We're in New Orleans!

Not without a few issues along the way...

We got off to a late start today, but made good time to the convention center, and found a great parking place right away. Registration went surprisingly smoothly, and the youth checked out the interaction center while Raymond and I were oriented.

We ended up spending about an hour longer than planned at the convention center, which was our first problem of the day. That is when we learned that we never go off on our own, and we always have a device that tells time with us.

We headed right to the dome from the convention center instead of stopping at the hotel first. That was mistake number two. They were supposed to have multiple food vendors at every gate. Turns out they only had one. The line when we got there around 5:15 was about 300 deep. So we decided to get in line to get into the dome, since they were supposed to open the doors at 5:30. Of course, they didn't. The lines really didn't start moving until about 6:00, and by 6:30, when the bands started playing, there were at least 15,000 people who still hadn't made it into the dome. Our kids were hot and hungry (and so were we!), so we made the decision to go back to the hotel, get settled, and get pizza. We're sorry to miss the speakers and bands, but now we'll be fresh for tomorrow.

So that's where we are now. We're watching X-Men: Origins, and having our own community night. Tomorrow we go to a hip-hop worship service, breakfast at Cafe DuMonde, the Aquarium, and teh Learning Center. We'll post pictures tomorrow night.

Peace!