Trip to New Orleans-our first "real" vacation

Between poverty and children, our chosen path in life, Moss and I have never had the chance to get away and have a "real" vacation. We were very willing to take the opportunity afforded us to adventure down to New Orleans alone, together. While this type of experience is not necessary to our overall happiness in life, I am convinced that it does in fact promote it.

We have the University of Missouri department of Ophthalmology to thank for making it financially possible. Moss did some research with an attending and his abstract was accepted for the academy. His department has a financial incentive for anyone who is willing to go through this process. Moss finished the research and created the poster for the academy. He was only obligated to stand by the poster for 90 minutes of the entire convention, so we were free to do whatever we wanted.

My parents in their unfailing service to us as their children flew over and stayed with the kids. Needless to say the girls were essentially kicking us out the door. They could not wait for their fun with Grandma and Grandpa to begin, uninhibited by us. I was worried (or maybe hoping) that Brooke would have a hard time without me, but it was in vain. As soon as I was gone she was glad to be in on all the fun.

We stayed right down in the warehouse district and accross from the french quarter. In our business of life we failed to plan ahead, but did our best to get a taste of the history and cultrue of the area. We ate in little local restaurants, looked in all the little shops, and enjoyed all the roadside entertainment. We were told that we had to walk down Bourbon St. to have the full experience, but I would have to disagree completely.

On the last day there, we took a ride on the steamboat Nachez. It was nice to be out on the mississippi, and they gave a narrative about the area and its history. We really had a nice time together.