New Orleans 2009

Okay so it happened again...I wanted these pictures in a different order, pretty much the opposite of what they are now but oh well...you can just read the captions and figure out the order of events! As you may have read in a previous post I took a long weekend trip to support two of the girls I cared for in Girls Hope New Orleans graduate. It was so much fun too see them again and see how far they have come from the little 6th graders we knew them as. It was also nice to see their parents and be remembered by them too. Both girls are headed to college in the fall which is so amazing and wonderful. That is a huge goal of the program and they both reached it with flying colors! yay! I am so proud of them!
The house you above is the future Girls Hope house which should be done and ready for 8 girls this fall. It is in the same place as the house I lived in but much bigger! It is taking up our old neighbors lot as well and the office will be a part of the house too. Both previous homes and the office were destroyed in Katrina.

Here are a drenched Julie and Amy on the streetcar. We had big plans for Sunday. We wanted to walk to the streetcar, ride it to our favorite park to go for a walk, go out for lunch and then ride the streetcar back to our hotel and get ready for the girls graduation party. Well, those plans got interrupted by New Orleans rainy weather! We made it to the streetcar and lunch but skipped the walk. We got wet enough walking to the streetcar so we skipped another rainy walk. As you can see we are wearing Bourbon Street ponchos...talk about touristy! Oh well! We had fun!

This is the Courtyard of our Best Western French Quarter Hotel. We enjoyed breakfast here every morning. There was a pool but we sadly we didnt have time to use it.

Just me being silly by my favorite street sign!

Jackson Square

Yummy breakfast of Cafe Au Lait and Beignets at Cafe Du Monde on our last day in the Big Easy.

The original Girls Hope New Orleans family minus one of the houseparents. The woman on the far left graduated when we were there and the next two are the proud graduates this year!

Us enjoying the Cats Meow on Bourbon Street saturday night. We only made it out Saturday night since Friday we got to have dinner and play Clue with our girls at their house and Sunday we were celebrating their graduation.

A picture of us during our day in the French Quarter. We just love it!

The Girls Hope house and the family there now plus Julie and I! This was before the delicious dinner they made for us.
We had a great trip and packed a lot into the 4 days we were there. Can't wait to go back with Linnea and Chris someday. They were just fine at home by the way. Linnea ate a LOT I guess but Chris said she was a perfect angel so thats good! They went on a few walks, out to breakfast with some friends, spent time with grandma Sarah and aunt Allison and overrall enjoyed their time together. What a great daddy!