Fall Road Trip 2019- Part 5- Memphis

Wednesday- 10/30- We packed up fairly early today and made our way across the Lake Ponchetrain Causeway heading for Memphis. For lunch we stopped at Mama Hamil’s for lunch. It was a bit of an overwhelming place at first, but I would say it was a very classic southern comfort food buffet. It got mixed reviews from the kids (Ben absolutely refused to let us take his picture), but the lunch dessert and serve your own ice cream saved the day;) We ended our driving day in Memphis. Before arriving at our hotel, we stopped at the Bass Pro Shop’s pyramid store and it was quite impressive with an elevator to the top and a hotel inside. Thanks again to James’ curiosity, we learned the history of the building from a local including how the store ended up going into the pyramid site. Apparently the building originally was the home of the Memphis grizzlies (NBA team), but there wasn’t adequate seating if they wanted to be part of the NBA so they had to move to a new location. The building sat vacant for a while before the owner of Bass Pro Shops was fishing with a Memphis big wig and said that if he caught a catfish above a certain size on that particular day then he would place his new store in the pyramid, and that is just what he did!  PB&J count- 49.

Thursday- 10/31- Halloween! When we woke up and headed out it was a balmy 38 degrees. We bundled up and headed off on foot to get some energy out and to see the sights of the city. The whole reason for coming to Memphis was to see the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. This was another really well done museum that we were all able to learn new ideas as well as reaffirm and cement what we had already learned. We ate at Central BBQ for lunch and it did not disappoint! Gabe felt better that he had gotten some official Memphis BBQ. On the walk back to the hotel we took the scenic route to come along Beale St. Except that most of Beale St. was closed/blocked off because ESPNs College Game Day was there setting up for Saturday’s show. We at least got the idea of Beal St., just with no people and no live music. We went back to the hotel to put on Halloween costumes and head for the Stax Museum which was hosting a free safe trick or treating night. It was neat to see the museum/recording studio and the kids (surprisingly) loved the crafts! We made mummies, decorated masks & records, made popsicle stick mummies, had snacks, and collected candy. It was a different and fun Halloween experience to be sure! We ended the night with a supper at a late night diner and checking out Beal St. one more time.

Fall Road Trip 2019- Part 4- NOLA

Thursday- 10/24- Today was supposed to be a stay in and relax day, but since this was going to be the only nice day we are here and not at the conference, we had to pack in as much as possible;) We started the day in the French Quarter on a kids walking tour of the area. This spit us out at the Louisiana State Museum which was half Katrina and half Mardi Gras so we explored that after lunch. The kids got us sucked into watching a street performance and, of course, Ben got picked to be a volunteer. We stopped back at our rental just in time to go again, this time to the City Park and the brand new children’s museum there. They had some amazing natural play spaces outside and in. PB&J count- 38.

Friday- 10/25- Today was a warm, but very rainy, like several inches down pouring all day, rainy. We spent almost all day today at the National WWII Museum. It was a really impressive museum. We were there for 5+ hours and only did 1.5 of the 5 buildings! It was awesome for the kids to match videos, pictures and maps to events and experiences they have already learned about. And (maybe more exciting for me) was how much they remembered! Even the things we hadn’t discussed since early last spring. This evening we attended the “kids camp” for the conference which was held at the New Orleans aquarium. It was a great night exploring the river walk and taking in all of the aquatic life around this area. By the end though, we had all had enough for the day and were exhausted! PB&J count- 42.

Saturday- 10/26- Today was the first day of the National AAP conference, thus the first day of conference childcare for the kids. Since we are going to be in Memphis on actual Halloween we wanted to make sure we participated in some type of trick or treating just in case we miss that later. Luckily for us the adjacent boardwalk mall had trick or treating at lunch! So that’s what we did. The kids loved dressing up and collecting candy so much they didn’t mind missing an hour at lunch of childcare;) Our original plan was to pick the kids up and head back to the WWII museum for the evening event, but Audrey was complaining of her stomach hurting. Long story short we hemmed and hawed for a while, drove by the museum, saw the line with Audrey whining and decided to just head home. Within 5 minutes of arriving home she vomited, so we were thankful that didn’t happen in the car! The upside is that everyone got a good, earlier than planned, bedtime!

Sunday- 10/27- Today we had a split day. Audrey and I dropped Gabe and the boys off at the conference and we went to work on some chores that needed to be done given that she hadn’t vomited since the night before, but couldn't attend the childcare. We spent the morning at the laundromat, running to the grocery store, and relaxing at a coffee shop. When we got back to our rental place Audrey’s request was to take a nap, which I am pretty sure is the first time in her life she has asked that. She was out in 5 minutes and slept for 1.5 hours! We laid low the rest of the day:)

Monday- 10/28- Our last day of the conference and our next to last day in New Orleans. One our way into the conference we took a quick detour to Cafe Du’Monde for some beignets with lots of powdered sugar. After the conference was over we grabbed the kids and headed to Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. They have several 45 minute sets nightly, you just wait outside, pay cash, them squish into a very intimate room where you are literally sitting knee to knee with the performers. It was classic New Orleans jazz at its best. The performers played the piano, the saxophone, the clarinet, the trumpet, the trombone, and drums. Three of the kids got to sit right in the front (Ben chose to stand back with us). Afterwards we headed to Crescent City Brew Pub and more live jazz and great food (Noah tried his first oyster!). It was certainly a late night, but worth it!

Tuesday- 10/29- For our last day in New Orleans the kids opted to spend more time at the WWII museum. We spent several hours exploring more of the museum and left after 5+ hours still having to skip two of the six buildings. It is a very impressive museum that is really well done, we all learned so much and it helped to cement and bring to life what the kids had already learned. One of the cooler parts was on our way out of the museum there were three WWII veterans sitting at tables with pictures and talking with people. We got to see a Purple Heart and learn about their journeys. James asked some good questions about what they ate, etc. and he was complimented for being thoughtful and asking good questions. After lunch we went back to the French Quarter to visit the two national park sites there. One is dedicated solely to jazz music and the rangers perform daily as part of a jazz band. They also do a fantastic job teaching while playing. Naturally it had started pouring so we ducked into Cafe Beignet for more beignets and more live jazz music before heading back to get packed up. PB&J count- 46