Moore's go to Florida - Day 2

Andria writing: We left New Orleans today, and I’m writing now as we are enroute to Orlando. I think we just passed over Mobile, AL. I was actually pretty impressed we were all up, dressed and having breakfast in the restaurant by 7:30am! Guess our internal clocks are all set to “school time” even though that ended on Thursday. The photo is in front of the old terminal building that was damaged by Katrina after we landed.

Our quick trip to New Orleans was fun…we stayed in the French Quarter and tooled around the Jackson Square. The boys went into a Louisiana history museum while I saw on the sidewalk and watched a little jazz band play away the afternoon. Of course, we then had beignets at Café De Mond. I love looking at all of the unique iron railings and numerous art galleries. But there are also the shops with all kinds of things you are suddenly aware of and embarrassed about when you have your young kids with you! I had to explain what all the tarot card and fortune teller people were. As we were eating lunch, we witnessed a 70ish purple haired man wheel up his shop and set up. It took him like 30 min to set his table, chairs, signs up. Then one of the other scammers (a smoking 40ish man with an extra large paunch named “Jeffy”) approached him and tried to talk him into moving to another corner. He probably was jealous of his more colorful setup (and hair!) Anyway, we watched as Jeffy reeled in a couple of suckers and layed out his cards in exchange for money. We had to explain all that to the boys and how they were scamming with their pile of baloney. I haven’t walked around the French Quarter since I was 20 and in college. It’s funny, I actually got to chat on the phone to my old high school friend, Neal, while standing in the square. Last time I was there was when some friends and I visited him in college.



The hotel had a wonderful pool on the top floor with awesome views of the city. We splashed around a big and I’m always amazed at the little things kids get a kick out of: who gets to push the elevator button, using the key card to open your room door and how in the world do they get a pool on the roof?? Here we are taking off from Lakefront Airport.


While flying around has become second nature to us, I realize not all of you know and can visualize all the details of this kind of traveling. So, while I’m stuck here for another 3 hours looking at nothing but air and clouds, I’m going to share some details. So since there are no McDonalds or Valeros to stop in and go to the bathroom, what do we do? Well, we have friends called “Little John”. I even took a photo for you as I had the pleasant job of emptying it this morning. One is labeled “boys” one is “dad” and one is “mom” with its own special attachment called the “lady J.” One or both boys will usually go each flight just because it’s cool and different, and they like to mark their territory. We also brought the little toddler potty for desperate situations just in case. Even though the boys are 6 and 9, you just never know! Fortunately it remained unused.
Usually in any given day or flight we try to fly no more than 3-4 hours total. But since we are at the beginning of the trip we are doing two 4hr legs the first two days. The airports we land in are small and terminals are called “FBOs”, and I have no idea what that stands for. Many of them are old, smoky and have a few pilots sitting in recliners shooting the breeze and passing the day talking of their glory days. The New Orleans one was brand new because the old one floated away from hurricane Katrina in 2004. It was tastefully decorated and had treats in the bathroom! There were mints, perfume, mouthwash and monogrammed towelettes. We took a cab (it was actually a roomy suburban with a dvd player) to and from the hotel. We packed one small overnight bag for all of us just for this one night. It never fails though that we have all kinds of other bags: my purse, book bag, 2 backpacks, flight bag, laptop bag, and small cooler. It’s embarrassing. When we land in Orlando (actually we’ll be landing at the Kissimmee airport south of Orlando) we’ll unload the whole kit and caboodle, and they will usually bring over a golf cart to help us load up.

….Later that night now Jeff writing: We made it in to Orlando early this afternoon. There was some weather in the area, but we were able to make it in safely with the help of air traffic control and our in-cockpit weather system. We had a pleasant afternoon swimming in the huge pool. Elliot was not feeling well, so he and Andria went back to the room while Cameron and I played basketball. Well tomorrow, we plan to go to one of the Disney waterparks. Here's a couple of photos at the resort. Bye for now.