"Day 4 and still rockin" - Mr. Gower

Hey y'all! Today was another fabulous- but very long- day. We got up extra early to fulfill our bathroom cleaning duties which consisted of scrubbing the toilets, mopping the muddy floors, and cleaning the showers. After that we piled into the vans and headed off to the work site for another day of hard work. It was excruciatingly hot- by 9:15 the temperature (with the heat factor) was 105!
Today we worked on mostly on the siding and caulking. We even started painting the house (the owners picked a really pretty light blue. Its called Marlboro Blue)
There's also some friendly competition down here. Everyone's watching to see who will complete their house first, the Irish group (who, coincidentally are painting their house green) or the Korean church group from California. The Koreans also have some Prep students working with them. The Koreans, sadly, are blowing both the Irish and us out of the water. Their house is completely sided, painted and theyre almost done with the roof! Our contractor, Ben, tells us not to feel too bad, their mechanical minds are perfect for building houses. Plus they have a secret weapon in our very own Thane, who is so efficient a builder we think he's part Korean.
At 4:30, we cleaned up and went back to Lagniappe. We showered and got dressed verrry quickly so we could go out to dinner as planned. Even though we were missing taco night :-( we wanted to try some local cuisine.
We went to Shaggy's, a really nice little restaurant overlooking the bay and the harbor. We ate delicious seafood while listening to a Jimmy Buffett cover band. After that, we walked out on the pier, watched the sunset, took some pictures, and even met some locals catching catfish.
Next we headed to the Mockingbird Cafe in downtown Bay St. Louis. While sipping iced coffees, we sat outside listening to some more live music. All our friends from Lagniappe were there- the Koreans, the Irish, a group from Chicago, and even our contractors Ben and Tim. We met even more people, like Ben's wife, Sarah, whom he met at the Mockingbird 5 years ago when they were volunteering with Habitat. The town is adorable, and we still can't get over their Southern hospitality. Everyone greets us with a friendly " Hey Ya'll" and asks with great interest where we are from.
We got back to Lagniappe around 10:30, and were all headed off to bed soon. Tomorrows our last day of work, and even though the work has been long and hard, we're sad to see the week come to an end. But keep checking, there will still be blogs tomorrow night and on Saturday, from our trip to New Orleans! -Love ya'll, Caroline and Genny