MS Trip

After arriving home from PA on Monday July 13th I spent a harried two days putting Enrichment Night together, unpacking, and then repacking for a third trip. Lori, the kids, and I headed to Ocean Springs, MS to visit my sister-in-law Ellen. She and her husband have been stationed there for three years and my brother-in-law has recently been deployed to Afghanistan. Ellen has three young kids, the oldest just starting first grade. So we decided a visit would be really fun for her, us, and the kids.

It took us two long days to get there. We broke our journey somewhere near Bowling Green, KY. It was actually a nice drive. Very green and pretty. I had never driven through all these states before. Alexis loves to tell people how many states she "visited" this summer. This particular trip took us through seven states!

One of our outings was going on a shrimp boat tour. I really thought the girls would like this. In fact, I knew they would but the cried and whined all the way in the car and until the boat actually started moving. They both thought they would get seasick. They were seriously in tears over this. No matter how much I reassured them that the boat would not be going fast enough or the water being too rough, etc., they would not believe me. Seriously, I have no credit with my children. They think that I don't know anything. Even the fact that I get motion sickness watching a merry go round and I wasn't worried at all did nothing. Frustrating children! And lo and behold once the boat started moving they both loved it.

This is what Alexis is thinking in this picture: Fine, I love it. But I won't admit it to you.


Okay, this picture is out of order but Ellen has a beautiful pool in her backyard and the kids spent a lot of time in it. They just loved it and wanted to be in it all the time.


They weren't very happy about lining up for this picture. They were actually yelling at me to hurry up and get dressed so they could swim! It takes some time to help get six kids dressed and lotioned up! Then I had to get myself ready!

Okay, back to the shrimp boat tour. It was really pretty cool. It was a hot day but the kids seemed to do alright. The tour guide, who was the captain of the boat, explained all about how they get the shrimp from the bottom of the ocean, or canal really. I couldn't really tell you how they do it because I stopped listening after awhile. :)

Once they pull in the net they show you all the other sea life that they sometimes catch. We got to see a small squid ink in a tank and a jellyfish. The kids thought that was awesome.

We went down to the beach that is two blocks from Ellen's house one night. It was such a nice night and the tide was really low so the kids could walk pretty far out. They loved this. They found all sorts of hermit crabs and proceeded to bury them in the sand to watch them climb out of the sand.

Of course, we had to get a group picture. By this point in our very long vacation(s) the girls were heartily sick of taking pictures. Oh well.

Burying a hermit crab in the sand.

I don't know why but I found this picture either funny or cool. I don't know if it's the pose, Audrey's hair or the color of the shoes but I just liked it. I suppose this could been a sign for how far my mind had deteriorated since traveling with my kids for a month.

I thought it was really interesting that the sand in MS is actually black sand but the sun bleaches the top of it and turns it light. I think Audrey liked digging and finding black sand underneath.

Hermit crab trying to hide from me.

Cousins doing something fun, I'm sure.

We also tortured the children in taking them to some outlets with us. They were actually really well behaved. It was so stinking hot though. I really hated the weather in MS (sorry, Ellen). I hate the feeling of showering and getting ready and then stepping outside and in five minutes feeling as though I've sat in a sauna for an hour and now need another shower. Gross.

It was such a fun trip. Ellen, Lori, and I spent a lot of time playing Farkle, Phase 10 dice, and Phase 10 Masters. We talked about anything and everything and I really feel like we are a great family. These two ladies are wonderful and I'm lucky to have them as sisters-in-law. I'm truly blessed. Thank you Ellen for feeding and entertaining us! And thank you Lori for putting up with me and my children for 10 days, a good part of them in a car with four girls! Now that is truly sacrifice.