Shoulda brought the Blue Suede Shoes

Guess the pictures say it all! Just a quick update on all the super exciting things we've been doing.

Friday, we completed our training as professional car washers/ yard workers (please don't tell our parents!). In the afternoon we headed to the Honey Island Swamp to hunt down some 'gators... though El Whoppo did not deign to make an appearance. After some exciting adventures (who knew they liked marshmallows?), we came back with all fingers intact. In the evening we headed into New Orleans for a last look at the French Quarter- including a taste of the world famous Cafe du Monde Beignets- a little sloppy but well worth the wait!

On Saturday we had an early morning start so we could make it to the beach!! After a quick power shop at the local outlet mall in Gulf Port we hit the sand! PJ was the only casualty, after a jellyfish took a liking to his elbow. We came back sun-browned and sandy, though found ourselves wishing the Gulf of Mexico could be just a little bit colder! Dinner was at Sonic- for the drive-in experience, then we spent the night at our favourite Open Door Mennonite again... contrary to the photos we did not spend the night on the parking lot. Krispy Kremes for breakfast again!

Today's been Sunday, a day of sights and souvenirs... Graceland dominated the afternoon, as we went to pay our respects to the home of the King of Rock and Roll. We may not have brought our blue suede shoes, but we walked like the best of them down Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis! St. Louis was our second last stop of the day, where we frolicked on the grass and wished for a ride in the four-person bikes. We have seen the arch, the stadium, the museum and listened to a concert by the coolest 10-year old rapper in the USA. Yes, Evan has a new favourite artist.

We write this from the Judo Room in the house of our new friends and gracious hosts in Chesterfield, MO- just outside of St. Louis. As tired as we are, there's still energy for a dance party, complete with strobe lights and glow sticks! Tomorrow we'll head off to the great state of Minnesota- inching our way towards home at 75 mph.

Kiss me through the phone y'all!

We are Bleeding Sunscreen!

Day four, our last day at our worksites has come to a conclusion. The ramp construction is complete and is even painted! We did as much work as we had material to use at the other two sites, so it must have been a successful week.

For lunch today we all headed out to the Bayou site and had a lunch consisting of shrimp fried rice (both spicy and not spicy varieties) and a green bean dish prepared by the owner of the house Paul and his wife Carol. The shrimp was obviously as fresh as it could have been and was therefore fantastic!

And yesterday for dinner Ron came to join us and brought some of his famous beans, which were absolutely fantastic! and afterward we had a time of singing camp songs that we may or may not have known, and finished off the evening of a good ol' rendition of 606, which brought together mennonites from Kansas, Germany, Louisiana, and Winnipeg.

After the singing time, we wandered outside and found an armadillo scampering around! We are now trying to figure out how to hunt and catch and domesticate them. Thus far it has been fairly unsuccessful.

Tomorrow we are cleaning up the camp here, as everyone is leaving it until the fall.

Last night saw great advancement made in the world of music. When Doug's lack of sleep caused him to break out in a new form of the Veggietales theme song, Heather and Jen jumped on board. Doug wrote most of the chorus, Heather, Jen and PJ contributed the verses. Every verse is written for a specific theme of this trip. Number 1 is traveling, number 2 is about a general Louisiana work day, and numbers 3-5 deal specifically with each job site. And there may yet be more verses to come! Without further ado...

Doug's Song (To the tune of the Veggietales theme song):

Chorus:

Farmer's tan

Farmer's tan

Farmer's tan

Red and burnt

Verse 1:

30 hours

Church floors

Cold shower

We made it here

Verse 2:

Mosquito spray

SPF

After Bite

Sock tan

Verse 3:

Freezies

Orange Crush

Ice cream sandwiches

All from Ron

Verse 4:

Shoveling

Find a knife

Catch a rat

Bayou

Verse 5:

Table saw

Power tools

2 x 4s

Covered in paint

We Miss you Michael!

Work day number three has finally come to an end. We are now officially over half way done!! The weather has been in the 40's with the humidity every day, and 30 now feels like a nice cool day.

Monday night found us all exhausted after the first day of work. However, PJ convinced that a short 1 mile walk to the Mississippi would be a good way to loosen up our stiff bodies.

Then Andrew made plans...

Our 1 mile "walk" turned into a 130 km drive to the southernmost part of Louisiana. Although it was late and it was a little hard to see, we did get to soak in some of the sights that southern Louisiana has to offer.

On Tuesday night we took a trip to New Orleans to take in some of the sights, sounds, and smells. We started just walking around and looking at the touristy shops and eventually stumbled on Evan's new favourite place, Bourbon Street. We started at the "G" rated section, and made our way through the "PG", "PG-13", "14A", and eventually found ourselves in the "R" rated section where Jenn made us turn off. Though it was only a tuesday night, it was a very happenin' place with people everywhere and buskers on every corner. We were serenaded by a fantastic trio for about 15 minutes! We then continued walking around town looking for a washroom (unsuccessfully). We also saw a donkey pulling a cart! After spending time watching a GTR peel out of a parkade, we proceeded to head "home" where we arrived an hour past curfew. B.A!

Currently we are waiting for our singing and fellowshipping time with Mr. Ron (one of the owners of a house we are working on). We're excited to see what tomorrow has in store for us!

New Orleans!

No time to update it tonight, we are going to New Orleans for the evening!!

Sock Tans Are Cool

Today we started our first day of work! We were split up into three different groups to go to different work sites:

One of the groups had to take a boat down the river to the

"Bayou", which is a swampy area that is full of crabs and other equally exciting creatures. There was much shoveling and building of muscles as they covered up swamp area with dirt that is FULL of seashells and rocks. Paul's singing entertained the group all day long.

Another group went to Ron's house where they installed laminate flooring, and did the second coat of paint in the now bright green bathroom. Dylan and Jonas became experts at flooring, while Doug and Andrew installed a storm door. They received many treats from Ron throughout the day.

The third group went to a man's house to build a wheelchair ramp. He has not been outside in months because he can't get out of the house. The ramp was constructed of mostly scrap material as the budget was not sufficient to build the 56 foot ramp with new lumber. Amanda and Kathryn learned to use a compound mitre saw to angle the spindles just right, and then screwed them in with the expertise of Raya. Evan watched, and impressed the ladies by lending a helping hand when the going got tough. He also cut stuff on the table saw all day.

We are now sitting in our sort of air conditioned building awaiting dinner and admiring our sock tans. Looking forward (sort of) to the next 4 days of work.

about 30 hours later...

Greetings from Diamond Louisiana!!

After 30 hours of driving, 2 church floors, 1 lively church service and successfully smuggling apples across the border, we have finally arrived (fashionably late) in Diamond.

Our three days of traveling have been jam packed with fun adventures!! Last night found us at the Open Door Mennonite Church, (that was closed when we got there... ironic???) This morning we got to participate in their service, which was full of AMENS and friendly hugs. It was grand! The congregation even provided us with a fellowship meal, which was greatly appreciated after 2 full days of fast food.

Our residence was formerly (before the flood) a Catholic church, and thus has high ceilings, and even a balcony at the back. There is air conditioning!! They have four window units that are constantly running.

Tomorrow is our first day of work... wish us luck!!