Boom Chicka Boom

There were undoubtedly some moments, such as the days leading up to our Silent Auction, or trying to figure out how to bag 135 dozen orders of Christmas cookies, that I have to admit, I was relatively uncertain if all this work was “worth it”. This trip to New Orleans seemed to be ridiculously expensive, we weren’t stopping at a theme park on the way down and the uncertainty of what the return on this investment of time, money, resources, money and time might be.

However, if you were as lucky as I was last night, to see our 8 kids, walking off the Natchez Steamboat, completely drenched in sweat after dancing like fools on the ships’ 2nd deck, then chanting, laughing, smiling and goofing around on our walk back to the hotel, after a day in which they experienced a real Louisiana swamp and got to pet a 12 foot wild alligator, you would have unequivocally agreed with me that yes, it was all worth it.

Friday started with the Swamp Boat tour company calling and informing us that our 10am tour simply wasn’t going to happen. A fast moving thunderstorm was rolling off the Gulf (Pastor Weber would have been fascinated…SOUTH WINDS! 40-50MPH! Haha!) with high winds, lightening and rain. So, we decided to bump our tour back until 1pm, then told all our kids that instead of meeting at 8:45, we were meeting at 10:45am. In a way, I think it was the best thing that could have happened. Our kids all got to go back to sleep for an extra couple hours, and instead of rushing through a McDonalds or simply grabbing a muffin from Starbucks, our group was able to go to IHOP (I apologize…I really hope this is the one and only time we eat at a chain restaurant in Nawlins), get some real breakfast food and load up the bus rested, content and with full stomachs.

Arriving at the Arthur Matherne Airboat Tours was hilarious. Arthur himself, clad in shin-high white rubber boots with camouflage pants tucked into them, with an old t-shirt tucked in to those, with a camo hat on (I was beginning to think we were supposed to sneak up on the gators), was outside his gravel driveway smiling and waving. Of the first 5 sentences he spoke to us, I think we only were able to decipher about 10 words due to the speed and accent he spoke with.

The tour was phenomenal. Sitting across 3 rows of a large airboat, our hour long tour took us through at least 4 distinct swamp habitats, where we saw cypress trees, Spanish moss, great white egrets and Big Al. Big Al is a 12 foot gator who weighs close to 600 lbs. Our tour guides have, through the use of chicken, trained him to come up next to the boat and eat. All of our girls had the chance to pet him! The entire tour was great. A completely unique experience, and out guide was the perfect mix of funny and informative.

We got back from the tour too late to register, so we simply gave everyone an hour to chill and get ready. The girls got all dolled up (they really did look great) and the boys, well, Russell put on a polo and Jack and Ryan put on their NICEST t-shirts, so I guess that’s pretty good, and we headed off for our North Wisconsin District Event; a dinner cruise on the Natchez steamboat.

The dinner was ok, the boat was packed (we shared the event with the Oklahoma, South Dakota and Eastern Districts) and the cruise down the Mississippi past the Port of New Orleans was semi-interesting. However, when our girls discovered the dance floor on the 2nd deck, with a DJ getting ready to spin, that was when the night got fun.

I wasn’t there to witness it, but our 5 girls were the first and last ones on the dance floor. The boys joined in as well…and eventually after 12 attempts, they sent a crew of boys from WI to forcibly remove me from watching by side tables into the middle of the action. It was hilarious. Everyone was completely drenched in sweat, but we were also having a fantastic time.

On the way home from the hotel, we continued the party, chanting Boom-Chicka-Boom, getting other groups to join in on “I am a C, I am a C-H…) and were generally as loud as possible. Great night. Got back to the hotel around 9:30, went to the pool, the kids threw me in with my clothes on, and generally had a fantastic time doing group cannonballs and splashing each other.

Had a nice devotion to wrap up the evening and sent them to bed around 11:30. Today, we’re off to the Aquarium for a tour and to see an IMAX movie, then we’ll register, walk around the French Quarter and Bourbon St, grab some eats, then it’s time for the Opening Event at the Superdome! Let’s get this trip rolling! It’s been a phenomenal start and the kids are doing great…stay tuned for updates via Twitter!