an unexpected lesson

I knew going to Gulfport Beach that we would experience the salty air, the white sand and the calming sound of the ocean...but what I wasn't expecting was to learn so much history about the Gulf Coast. When we arrived at Cast-A-Way house, Aunt Beck had a few coffee table books out in the living room telling the story of Hurricane Katrina. In our down time, I would take a few minutes here and a few minutes there to flip through each book, look at the pictures and even read some real life stories of those who survived this great storm. There were a TON of facts about Hurricane Katrina that I don't remember learning from the media. It was very interesting and also very sad. I learned even more, though, from just driving around Gulfport and the nearby cities of Long Beach and Biloxi and seeing for myself all of the damage that still remains along the coast. We got to hear first hand stories from Brandon's Uncle Bill about the total destruction he witnessed in the days and weeks and even months after the storm. What's amazing is that alot of the damage from Katrina is still there today. I took a couple photos of houses close to Cast-A-Way House (picture one shows a home where only the fireplace and front steps still remain while the second photo shows a home still boarded up and quite damaged). As you drive up and down the Gulfport coast you can see where some families have moved on by either repairing their exhisting home or completely rebuilding a new beach front home. Others though have simply cut their losses and will never rebuild. There are alot of eery buildings still standing with no windows. They are just empty shells where I'm sure lives used to be lived.

Even though we were reflecting on all the sites and stories around us, we also wanted to enjoy the beach for one more day! On our third day at Gulfport Beach, just our family got up and headed to the water. We loaded up a couple of chairs, snacks and sand toys and set up camp close to the surf! Ashtyn enjoyed some more body surfing while daddy collected shells. Maddox, though, by day three was kind of all "beached out" and mostly just snacked...

Maddox did eventually find a huge stick laying on the beach and fell back into his routine play! What is he doing you ask? Playing Star Wars of course!!

After three days on the beach the boys were beginning to get a beach bum tan...literally!

After lunch and naps, the whole family headed to the pier to do some crab fishing! I wasn't sure how much luck we would have but Uncle Bill definitely knew what he was doing! He purchased these metal baskets and attached a raw chicken neck to them. We then lowered the baskets into the water, off the side of the pier, and patiently waited to pull them back in hoping a crab would have crawled into our basket. It was really hard for Ashtyn and Maddox to be quiet enough and patient enough to really catch some crab but we did have some luck and ended up catching 5 crabs! Take a look!

I'm not a crab eater, but apparently I am told that 5 crab wouldn't even be a snack for one person...so, we let our catch of the day go on the beach! They walked back into the water as we waved good-bye!

Since we didn't catch a feast of our own, we headed out that evening to a local seafood restaurant right on the beach! This restaurant was actually located over the water before Hurricane Katrina hit but had just re-opened, only a week earlier, after rebuilding a bit further up on the beach. I don't like fish and I knew for sure Ashtyn wouldn't try any...but as soon as the appetizer arrived Maddox grabbed a fried crab leg and started muching on it! Once the crab legs were gone he ate some fried shrimp! He's definitely a "knight boy" through and through!

We greatly enjoyed our time at Gulfport Beach!! It was sad to see that the sun had set on our last day. I think I fell in love with the beach on this trip! It was SO nice to sit on the beach, listening to the sound of the ocean water while watching the boys collect shells and build sand castles. I think another beach vacation is already in the works for next year!!