We are BEAT!

Our full day in Biloxi and it went great! Oh we had such fun and enjoyed being here!

We woke up around 8 or so (I won't lie, I stayed in bed later, the girls were enjoying Daddy time and wow the bed was comfy!) to a bright, sunny day. After eating breakfast and bathing we headed out the door to the BEACH. Well, it took about 20 minutes to get sunscreen on all of us hehe). We drove a few miles up the beach and unloaded the troops and HAD AT IT! Abbi was the first brave soul to venture out a ways from shore and found a few little friends that helped her walk out to where their family was (it was adorable watching these two little practically strangers hold hands walking out in the water). It was funny the first time she got saltwater in her mouth. I did not have my swimsuit on and the thought of going into the hot and stinky portalet to change into was not at all appealing. Dave had his suit on and he went out and took Libbi with him to brave the waves and join Abbi. They were out there for a good long time just having a blast jumping over the waves. I was sitting on the beach taking pictures.

The clouds were really cool! Hurricane Dolly was churning by way out in the Gulf, but we could still see the clouds. The wind was a lot stronger today and so were the waves. By this evening it had calmed down a little bit as Dolly had moved further to the east.

After playing at the beach and in all the sand....we headed back to the condo for lunch, BUT got the great idea to jump in the condo pool first to get the grime of sunscreen and saltwater off. I did put my swimsuit on and got in the pool as well. The pool is all just four feet, so the girls could touch the bottom in all parts. BUT, being the protective parents in a strange place, we wouldn't let them go in alone without one of us. Dave had the girls standing in his hands (in the pool) and he would lift them up and out then toss them into the water. Oh they just squealed with delight! I was out of the pool by then (it was windy and therefore a little chilly in the pool for my taste, even though it was 90 degrees out) so I grabbed the camera.

After a bit, everyone got out. Dave could not find the condo key. He thought it was on the table, but we looked through everything, it really was windy so we thought it could have blown away. My phone rang and it was the condo office calling to say someone had picked it up in the hallway to the pool and turned it in.....DAVE!!!! He said he knew he'd had the key, so we prayed that it fell out of his pocket and someone picked it up, otherwise we'd have been 75 bucks in the hole. OK, so we weren't and the matter is now over.

We came back up to our condo and had sandwiches for lunch, by then it was 2:30, so a VERY late lunch. We let it settle then decided to do some exploring. We drove just a few minutes up the street to look at the home that Jefferson Davis lived in, the only Confederate President. The house was damaged in Katrina, and it is still being rebuilt. We did not go into the house, but we did look at the museum and so many of the items from the home were destroyed by the hurricane and some on display. Anything metal was pounded and twisted and looked like it had been stepped on. After that, we took off to go to the main city of Biloxi and drive over the bridge of the bay. All the huge casinos are down there, and when you go over the bridge, the old one is next to it that fell into the water in pieces....real eerie! I got a few pictures of damage. We then stopped at a huge souvenir store and "sopped". The girls each got a new pair of crocs and some pretty rocks.

We headed back to the condo then to put our swimsuits on and put the girls into their clothes I had brought to take professional type pictures of them in on the beach. We had spotted a lovely place with small sand dunes and grasses and knew we'd go back there! We did and Dave must have taken 300 shots of the girls, and I know we got some fabulous shots of them! Then we came back towards our condo to swim on the beach across from the condo. It was cleaner than the one we had gone to earlier in the day, and almost no one there again. We took some shots of the girls on the beach as the sun slipped down and then let them strip to their swimsuits and ENJOY! I had my suit on too, but no one wanted to go out very far. The girls were more interested in building sand castles, so I got my chair and sat while they did that. We couldn't see the sun setting due to some awful storms brewing due to the hurricane, but the clouds and colors were amazing and we got pictures of that! It was a very peaceful evening!

We then came back to the condo and again hopped in the pool. The girls had a blast! I did not get in as it was chilly. At around 9 pm we came back to the condo to get the girls bathed and to make dinner (SOUP!, Libbi had cereal). Afterwards, Libbi looked at me and asked if she could go to bed...I said yes and she fell asleep before her head hit the pillow. Abbi followed soon after and was zonked quickly too...they are just WORN OUT! I am tired too, but I have been working on laundry and I went ahead and packed almost everything. I think Dave is taking a shower. I will in a bit when I put the last load in the washer.

We are really tired! We are so happy we did this little trip. Of course an extra day or so would have been nicer, but that's ok. No one is much looking forward to the 400 mile trip back home tomorrow, but it's been so wonderful! I can't wait to put several pictures on here. Like always, it will be nice to get back home and be in our own beds.

None of us got sunburnt to a crisp, the car has lots of "sand" in it for a memento, and no one was sick or too crabby. Libbi had her moments right around 7 pm each night and got a little testy, but we quickly pulled her out of it and into a better place.

:)