I almost forgot to post

…about our trip to Mississippi!

On Wednesday, March 23, we drove down to Mobile, AL, where I got to meet one of my friends (whom I “met” online a few years ago and this is the first time we got to meet in person)! It was a very nice visit.

We left there and went to a hotel – only to find it was “NO VACANCY.” So was the one next door. On either side. We drove down a ways, and tried another one. It had a vacancy but… Robby asked the guy behind the counter if he could look at a room. The guy said, “In the morning” Robby said, “So I can’t look at a room before I sleep in one?” and the guy said, “You can pay and then go to the room and if you don’t like it we can work something out.” Sounds good? Not! There was a big sign on the wall stating “NO REFUNDS.” Robby said, “No, thank you.” and we left.

We drove halfway from Mobile to Ocean Springs, MS, and stopped at a rest stop along the way and slept there, in the car.

Thursday morning we drove the rest of the way, looked around Ocean Springs and Biloxi a bit, had breakfast, and then headed to the downtown area of Ocean Springs where Robby had a service call. While he was working, the kids and I wandered around downtown Ocean Springs (VERY neat place!) and Bob & Rae each bought a pewter pendant from Ballard Pewter.

About 11am, we had covered the whole of downtown, so I turned on the car and pulled up the GPS to see how far we were from the ocean (actually, the Gulf of Mexico). It was only five blocks from where we were, so we turned the car back off and, putting Zeus on the leash, headed that way.

After about three blocks, we came upon a public playground, so we stopped in and let the kids climb on the toys for a few minutes. I talked to a lady who had two daughters (ages 17mos and 2mos) for a few minutes, and then we headed on down to the beach.

It was a beautiful day, have I mentioned that? It was around 70 degrees, the sun was shining… the wind at the beach was constant, but pleasant. I sat on the (more or less dry) sand with my feet in the water, while the kids romped and played. We were there for about an hour and a half, then we headed back up to the car, to see if Robby was done yet.

He wasn’t.

We walked a couple blocks north to Burger King for lunch, bringing Robby back a sandwich. Then we went back to the toy store for a couple minutes, followed by a stop by the ice cream shop, and back to the pewter place for Bob to purchase his (Rae got hers earlier, but Bob waited). Then we went to the Tatonut (potato donuts) shop and tried one of those (delicious!).

On the way back to the car, we stopped by a pottery place. It was really neat!

Finally, about 5pm, Robby got finished, and we headed home.

All-in-all, the kids and I had a great trip… Robby worked the whole time, which was kind of a bummer, but at least the rest of us could enjoy!