We just spent six fun days with Rachelle and the little girls. We enjoyed sharing our new home and surroundings with Rachelle and reading, singing, and playing with Olivia and Gracie. Our first stop was to meet our dear friends Don and Michelle Lake , who are also one of our senior couples in New Orleans, and have dinner at our favorite NO restaurant ,"Fat Greg's." One of the highlights was going to the New Orleans zoo. It is a beautiful zoo . We got to see elephants carry big tires and logs around. We saw big white bangle tigers, orangoutangs swinging from rope to rope and chasing each other, and of course a real Louisiana swamp with at least 10 to twelve alligators slithering around in the water. All of the exhibits are close up and close to each other. Rachelle and I went out with the sister missionaries one night and enjoyed watching Jessica, a new convert of about a month, share a fun Relief Society enrichment with her sister, mother, and little brother. They absolutely loved it. Her little brother is fourteen , and was feeling a little out of place but before long he was sanding the boards for all of the sisters and even made one of his own. Her mother remarked,"there's a lot of love here." Rachelle and the girls came to the mission office and hung out one morning with one of our zones of missionaries while we all made our new media boards. Then we all went to lunch. THe little girls loved the missionaries, especially the sister missionaries.
Rachelle was so great to help me get my Thanksgiving decorations up and she even cleaned out my refrigerator. I was supposed to help her get some rest but she couldn't do enough to help us. She also helped me get my blog switched over to our new family blog. And of course, no trip is complete without a pedicure and a little shopping. We also took her to see a creole plantation so she could learn a little history of Louisiana. WE hated to see them go today as we put them on the plane and prayed that Rachelle would hang together on a six hour trip with Gracie. She is non stop motion. Both little girls were so cute and loved their grandpa. Bill was able to spend quite a bit of time with us. We start a week of zone conferences tomorrow so I better go and get my slide show together before i run out of hours . Thanks Rachelle for taking the time and effort to come see us. Sarah , Glen, Sam and Brig will all start showing up Friday on for Thanksgiving.
