I was recording our Mississippi adventures based on the order in which the photos uploaded to my web album. However, I forgot that I took pictures with my “purse camera” until later and so those photos didn’t make it with the other MS photos in the line up. Therefore, the need for this forgotten post…
Sam finally likes the beach and the sand! WOO HOO!!
My dad and I took Sam one night when it wasn’t super hot and the bugs weren’t bad. He finally enjoyed it.
Also, known as the night we crashed (rather late) a MOPS Smores Night.
Every year, my MOPS group has gotten together to make Smores. This was the first year we’ve been able to go though. I was SOOO excited. I put on my calendar that it was from 5 – 7pm. Travis got home, we ate supper, and were on the road by 5:45- giving us plenty of time to roast marshmallows and play with MOPS friends. However when we got there, only a few cars were there. It was cold so I figured that a lot of moms and dads decided to stay home. We got out of our car and headed towards the fire pit. We talk to some people and shortly found out that the actual party was from 4 – 6pm. HA HA! OOOPS! We all got a good laugh out of it and, thankfully, the Bashams still let Sam roast a couple of marshmallows. We headed home shortly after that though so we could get ready to go to bed for church. Thinking about it, still makes me laugh. I did get a great shot of Sam and Mr. Mike (?) (the husband of Sylvia, one of our MOPS mentors) roasting Sam’s first marshmallow.
Travis had a meeting one night at church. I took this as the perfect opportunity to paint pumpkins with Sam. We painted the pumpkins that Travis and Sam picked out at Hill Ridge Farms earlier this month. I do not like carving pumpkins- it grosses me out. Painting pumpkins is so much more fun!!
Sam decided he needed to “cook sumpin” and I decided I needed to video it. The video is LONG (15 minutes) but it is highly entertaining.
Here is a picture of the final product…
That Saturday after we got back from Mississippi, I went to a Women’s Day event at North Wake Church, the church where I attend MOPS. Travis and Sam took our annual trip to Hill Ridge Farms. Usually, one of us takes pictures and the other keeps up with Sam. Since only Travis went, the pictures were minimal. However, he did get some cute ones and the all important, height one.
While we were in Mississippi, my mom got an alarm clock for Sam. Shortly after our return home, we unpacked and plugged in the alarm clock. This is what it looks like…
When it is time for Sam to get up, the bunny walking to school lights up. Sam is TERRIFIED of this alarm clock and will not have ANYTHING to do with it. It is crazy! He randomly talks about it and how it scares him because he doesn’t like the bunny in bed or he doesn’t like the bunny going to school. It has since been put in a closet in another bedroom. He wouldn’t even allow it in his closet!
A friend at my dad’s work told him about a festival in Madisonville, LA. All the boats that are allowed to participate must be made of wood. It is a very popular boat show and there are all sorts of things to do, if you don’t want to just look at the numerous wooden boats.
There is a woodworking association that help kids make wooden boats every year.
First, comes the “hard” choice of deciding what type of boat you want to build…
Then you get matched up with a woodworker who helps make your boat. Sam’s guy quickly figured out that Sam knew nothing about boats and so he just kind of designed one for him.
Then, the best part occurred, Sam got to name his boat. This might seem trivial to some kids but it was a big deal for Sam. He had to pick a good STRONG name for his boat. The lady asked him what he wanted to name it and Sam immediately spouted out “Gopher Wood!” The lady had no idea what he said (and neither did I the first time) and so she asked again. That time, I understood him and told her what he said. She looked quizzically at both of us and said, “How do you spell that?” and so I spelled gopher for her and she figured out the wood part. Sam kept telling her “Gopher Wood, like in the Bible… Noah’s boat Gopher Wood”. It was too cute! Sam has a book that says that Noah’s boat was made of gopher wood and that has stuck out to Sam.
SS Gopher Wood with Capt. Sam…
Then we went towards the Children’s Village part of the boat show. On the way there, we passed several teams making boats for a boat race that occurs on the Sunday of the festival…
A guy that I met while a student at NOBTS, Joe McKeever, is a cartoonist and draws people. He was there and so we all got “sketched”. I think Sam was either trying to figure out what Joe was doing or was trying to figure out how to get that corn dog…
My dad got sketched too but he was the one with my camera so I don’t have a picture of him. I was too busy keeping up with Sam who, at this point, had already worked his way over to a pumpkin decorating booth.
