2008 Road Trip I

Why do things ALWAYS take longer than I plan? Even though I know they take longer and I try to account for my bad judgment of time? And when will I learn that I have to pack when Damian isn’t around or he will give me grief about every cotton pickin’ thing I add? This year he had the new excuse, “Every ounce we put in the car is going to cost us more in gas.” So needless to say I was grumpy and by the end I didn’t care what was packed, but I am sure my husband would now agree that at least an umbrella stroller would have been a worth the $0.02 it would have tacked onto our trip’s grand total!

Our ‘happy’ family FINALLY hit the road last Friday around 7:30pm. We had booked a Farifield Inn in Gulfport, MS that we pulled into around 2 am. I couldn't resist making everyone mad to catch this snapshot of our three cuties sleeping together. (The next picture I took they were all scowling and had their hands over their eyes.) What can I say besides I am a mom who can't resist my camera at a time like this. Maybe it's all the white that makes them seem so angelic?

After breakfast we hit the sand that was right across the street! I never know what we are getting into when we book hotels online, but this one was a nice surprise despite the area being hard hit by hurricane Katrina a few years ago. We actually found some pieces of roof in the ocean, and were amazed the water was only a couple feet deep almost a quarter a mile out. As we drove around there was more evidence that the storm left it’s mark. Several of the buildings were still damaged and we saw quite a few concrete slabs that were once foundations.

The highlight of Gulfport for me was watching Landon experience the beach. He couldn’t figure out how to walk in the sand because it moved every time he took a step. It took him a good 10 minutes of me encouraging him to get used to it, and then he met his match with the ocean. He got really upset when he realized that his feet had disappeared beneath the wet sand, but by the time we had to hit the road again it was hard to pull the little sandy beach bum away!