Hello from Ocean Springs, MS

Howdy folks! Me and the youngins are down here in Mississippi vistin' with some of our kin folk while Pa is off over yonder fighting in the big war. Ooops, sorry the locals are rubbing off on me.

Well, we made it to Misssissippi yesterday just fine. The 20 hour trip with the kiddos didn't go to bad at all. We had some minor battles at the start of the trip as everyone tried to contain their excitement and settle in for the long haul. Once we got those ironed out the kids did fabulous. We drove until we felt the kids needed a break and then stopped and let them play. Yesterday, for the second half of the trip they were amazing! It was very stormy and yucky weather for almost the whole drive so they only actually got out at a park one time! They were sooooo good. We played and colored and read and played and colored and read and played.......well you get the idea. I actually only had to bust out the movies about an hour each day and that was at the very end in the evenings as we were finding places to stop for the night.


Today, we took Dad over to see his sister. It was great! We surprised her. For those of you who don't know, she is dying and this is probably the last time they will see each other. She didn't know we were coming so was very shocked when she came down her hallway and saw us standing there. She is on oxygen and moves very slowly with a walker so it took her an eternity to get across the living room, but her eyes never left Dad and when she got to him she grabbed him up in a huge hug. Tear jerker!!!

The kiddos had been cooped up and waiting to go to the ocean (the Gulf) so we left Dad and headed to the beach. We found it but everyone was getting tired for naps. We checked it out a bit and then came back to the hotel for naps. After some rest it was off to Walmart to get some beach toys and then off to the beach.

If you have never taken your young children to the ocean get off your rear and do it right now! I will treasure the memory of the joy on their faces for the rest of my life. They were amazed by the whole experience. Abby says the water tastes, "fresh and salty"

They started out playing up on the sand. It was only 50 degress out so too chilly for swimming right? Wrong!! Pretty soon, we put our fingers in the water to taste it. Since our fingers were wet we might as well step in it a bit. Now our shoes are a little wet so hey let's step on in a bit more. Aw, heck our pant cuffs are a little damp might as well go for the gold. Pretty soon, we were running through the water, splashing and having a great time. I felt bad pulling them out of there but after a little bit I was afraid they would freeze to death. We played on the beach while the sun went down. It was a beautiful sunset. I am a mountains kind of girl, but I tell ya, you just can't beat the sun setting over the ocean. That is when you really know God is there and watching over you. The only missing piece is that Daddy wasn't there to see it all. We miss him a bunch and can't wait to bring him to the ocean too.

Well, I will try to get pictures up tomorrow but for now better get to sleep.

See ya all soon!