Recently, I got back from a work trip to Mississippi. This isn't any trip out of the ordinary, as I typically go at least 4 times a year. I spent my time traveling between Gulfport, Biloxi, and Jackson. What made this trip worthy of a post, was that the week prior to my visit, Hurricane Issac had come through. This is one of the areas that had gotten very damaged during Hurricane Katrina, and even most of the ocean front buildings were wiped away then and either rebuilt or left in a pile of rubble.
Here are some pictures I took of the drive on Ocean Blvd from Gulfport to Biloxi. If you notice, some areas, there is no division of sand/ocean vs. street. Also, the entire beach between these cities, approx 10ish miles is completely closed off. It's sad to see such a pretty beach un-usable, but there are lots of debris that could be hazardous to visitors. I just couldn't get over how close I was to the ocean and how there was basically no sidewalk anymore, or even piers. Most of the piers were destroyed in Katrina, but the weak ones left standing got a further beating from Issac.
Another crazy thing was the amount of bugs on my windshield in a matter of minutes. I don't think any of my pictures could truly do justice to what was actually there. I literally drove about 5 miles outside of Biloxi, on my way to Jackson, when my windshield looked like this.....
Before I had left on my trip, we had several house projects going on..... We had just gotten our kitchen floors redone.... we now have tile, though it was a painful process! We got the kitchen finished before I left, and then while I was gone, the downstairs bath and pantry got completed. With every finished project comes a new project.... so after the mess from the tile, looks like we'll (and by we I mean Nick) need to repaint the kitchen and downstairs bath.
While the tile work was being done, we also decided to re arrange Camille's room to make it more big girl looking. She now has migrated from a toddler bed to a twin bed.... We also added a bookshelf and table that Nick & I painted to match everything. Camille is very proud of her "new" room.
After all that work, we were happy to have some "fun." Camille's buddy, Mary, had a birthday party at Marbles over the weekend. What a fun kids museum! It was our first time, but we will certainly be going back! I stopped taking pictures after an hour of play, b/c I was getting just as excited as Camille to play with each station. This is the pet grooming station.... Camille was getting a bunny out of the cage to wash & brush (all pretend of course).
There was also a giant truck. Nick pretended to be the tour guide, while Camille stayed behind the wheel.
Camille's favorite station was the pizza parlor. You could make your own pizza, box it up, and deliver it. Camille seemed to enjoy working the cash register too :)
What fun! There were several other stations, like a grocery store, doctor's office, and farm, but that is when I stopped taking pictures :) Sorry! We'll be sure to go back and take some more another day.
