Biloxi with Nana
My mom (Melody's Nana) travels for her job every week. She is able to bring family along with her on trips when it works out. Brad was out of town for work in early April. I knew far enough in advance that my mom was able to plan to be somewhere we could go. This is only our second trip with my mom. It is hard to travel with her with Melody because she doesn't have the best work hours for Melody's schedule. It is also best to travel places with driving distances too. We wanted to go somewhere on the coast, and with the options my mom had, Biloxi made the most sense. I really like going to Biloxi, but I hadn't been in about 5 years. So it was fun to revisit.
My mom booked a one bedroom room at Home2 Suites in Biloxi/D'Iberville. This worked out really well for putting Melody down for naps and bed, and it was ideal to have a full kitchen and living area with a toddler! The location was also ideal since there would be times I would be without a car. So I wanted to be within walking distance to some things. We also had considered renting me a car so I could also easily drive to various places due to its location.
Our trip was Monday - Friday. We decided to leave as early as possibly on Monday hoping Melody would sleep as much as possible. I think we got out the door around 5:30 or so. We had breakfast at Panera in Prattville on our way down to Biloxi.
My mom had to work at some point on Monday, and because of our timing, she was able to stop in Mobile for a few hours and work. Melody and I hung out while she worked. We ate lunch, then Melody passed out for a nap!
We got to the hotel around 3:15. Luckily my mom was done with work for the day, so we were able to go up and unpack. Then we had the day to do whatever we wanted.
The hotel was really nice. It looked fairly new. The lady at the front desk said the hotel itself had been there awhile, but it was renovated recently into a Home2Suites. When you first walked up, there was a nice seating area to the left of the entrance. You could follow this to more seating and the pool; although the pool was closed while we were there.
The lobby was full of plenty of seating along with TVs and computers for your use.
The breakfast area was also located in the lobby. The breakfast wasn't amazing, but it sufficed for the trip. I think I had a waffle most mornings, and Melody had a doughnut. They offered some items that you could heat, but nothing that I found appealing.
Then there was the front desk. They had a small grocery area to the left of the front desk. There was a wide variety of food they offered. Melody wanted to stop by here everyday hoping to get cookies because at check in my mom received cookies for being a certain level Hilton Honors member. They did offer cookies each evening, but they were sugar cookies and Melody prefers chocolate chip!
While I didn't get pictures, there was a workout and laundry facility also located near the front desk and elevators.
Our room was also really nice. You walked in to a nearly full kitchen and living area, We were missing a stove/oven. The kitchen also had a table with 3 chairs which made eating in the room easier with Melody.
We had a king size bed, the hotel staff brought us a pack and play for Melody. I was surprised because they did not offer to put together her pack and play like most hotels do.
We had a standard bathroom that was accessible through both the bedroom and kitchen which made nighttimes easier.
After we got unpacked and settled, we decided to go ahead and go get dinner. We opted to go have the Shrimp Basket. It is one of our favorites. I really wanted some seafood, and crab claws were what I was really after. I knew that had great ones that weren't just an appetizer.
Dinner was delicious as always! We had tuna dip as a starter, then I had the crab claws.
After dinner we ran to Target to get a few groceries to have in the room.
Then it was back to the room for bed!
For breakfast, I would go downstairs and grab whatever looked appealing. Then mom would go down and get anything else she wanted that I didn't grab. So we would eat breakfast in the room each morning.
Mom had to go to work around 10 am, so Melody and I were on our own for the morning/early afternoon. I ordered tuna dip from the Shrimp Basket the night before to have for lunch in the room so we didn't have to get out. After lunch Melody took a fairly long nap. Then we went to work that evening with my mom.
She was working at the mall in Biloxi, so while she worked, Melody and I explored the mall.
When mom finished up working, we headed over to Raising Cane's Chicken (A-MAZING!). This is another favorite of mine.
After dinner, I wanted to go to the Hobby Lobby nearby to look for things for Melody's birthday party.
Then we headed back to the room for dinner and bed [it was much needed for the little one]!
My mom took a personal day Wednesday so that we could spend the entire day together. It started off with breakfast as usual.
Then I gave Melody and bath, and we all got ready to go shopping at the outlets.
We walked through a few stores, but we spent most of our time at the Disney Outlet. I could spend hours there shopping. I rarely come out with much, but I love to look through their clearance. I did buy some shirts for Melody and me, a few toys, and some socks. Melody also convinced Nana to buy her a garden set.
After the Disney Outlet, we were all getting a little hungry, so we went and had Raising Cane's again for lunch! [I told you I love it!]
At this point it is nap time, so we attempt to go back for a nap. She slept on the drive back to the room, but she did nap a little bit.
Then we all went and did some more shopping. We went to Kohl's, and I bought too much stuff! I got Brad a few shirts. Then I found Melody's favorite book in hardcover form and on clearance, so I bought two! [Another Monster at the End of this Book]. I also bought her a fun Minnie Mouse microphone and a Pete car. Pete is her favorite Mickey Mouse character, ha!
We also went to Kirkland's, then we headed to get dinner at Newk's. We didn't want to travel too far out, and everything around us was also food we could find back home. We both rarely eat Newk's, so Newk's it was!
After dinner, mom ran me by Michaels, then we headed back to the room. While I got Melody ready for bed, mom went and got us Starbuck's. Then it was bedtime!
On Thursday, mom had to work that morning. So just like Tuesday, we all got up and had breakfast before she had to leave.
I let Melody play around the hotel, and we just overall had a lazy morning. I did a little bit of packing since we would be leaving the next morning, and we just laid around.
Then for lunch, we walked over to Five Guys. It was a very short walk over. The only unfortunate thing was there were not any sidewalks outside of our hotel parking lot. I got our order to-go because I knew it would be easier to maintain Melody at the hotel.
Then we got back and had our lunch.
After lunch I attempted to give Melody a nap. I tried to give her an earlier nap so that when my mom got off work Melody would be awake from her nap. She fought me hard. But I did eventually win.
She woke up fairly grumpy, but then my mom got back to the hotel to pick us up. She did have to go back to work for a few hours, but we were able to go back to the outlets while she worked.
I thought I would let her play on the playground at the outlets. She was very excited until I saw it was impossible for her to play on. My first complaint was it was all sand based. I wasn't prepared to clean sand off of her. Second, there was literally no stairs for her to use to get to the top. There was a climbing wall, a pole, and a ladder. It was very disappointing.
To make her feel better, I bought her some ice cream. That always helps.
We did a bit more exploring including another visit to the Disney Store.
Then it was dinnertime. We decide to go visit the Shrimp Basket one more time.
After dinner, we gassed up then headed back to the room to pack things up. My mom loaded as much as she could that evening so we didn't have as much to load early the next morning.
We left town around 6:30. Due to the possibility of morning traffic, we took a different way home. We stopped and got breakfast around 8 am at a Hardee's. Then we headed home!
It was a really fun trip with Nana. We got to eat lots of yummy food, shopped, and spent some good time together. Hopefully another opportunity will come up again in the near future!
