Here is Cody on our first day of volunteering in New Orleans. This was a brutal day of sanding and mudding the walls of a kitchen and family room. We didn't wear hats, but we did have masks and goggles. We were covered with all the debris from sanding and it was thick in our hair. We were quite a sight when we got back to our hotel. I'm sure Cody had many thoughts this day of "what has my mother gotten me into?" - believe me I was having them too. We were both checking our watches almost every 20 minutes and couldn't wait for the end of the day to arrive. Luckily one of the other volunteers bought us all ice cream from the ice cream truck that came by as we were packing up all the tools. Cody and I then took our first drive around the 9th ward. The house we were working on was just into the 9th ward and at the time of Katrina had 18 feet of water, we drove into the lower 9th where they had 22 feet of water.
This house has tons of band-aids painted all over it.
Cody was a little startled to see this doll in the ground near the band-aid house
After our tour of the 9th ward we went back to our hotel and showered before we met up with my parents (Papa & Clip Clop) who came to New Orleans to meet us for the week. We walked around quite a bit in the French Quarter - avoiding Bourbon Street as it was St. Patrick's Day and very crazy and loud. We missed seeing the parade, but saw lots of the aftermath of it - the plastic bead necklaces were everywhere along with cabbage and potatoes!
Cody took great pictures, and what a joy we had spending some time with you two.
ReplyDeleteWe "missed" seeing the house with all the tee-shirt memorials on it. How moving!
There were so many incredible sights to see and so much heartbreak to witness.