I made a video of Sam playing with the phones. At the beginning, he was telling me that he was talking to his Aunt Jacky about her garage doors that go up and down.
Now for some boats… (remember these are all made of wood)
By this time, we all were ready to hike back to the van and grab some lunch. It was SOOOOOOO hot! This was such a fun festival and I hope we can go again- and bring Travis with us!!
Back to the never-ending MS Trip updates. I sure hope to finish these today so I can get back in the habit of regularly updating as our life happens.
In Bay St. Louis, there is a duck pond and Sam enjoys going to feed the ducks when we are there. On one of our visits to the duck pond, he learned the importance of not running while around the ducks as he tripped, rolled down and hill and, miraculously, stopped rolling right before he would’ve landed in the duck pond. Here are a few pics- I don’t have any from him almost falling in since I was a bit shook up about it.
The Bay of St Louis separates Bay St. Louis from Pass Christian. They used to have a two lane bridge over the water but Katrina did a pretty good job of destroying it. Therefore, when they rebuilt it, they made it 4 lanes and put in a walking path on one side. It is SOOOO nice. My mom and dad will walk/bike ride on it sometimes and while we were there, Sam and I walked from one side to the other with my dad. Usually, they park on the BSL side and walk halfway and turned around and walk back. It was neat! It was also VERY windy!
The Baptist camp where my mom and I worked at the bookstore used to be on this point. They finally tore it down- Katrina completely gutted the bottom two floors.
I was trying to get a picture of the entire span of the 2 mile bridge. I didn’t completely succeed and I never think about getting one when we are on the BSL side. It would be very easy to get it then. Oh well…
While we were down there, my mom needed to get the oil changed in her van. They take it to a friend from church’s house and he changes it. He also has a stocked pond in his backyard and told my dad that Sam could go fishing while the oil was getting changed. Sam thoroughly enjoyed himself.
My mom and Sam checking out the pond…
There was a pirate costume contest and Sam wanted his picture made with this group of pirates. They humored him and thought it was quite funny. They were also nice enough to hide their alcohol behind each other’s backs.
The only other aquarium that Sam had been to was one of the NC Aquariums in 2010. Therefore, it had been awhile and he was older so we thought he would be more interested. He was interested for the first part but then just got tired. I guess to a 3 year old if you’ve seen one fish, you’ve seen them all. Right? HA!
The first thing we did was go to the stingray tank. We timed it great- it was about time to feed the stingrays! We bought a coin that allowed Sam to feed the rays and then got in line. First, Sam was able to pet the rays…
Then he was shown how to feed the rays. It kind of freaked him out and so he wouldn’t let them eat out of his hand and would just drop them into the water. HA!
Here is the video I made of Sam feeding the rays… to watch it, click on the “picture” and you will go to another website where the video will play. I forgot to upload the videos to YouTube instead.
After the rays, Sam visited the penguins and seemed to really enjoy them. He had a long “conversation” with this penguin about “Grandmama and Papa’s two garage doors that go up and down”…
Then, near the “food court”, they had an enclosed area where you can go feed birds. I still don’t understand the connection of the birds with the aquarium but it was still a neat thing to do.
In case you can’t tell from the overabundance of photos, this was my favorite part of the aquarium. I LOVED feeding the birds. Sam wouldn’t hold a stick by himself unless a bird wasn’t around. If I bird came close, he would get spooked and one of us would have to help him hold it.
By this point, Sam was starting to get tired and lose interest quickly. So, we started plopping him on things and taking pictures. HA!
I also took a few shots of some shirts in the aquarium gift shop. They didn’t have Sam’s size in the first one or else, I would’ve gotten it. It was my favorite.
Again, sorry for the delay but I am still trudging through updates and holiday preparations so bear with me.
