Finally...a vacation!!

On Friday, July 15th, we went to the beach with my mom! Paul and my stepdad had to work a few extra days, so the plan was for them to come and meet us there on Monday morning. We loaded up the van and hit the road. The kiddos couldn't wait to get there. 

We arrived about mid afternoon and with my mom being a realtor, it seems like anytime we plan a vacation, trip to shop, etc...someone is calling to look at a house. It ALWAYS seems to happen when we're leaving. We tell her that we need to plan things more often. ;-) 

So, she had been waiting on some clients to go under contract on a house. As soon as we get to the beach, they wanted to make their offer. So, the kids and I went out to grab a bite and hung out on the beach while my mom was confined to the Ipad at the beach house. That pretty much consumed most of the night. 

My Aunt Jill, Cousin Amy and her 2 kids were also at the beach for the weekend. They had a room in Myrtle Beach and their hotel had SEVERAL nice pools that the kiddos were able to play in. We spent about 7 hours going from their little water park, to the pool, to the beach, etc. We all had a lot of fun. 

This was a shot of the lazy river/kiddie pool area. The kiddie pool was about 1 1/2 ft all around so it was perfect for Jai to just walk around and check out everything. 

This was part of the water slide that they had. Paul would have loved this had he been there. I do not like water slides at all, so I did not go down this one...

They also had a HUGE playground area off to the side. It was hard to get a picture of how big it actually was. Jai wanted to go up in it...but mean mommy wouldn't let him. I could only imagine him climbing up and getting scared and lost inside one of the tubes. I'm so paranoid about things like that.

All of the kids: Mason, Lilly, Gracie and Jai.

They also had little kiddie pools (1 1/2 ft) next to the big pools. Jai and mommy were happy campers. 

This was another little water slide that Gracie liked. I wish I had a picture of when my mom went down it :)

These 2 ladies didn't even wear a bathing suit!! What's up with that?! ;-)

The kiddos were exhausted by the end of it. 

They all had to go home the next day. :( We had a great time with them while they were there though. 

The next day we went to the new Wonderworks museum at Broadway at the Beach. Isn't it cool? Jai was flabbergasted as to why that building was upside down. haha. 

Once inside, there were several scientific type stations and it reminded me a lot of Sci-Works (for those of you that know what that is). 

This one blew hurricane type winds at them. I didn't go in so I can't give much more explanation than that. 

This one was really neat and had there not been such a long line, I would have done it. Also, only one was working so that slowed the line down a lot. This ride would go back and forth like the pirate ship ride...and it had bike pedals on it. You would have to pedal as fast as you could (while ride was in forward motion)...to get up enough momentum to flip it upside down and back down. Seems simple, right? Well, I only saw it done about 3 times in 20 or so rides. Must be harder than it looks. 

This was showing the strength of pulleys...

This water was the same temperature as the water that the Titanic went down in. Wow. It was the coldest water I've ever felt. It would time you to see how long you could stand it. Despite the smile on Gracie's face...we walked away from that one with more sadness than we entered with. Those poor people. :(

This was a interactive video game of sorts where they had to dodge the fish. It was hilarious watching them do this one...

...and a blurry close up of them on the screen...

These were really awesome. I couldn't wait to get to the next staircase to see what it would be. 

BUBBLES!!

This was the ceiling of the lobby. Sweet!

I apologize for how terrible I look...haha. 

That evening we went out to the marshes where the boats come in.  My mom loves watching the boats come in and seeing what they bring in. I try to explain that this is in no way fun for us. But, she never understands...so we try to make her and Gracie (yes, Gracie) happy and give in. Luckily, there were no boats bringing in catches. There were a lot of people ready to party for the night and enjoying the restaurants, bars, etc. It wasn't a roudy crowd though. We grabbed some italian ice and left pretty quickly though. It was very pretty out there. Maybe we will go back when it's a little less crowded.

This island that is shown in the picture was full of goats. It was a weird sight.

...and Jai loved seeing the boats...

This is the little channel by the beach house. Gracie and I went out one night and fed bread to the fish and turtles. She loves doing that. There is also a nice swing so we were able to watch the sunset together.  We also found a friend later on in the week that was perhaps trying to catch a little evening snack.

We decided to go one evening to River City Cafe. They have the most amazing Veggie Burgers. Expensive, but amazing. We chose to eat outside, and it was soooo windy!  The moon was full and it was gorgeous...but my phone took the worst pictures, so it would be a shame to show them. They did it no justice.

...the view that we had of the pier and deck. See? Terrible pictures. :(

And we did a little browsing at some shops...

...then we hit the beach

Eeek! Paul's here! Ok, so what happened was...my stepdad decided that he had to stay home and work, and my mom decided that once Paul arrived she would head home (4 days early) to go and work! So, Paul came on Monday morning (yay)...and mom hit the road. :(

It was even more sad when I mentioned to my mom that the only time she had set eyes on the ocean was that evening at River City Cafe. Not once was she able to sit on the beach, or dig her toes in the sand. How sad is that?! Quite!

So, anyways, we continued on 4 more days with our crew.

We took a trip to Barefoot Landing to visit our favorite little Pirate Shop. 

...and found this awesome lady.

The next day...we ventured to the Boardwalk. It was quite boring with terrible stores...but the view was very nice. We only lasted about 20-30 minutes here. It was brutally hot!

The next day, we hit the road to head home. But, we had to stop at a yummy produce stand. It was a great trip! We are heading back in September with lots of family. I hope that everyone will be able to leave work behind and enjoy vacation. I can't wait! :)