Our Trip to New Orleans

We started our day with Mass at St Mary's Assumption Church - a short walk from our apartment. The church is also the home of the very small Seelos Museum of blessed Francis Xavier Seelos . I always enjoy learning about the lives of soon-to-be saints.


(I know it's fuzzy but it's actually the best one I have)

After Mass, we walked back to the apartment for a potty stop before driving to Metairie to meet up with some online friends for a St Patrick's Day parade. I was able to meet Ruth, her dh and two of her children as well as Erin, her dh and one child.
We had a great time at the parade. Not only do float riders throw beads but also cabbages, potatoes, carrots (I kid you not), moon pies, peanuts, pretzels, fruit snacks, pixie sticks, stuffed animals, balls, plastic cigars and more. The kids had a great time - well except maybe James who was not into the parade atmosphere.


We had a light lunch, took the kids back to the apartment, rested for a short time and then Ruth and Joe picked us up to go out to dinner. We had Po Boys - Ruth and I had shrimp while the guys had shrimp and oyster. Ruth and I drank a New Orleans Lady (on the recommendation of our chatty but slightly annoying waiter) which was quite tastey.
By then the rain was letting up, so we walked around the French Quarter and ended up at Pat O'Briens where all (except Ruth - she had something else) had a Hurricane. It's rare for me to have more than one drink in an evening so Ruth saw me at my friendliest :) But I guess she still liked me since we made plans for another evening later in the week. It was a most enjoyable evening going out to dinner and for drinks with Ruth and Joe. I've known Ruth online for probably over 12 yrs and this is the first time we met in person and I like her every bit as much in person as I do online. And our husbands seemed to have a fine evening chatting as well.