The weekend after the train ride during our Mississippi trip, the 3 coastal counties held their annual Cruisin’ the Coast antique car show. This is always one of my favorite weekends and I was SOOOOO excited that we were able to attend. Antique cars cruise up and down Hwy 90 (the road that runs along the beach) across the Mississippi coast. In Bay St Louis on Saturday, some of the cars park and you can walk up and down the street checking them out. My parents’ church, FBC Bay St Louis, has a men’s ministry that does an outreach event during Cruisin’ called “Cruisin’ for Christ” and they pass out FREE hot dogs, jambalaya (yummy), drinks, and desserts to anyone that wants one. My dad designs a different t-shirt each year with a different antique car on the back. They are neat. Church members buy them to help increase awareness of Cruisin’ for Christ and FBC. However, my mom learned this year that some of the repeat visitors to the BSL Cruisin’ buy the church’s shirts because they are nicely designed and cheaper than the “official” shirts- HA HA!!
This wasn’t Sam’s first Cruisin- he went when he was just over a year old as well. However, this was the first year that he was remotely interested in cars. Since then, he has become OBSESSED (to put it mildly) with cars and learning the different automakers. I think if they did Cruisin again this coming weekend and Sam was able to go he would go completely insane from all the cars he now knows. HA HA! Anyway, he rode around in his “yellow car” and checked out the cars as well as made some adults jealous because he didn’t have to walk around in the heat. HA HA! Again, I snapped way too many pictures so I will only post my favorites. However, if you want to see more old cars just click on any picture below and you will go to the October album where they are all posted.
We started off our morning by eating at the “Cruise In Cafe” (no lie, that is its 365-days-a-year name) and it is my parents favorite eating “joint.” Eating there wasn’t that big of a deal. It was what was parked in the parking lot that was the big deal…
Yes, my friends, that is Kit, the Knight Rider car! I have seen it at previous Cruisins but it always excites me. I LOVED watching Knight Rider when I was growing up. My dad figured out who the owner was and he let us go out there and take pictures with him (you know Kit is a boy.) My dad was in charge of the camera. I was in charge of making sure Sam didn't push any buttons that might blow up the building. HA HA! Sam REALLY liked getting in Kit.
We saw the owner, Officer Bob (he works for the sheriff's dept), that next week and he told us that he always takes Kit because the kids (big and small) love looking at him and he thinks Cruisin' is supposed to be fun and for the kids. He gets frustrated with the people who put signs on their cars about not touching or who hover around their cars all day waxing or buffing. Well, while he was there, a guy came up and asked him "How much do you want for your car?" and when he told him it wasn't for sale, the man persisted. Eventually, Officer Bob sold Kit for an undisclosed amount of money and so I don't know if he will ever be at Cruisin' again. I also really want to know how much that guy paid for it but I couldn't bring myself to ask. I am sure it was NOT cheap.
After breakfast, we headed downtown. Sam enjoyed his yellow car ride. I had packed his Diego "rescue pack" with surprises and so he enjoyed dressing up while riding around checking out the cars. He is such a nut!
My dad owns a 1970 Plymouth Duster that is also yellow. I am always told to be on the lookout for Dusters and I finally found one this year. My dad walked down there with us later and informed me that this was a little different from his (I think it might be a year or two younger) but it looks very similar.
Here are the random SHORT video clips I made...
The last thing I am going to post are pictures I took of our various Cruisin' for Christ shirts. I am missing a few but I have the vast majority of them. I really like the new guy he has printing his shirts for him because they seem to hold up much better after multiple washings- and I wash ours a lot because I wear at least one a week in the summer. The first one is this year's shirt. The others are in no particular order...
Last year there was a big stink about the church using "Cruisin" in their shirts- they were told they didn't have the right to do that. However, after some digging, it was discovered that the church CAN use "Cruisin" so this is the only shirt with a "G"- silly silly people.
Just a shameless plug for my dad, if anyone is looking for shirts to be designed you should let me know. I know a phenomenal graphic designer (in the old-school draw it out way or doing it all by computer). If you would like to chip in some money and help him buy what he needs to start his own screen printing business, he would be forever grateful and would definitely give you a discount or free shirt or two. That is one of his "retirement dreams"- to have a screen printing business and do it for churches and other smaller organizations.
Well, I hope you enjoyed checking out the old cars. I know I did.
