Ok so I am back for another 2 week stay in Belle Chasse, LA. For some reason this week is so hard for me. I am sitting here in the job trailer eating lunch and wondering what the girls are doing. I am on my way back to the lab to do some more work. I love everyone and I will see you soon.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!

Looking down Canal St. in front of Harrah's

Today was a fun day. Daniel, Augie and myself went to downtown New Orleans. They are two guys that I work with. We started at Harrah's Casino in downtown. We decided to play some slots and mess around there for a while before we walked to the French Quarter. I didn't have a lot of money to play with, so I decided to take it easy and play some nickel slots. I had a 10 in the machine and hit a combo that gave me $50! I decided to cash that and go play some quarter slots. I was looking around the area for some quarter slots and ran across a $1 slot that caught my attention. I decided to play a $20 and see what happens. After 5 plays into it, all these lights started flashing and the credit count started ticking off. 50, 100, 125, 150, 200, 225, 240, 250! OMG I just won 200 something dollars! So with that I decided to play it down to 200 and cash out. Again more lights and I hit the side game. This was a progressive machine and when you played the side game, it would climb up this meter towards the jackpot progressive. It had like 9 tiers to the jackpot and a wheel would spin that had 1-3 levels. Whichever level it landed on is how many spots you moved up the meter. The first spin landed on 2 levels, 60+ dollars. The second spin landed on another 2 levels. Now it is up to $110+. Now comes spin 3... and I get the collect. So now the credit count is up to $360+ dollars!!! I decided to play it down to 300 and then cash out. My mouth is wide open and I cash out at 300. I could not believe I just turned $20 into $300. SWEET!!!!! So now I am done with this casino. I find the other two and we decide to walk. On to the French Quarter.

Augie is Catholic and he wanted to see the cathedral. I have always wanted to see it also. We head to Jackson Square and enter St. Louis Cathedral. It is breathtaking inside. Beautiful murals on the ceiling. Elaborate stained glass windows. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent some time there before heading deeper into the French Quarter.

St. Louis Cathedral

So we walked to Bourbon Street and headed towards Canal St. Just soaking up the ambiance of the French Quarter. It started getting really busy there and my truck was at Harrah's. we walked back to Harrah's, laughing about the things we saw on Bourbon Street. We decided to have dinner at the casino buffet and I hurt them with the snow crabs.

It was a fun filled day with great friends. We will go back, no doubt about it! I cannot wait to bring Missy to New Orleans and share that with her. There is one really good thing about being here. There are so many trips we can take when they come and visit me here. It is going to be great to share that with my Family!! I love you Missy, KK, and Briley Bear.

Worst Blogger Ever

Ok so I am the worst at this. I have not updated this in two weeks. Alot has hapened since my last entry. We have started the job full tilt now and everyday is alot of work. But We have finished our first 2 weeks of the work and I was able to go home this weekend. I have never been so excited to drive for 6 hours before. I couldn't get there fast enough. When I arrived, my Waffe and my Bear were waiting in the driveway. Briley came running up yelling Daddy. That is the best sound in the world, hearing her say Daddy. I was so excited to get into my house and smell the familiar scents of home. See the kids toys, and hear the dogs; it was all just total bliss. We hd such a great weekend together it flew by. I didn't get to see KK until the next morning, but the look of excitement on her face when I went to get her was priceless. She looked at me like "What are you doing here Dad?"

I am now back in Louisiana and I miss them all over again. But the last two weeks went by fast, so I expect these next two will be just as fast. I am going to bed now have to get up at 5. Back to the grind. I love you Missy, Briley and Kayelyn. Be good girls and Briley please take care of Momma and KK. I love you all.

Goodnight.

So I thought I would try a video blog entry to see if that works. Other than that, everything is going great here. The job is getting lined out and kicked off just right. I am getting to really implement my safety tasks this week, so I am excited. Other than that it is wake up, work, food, sleep, and blog somewhere in there. Oh and my wife is the smartest person in the whole wide world. She came up with the idea of using Skype to talk to her and the kids. We both got cameras and we are able to talk and see eash other every night. It is so exciting to get to see Briley, Kayelyn and Missy every night. Good job Honey!!! Ok more tomorrow! Good night

I have to begin by saying that getting up at 5:00 am and getting home at 5:30 pm, made sure that I took 0 pictures today. Oh and in case you were wondering, I was right yeaterday about how much it was going to suck to wear the FRC and work a full 10 hrs. I have never been happier to get home and get my clothes off! It may be TMI, but it was fantastic.

I really have no update on anything for today. I will be home tomorrow and I am so excited! I can't wait to see my girls. Ok more tomorrow!

This was last night when I was down by the river.


Here is where I will be staying for the rest of this week. It is alot nicer. And I have a room by myself. HooHaa!!!

This is what I got to look at the entire trip to New Orleans. By the time I Got here, I thought about applying to U-HAUL to be there spokes person!!!



"Call 1-800 GO UHAUL for all your moving needs!" "We make your move easier!"

Day Two

Day two and I am completely wore out. This is going to be a long week, much less a long job. There is so much to do, and to know, before we even begin the job itself. I am missing my family so much. But my wife keeps sending me videos and text messages from them so that is very special. We got up this morning and went to the safety council to get our badges for the plant. After that we went to the facility and checked in. There are two people on our crew that do not have their TWIC cards yet, so full 100% escort for them, and guess who gets picked. That is right folks, I had to follow this guy around the entire time he was in the plant. If he went to the Port O Can, I stood outside and waited. He had to remain in my sight at all times. If for some reason he were to get away and do something he was not supposed to, then it would have fallen on me and I would loose my TWIC card and be removed from the facility, so I was very sure to watch his every move. The frustrating part is that he is older and is slower than me, so the walk to and from the gate was very difficult for me. i felt like I was on a treadmill not going anywhere and all I wanted to do was get the FRC's off. FRC's for those that don't know, are fire retardant coveralls that I have to wear over my clothes. Talk about hot!!! i was so happy to get back to the van and get those coveralls off, I forgot what time it was. We had only been there 3 hours and i was so tired. On a normal day, I would have about 7 more to go. UGG!!!



So as I said it will be a long project. The best part of it is that I will be loosing alot of weight. :) Well, I will have more tomorrow!

Made It

So I have made it to New Orleans...actually Luling which is on the other side of the Mississippi River. We are staying in this hotel for one night, until the one we will be in for the long haul is ready tomorrow. I have been trying to get the camera to work, but I think it is too cold from the AC in the van. So, all in all so far on this trip I am living in a hotel, next to my van down by the river!!! Thank you Matt Foley. I will work on the camera and post some pictures later tonight.