International Reading Association Conference in NOLA - Day 4

This morning, we got up early to hear P. David Pearson and Sharon Robinson, author and daughter of Jackie Robinson.

We went to a session on books for boys and got to hear Louise Borden, Tim Federle, and Barb Rosenstock.

More authors and illustrators:

We had our Poster Session from 11:00-12:00, and it went well.

We finished our day in NOLA by going to the St. Louise #1 cemetery and 9th Ward.

After a drive home and in some torrential rains for the last 2-3 hours, I was happy to be home and in my bed.

International Reading Association Conference in NOLA - Day 3

We got up before the crack of dawn again this morning to hear Dav Pilkey, author of Captain Underpants and other books.

We went to more great sessions all morning, and then we led our workshop from 3:00-5:00.  We had around 80 participants.

We grabbed Subway to eat in the hotel before we went out for our evening of fun -- Haunted Walking Tour with Witches Brew Tours.   It was a great tour, and we are so glad we did it.

Before we started on the tour.

Tour Guide

Halfway through the tour.

End of the tour

On or way back, we stopped at Harrah's and then tried to have dessert at Root, but it was closed.  We settled for ice cream cookie sandwiches from the hotel shop.

 Fun pictures from our morning:

International Reading Conference in NOLA - Day 2

We got up before the crack of dawn to have breakfast and get in line to see/hear Jeff Kinney, creator of Poptropica and author of the Wimpy Kid series.

Waiting in line.

Jeff Kinney

We spent all day going to sessions and learning so much, and we even skipped lunch!  By the time 5:00 rolled around, we were starving.  We tried an Italian restaurant between the Convention Center and our hotel, and it was good.  (I don't remember what it was called.)  We went back to the hotel to plan out our presentation for tomorrow.

After planning out everything, we decided to head out to the Nerdy Book Club gathering at a hotel a street over.  We had the privilege to meet Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild, and spent some time engrossed in education talk.

Heading out to have some fun!

The Triad with Donalyn Miller

We stayed up far too late for when we have to get up tomorrow.

International Reading Association Conference and NOLA - Day 1

My BFF and I loaded up my little car and took off for NOLA at 5:00 this morning.  While we had some rain north of Baton Rouge, we had a really good trip.  We arrived at our hotel in the warehouse District just after 1:00 and met up with our other BFF.

We immediately got ready and went to the Convention Center to check-in and get our programs and bags.

After asking directions, we got on a shuttle to take us to a trolley stop so we could go to the French Quarter.

Our first trolley ride!

First stop, benigns at Cafe du Monde. (That is a lot of powdered sugar!)

Walking through Jackson Square.

We walked over to Bourbon street just to say we saw it.  We found the Carousel Bar, which was really neat.  Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast, we were starving by this point, so we rode the trolly back near our hotel and went to Butcher for dinner, where our waiter showed us his tattoo.  He will have a book published later this year or early next year.

We waited out a torrential downpour at the restaurant before getting back to the hotel and planning for tomorrow.

NOLA--We Are Delayed

My BFF and I were supposed to fly to NOLA tonight at 5:35 this evening to meet our other BFF.  We got a message around 2:30 that our flight had been cancelled (due to major rain storms moving through).  We went on to the airport, stood in line for 4 HOURS, and were told that there was no way we were getting a flight out.  The earliest they could fly us would be Saturday.  No, this is not good enough!  The first time it rains in months and it completely interferes with our trip.

Extremely upset, we drove back home and have decided to drive and leave at 5 in the morning.  Wish us luck!

NOLA--Here We Come

Today is the day we leave for the International Reading Association (IRA) Conference in New Orleans!  Can't wait!