We made a road trip by ourselves......

.....well of course, we had help when we got there. I'm not that crazy, but I did make it in the car with her alone for 3 hours! (yay!) 

Alan was studying/cramming for his exam the next week, we were long over due for a trip out of this house (!!!), and Alan's cousins were coming to Biloxi, so we needed to also! 

It was a fun time! We always love the Coast and all it has to offer. It is such a beautiful place and there is always something fun going on! I could just drive up and down Hwy 90 and the beach for forever. I know not everyone is a beach person (although I'm still trying figure out how you would not be a beach person???), but how could anyone look at such an expansive amount of water coming to a halt right there where you are standing and not feel God and His mighty hand at work. Water is beautiful and  peaceful and amazing, but it also a force not to be reckoned with! It is a healthy fear of the unknown, but fun and enjoyable all at the same time. 

It's how I picture the Holy Spirit in my life. It is always there, always consistent, always loving, always fun, always peaceful, but also a something that we have a reverent fear of. It's the unknown, the not knowing what it is capable of, good or bad. Even through the good or bad times, it will still be there. 

But while we are here and safe under God's mighty hand, let's play and enjoy it, right?!?! 

That's what we did!

Yes, we are those parents that have a DVD player in the car. Our only rule is we must be on a road trip to use it, there is no riding around town and turning this on. Our time in the car is usually our fun time, our talking time, a time to learn and visit. So about the time we hit 49, I turned on her favorite: Bubble Guppies! And in an attempt to still have my sanity, I hoped she'd use the head phones. She was super excited about them, but they lasted only 30 minutes.
Then she whined, she cried, she even pulled the "mommy, I have poo-poo" so we'd have to stop. She is a manipulator and a good one.  She knows when I will come running or stop to get her out and she knows when to use it, little stinker!

I just had to document my front seat.... I promise I used to be organized/tidy/clean. But this is how we live these days, and surprisingly, it does not bother me in the slightest. Maybe when she's grown up, I will care a little more.... maybe?

We made into Gulfport just before the rain came down! We drove straight to Bo's office for "show and tell." I just love how proud people are to show her off to their friends and clients. I know a work environment is not for children, but we didn't stay long. Just some hugs, some running around, some coloring, and some computer time! Next was lunch time, so we stopped and took lunch to SuSu at the store and enjoyed some nice nuggets while watching the rain outside. She had a good nap and then we headed straight to Keesler to see Aunt Barbara and her grandkids. Lydia had the best time playing. And I enjoyed seeing the Air Force Base, it is a beautiful piece of property and lots of fun things to do and see. It was my first time there, and we both enjoyed it!

She loved playing with Kyla and loves all things that big girls do!!

This is her "fake smile" when I tell her to say cheese. At least she's not running from the camera or screaming when I try to snap a picture anymore.

All the cousins, of course she didn't want to get in the picture without me. Thanks, Lyds!

Uncle Robert, Aunt Shaunna, and SuSu came after work. She was super excited to see everyone!

Look at the these big kids!

Lydia and Jarred going to watch the planes take off. They were sweet and the planes were amazing!

.....just a little loud. 

Someone is too big for the slide.

Thanks to Uncle Robert, Lydia now owns her first fishing pole!

Another favorite of Lydia's is going to see the puppies at Uncle Robert's and Aunt Shuanna's. She loves them and mostly wants them to do tricks while she just stands and giggles at them.

We've been working on not throwing things in the house, and then she comes here and loves throwing the tennis ball to the dogs. Only at Uncle Robert's Lydia!

A very hot park, but she needed out of the house some. She loved these steps, and she was such a big girl doing it all by herself.

Friday afternoon after nap, we jump up and put on our swim gear to head to the harbor. Lydia loves this little "blue park," it has a splash pad and it on the beach too! As soon as we met Robert, Shaunna, and Bo there, the thunderstorm came. So we rushed to the car and went to eat at Darwell's (Yummy!) while we waited out the storm. She was so upset to leave the blue park, but we told her we'd come back if the rain held off. And we did! We were the only people there too! It was fun! After climbing on the boats, she asked if she could put her swim stuff back on and play in the water. But my thought was... something is going to get wet, why not just stay in your dirty clothes? Guess I'm also lazy, because putting on a swimsuit takes a lot of work for a 2 year old. But she didn't seem to mind getting her clothes wet at all! Then we stopped by Sonic for an ice cream treat on the way home. It was a pretty magical day for a 2 year old! Although she did ask for Daddy a lot and said she missed him and wanted to go home some :(

While I was packing up our stuff on Saturday and SuSu was making AP some study cookies, Lydia decided to make a mess. I panicked! She KNOWS to use her crayons only on her paper. But for some reason when we got to SuSu's, Lydia decided the big red crayon was "lipstick," which would have been worse. I came in the living room to find red crayon ALL over the TV, on the white cabinets, and on the ottoman. YIKES! I probably should have punished her more, but I was shocked! She did get in big trouble and I think she understood it was wrong. And thankfully, it all came out ok! Goodness! 

I wanted her to sleep all the way home, so we rushed to the pool for a couple of hours Saturday morning to wear her out. And we did just that! She pooped out before we hit the bypass road and woke up when we were getting into town! It was a nice trip back.

And she crashed.

And Daddy and Liddy were back as "study buddies" again!

This is Daddy's junk food and test materials we left for him. He's been stressing out bad, and hasn't been eating, so I made three meals, made sure we had rotel, and pizzas in the freezer and left his favorites so I knew he'd eat. I hope he did!