about 1:30, then we just need to see if we can get Patrick down here and our team will be complete.
That's all for now...
Jean
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