Ocean Springs Thanksgiving Week

Dan and I got to New Orleans on time and picked up our rental car around 3:30 on Monday Nov 19th.  Todd and Zoey got to Ocean Springs the day before and got our ocean front VBRO all set up.  Getting out of town was easy for us and we had the address for our destination typed into our iPhones.  We actually just about beat Todd and Zoey to our cute accommodations for the week as they were grocery shopping for our dinner.  Once we got there we were impressed with how verbal Zoey was and how much she had changed.  We got a tour of our vacation rental and started unpacking for the week.  Our house had three bedrooms and two baths with a nice sized kitchen and living room and full laundry.  The owners had two bikes we could use, a bbq, some kayaks and a nice fire pit with camp chairs.  There were even fishing poles and tackle to use if one was interested.  The owners left a bucket full of all the fixens’ for S’mores too!!!   Krista didn’t join us till Wednesday night as she and about 15 other ladies were hiking the Grand Canyon!  We enjoyed birding seeing hundreds of white and brown pelicans, ibis, cormorants, a few Mississippi Sand Hill Cranes of which there are estimated to be only 137 of this sub species left in the world!!! We saw a lot of caspian terns, laughing gulls, Osprey, Bald Eagles, black crowned night heron, green heron, tri-colored heron, little blue heron, a variety of hawks but mostly Red Tailed, a few yellow rumped warblers and great, snowy and cattle egrets.  We saw several armadillos and a fence lizard.  The full moon graced our eyes this week too which was called the Beaver Moonbut the local native Americans.

We took Zoey into town almost every day to the cute park at Ocean Springs.  Dan and I toured the famous Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs.  He was a famous artist and pottery sculptor who spent years exploring Horn Island.   He suffered from schizophrenia and his art reflects his tormented visions and obsession with nature and being one with nature. Zoey enjoyed perusing the local toy store every chance she got!   

On thanksgiving day we were invited to join friends of Todd’s from Cleveland, MS who also rented a large VBRO for their families.  They asked us to bring several bottles of wine and cupcakes for the kids! 😂. Sounds like a perfect combination for adults and kids.  We enjoyed getting to meet all of them and sharing a very thankful thanksgiving with good food and new friends.  

The next day the said “Ceback over and help us eat all the left overs is back we went and helped clean out the refrigerator and fill up our stomachs.  Evenings saw sone fire pit time or a walk on the beach.  Zoey always had some special books for us to read or songs she wanted to sing.  One of the favorite things we brought her was the Walmart toy catalog!!  That was a big hit.  We read that over and over.  The new books were took her were The Pokey Puppy and Donkey Donkey along with a book of manners.  She named her doggie Pokey and remembered all the puppies, Polly, Pat, Pickles and Penny 😂😂.  She sure loves her bath time too and one day took three baths!!

Anyway we enjoyed the gulf although it could have been warmer.  We hadn’t worn jackets and long pants for a LON) time but we haven’t worn anything but that since we got here.  On Sunday we cleaned things up and packed up to head out: Todd and family back to Cleveland and us off to see my aunt and uncle in Mobile. Then it’s on down through Florida taking a few days to kayak and see some parks before we get to Miami. 

Pokey the Puppy was a hit!! 

Somehow Papa can always get Zoey to giggle 😂😂

Walter Anderson’s widgets and art.  

Zoey’s favorite toy store ..

Yogurt pops!!

Thanksgiving dinner!!

Always the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises too!!

The Beaver moon...thinking that’s when they started trapping beavers for their fur in the fall. 

Papa, Zoey and Todd coming back from kayaking 

Zoey with her huge Dora the Explorer book that is also a pillow.  Nana scored this at the local Goodwill as a brand new item for Zoey!

Facts on the rare Mississippi Sandhill Cranes

Getting ready to say Goodbyes.  

Nothing beats a tasty Smore