Whew! I think this is the most pictures I've ever uploaded at one time...so sit back, relax, and enjoy! This album is just SOME of the pictures from our beach trip.
We drove down late Wednesday night, and didn't actually arrive until around 1am on Thursday morning (Sept. 23rd). We checked in at a hotel to sleep, and went on to the beach house when we woke up. We stayed at a nice beach house in the Ocean Lakes Campground. They had everything. Pools (indoor and outdoor), Mini Golf, Arcade, Basketball, Volleyball, SkatePark (paul was upset that he forgot his skateboard), nature science center, restaurant, grocery store, etc. We didn't use most of these things...but it was nice to have the option. I think if we would have stayed more days, that we would have ended up using them.
It was a really fun trip! We went with my mom & stepdad, 3 of my aunts, an uncle, and my cousin Amy and her 2 kids. I think that's everyone.
The older adults (haha), kind of hung around the house a lot, talking and catching up. We were always on the run with the kiddos, from the beach to the pool, to riding the golf cars, etc. They really have never been able to spend days together at a time, so they really enjoyed it. I wished that my brothers and their families could have came along, but the house was only so big. :( Next year we definitely need everyone to come!
Here are some pictures of the kiddos on the beach. They had so much fun playing together.
Gracie & Lilly
Gracie flying her kite
It's hard to get 4 kids to pose at once. This was the best I could get. For those of you that don't know...these are my cousin Amy's kids (Lilly & Mason)
Mason flying his kite (he's good at posing for the camera) :)
Jai & Mommy's toes in the sand
Lilly
haha...he kept jumping up and down on the sand. I actually caught one of him mid-air
Silly daddy! Paul was being silly and giving me what I asked for...a pose!
My mom, stepdad, Gracie & Jai
PawPaw and his little buddy
My mom kept saying that Gracie & Lilly reminded her of Amy & I when we were small. :)
Getting some sweet kisses
My beautiful little lady next to the sand castle that we found on the beach (no, we are not this talented)
...running from mommy & the camera...
One night we actually made "smores". I promised Gracie that we would pick up some mock marshmallows from Whole Foods before we left. Thank goodness we remembered! She loved them! My camera was dying while I was trying to get a good shot of them...
I've never had a smore. Everyone says how awesome they are...and I totally told myself I would try them once we made them. Nope! I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm so picky when it comes to things like this..haha.
Anyways, this is the best picture I could get of it.
Jai doesn't seem to like water much. It's kind of strange because kids usually can't wait to get into the pool. He would much rather sit on the sidelines and watch everyone. The first morning that we were there, we hopped in the golf cars and went exploring the campgrounds...we passed the pool and it looked so awesome. It had buckets, and sprinklers, water guns, etc. I asked Jai if he wanted to go get into the pool and he said no...haha.
I promise it's not my fault though!
On our last night, we all went out to eat at River City Burgers. They had some pretty awesome veggie burgers. We had hoped to sit oceanfront, but they only had small tables so we ended up sitting inside.
I felt pretty uneasy about it once we got inside because there were peanut shells all over the ground. Ugh! I never understood that concept of throwing the shells on the ground after you eat them. Oh well...I got over it...and we all had a nice time.
The kiddos at their table...
My cousin Amy, Auntie Sandy & Teresa
My handsome boys
us
Paul and my uncle Ronnie
My stepdad, mom, and Auntie Jill
Oh yeah...there was writing on everything. The walls, chairs, tables were all written on by customers. Here are the kids adding their graffiti
We had our own golf car while we were there. The campground is over 300 acres, so you basically need one to get from point a to point b. I drove a lot and Jai would ride in my lap and drive. He LOVED it!
We also took the kids to play mini golf on our last night
This was Jai's ball. I kept telling him to keep ahold of it and not drop it. We put it down on the green and I kept asking him not to kick it because there was a "waterfall" close. Well, of course, he kicked it into the water and it was gone. :( He was pretty upset about it...but hey, I told him! Haha...
he cried for about 20 minutes...
and then he threw himself down and cried some more...poor baby
Gracie got a hole in one!
Paul woke up about 5 am one morning and was able to catch the sunrise...
I was pretty jealous so I made him wake me the next morning. It was really neat seeing it. I woke up the next 2 mornings early to catch it...but neither morning was clear like his. It was always cloudy. It still made for some nice pictures. It was really a nice experience to see though and I was happy that I did it.
After that, we walked for about an hour on the beach.
It was nice until I hurt my toe running from the water. It still hurts. :(
There were a lot of shells on the beach that morning. That is rare at Myrtle Beach...
part of the lake near our house...
Our beach house that we stayed in..
The hammock that you could always find Gracie in...
Saying bye to the golf car...
The sisters...
All the ladies and kiddos...
The best we could get...
Mom, you look great...I don't want to hear it! :)
