Down South

Hubby had to go to Houston for work this week, so we decided to turn that work trip into a family holiday.  We're spending the week plus the weekends on either side on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.  Stephanie had never been here.  Ellie hasn't been here since she was a toddler.  It was time to reintroduce them.

Shrimp season has just reopened in Biloxi.  We kicked off our visit with a ride on a tourist/shrimp boat with a full demonstration of how shrimping happens and all you ever wanted to know about the habits of Gulf Coast shrimp (worth knowing if you take your shrimp seriously, as locals believe you should!).  It was great fun!









Dat's a big shrimp, y'all. (He's a bit too early this year; the big ones aren't supposed to arrive in this area until later in the season)

After the tour, we lunched at the newly reopened McElroy's, a local seafood institution that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  The new building regulations made it tough for them to reopen in the harbor, where they always have been, but they are back and open for business.  What a fantastic view.


Summer is here.  Yesterday was one of those classic hot and muggy Southern days, one of those days when you can easily picture Southern ladies reclining and fanning themselves fruitlessly in the midday heat, too hot to move.  The wind drove in from the beach, and it felt like a storm was brewing, though you couldn't see it in the sky.  Naturally, right at the children's bedtime, the storm arrived--a full-fledged nasty thunderstorm complete with a tornado just a few miles away.  I should have taken a picture of the green-yellow light of the sky when a tornado is nearby.  When the sky is that color, you don't need the weatherman to tell you much.  Needless to say, it was a late bedtime for the girls last night, but we all came through safe and sound, only a bit more sleepy for the wear.