Myrtle Beach

This year we decided to try somewhere different for our beach vacation.  We have never been to Myrtle Beach, SC as a family and had heard so many good things about it that we decided to find out for ourselves.  We stayed at the Myrtle Beach Resort, on the 15th floor with a gorgeous view of the beach right on our balcony.  This place was great, with 6 pools (including one with a lazy river and other fun water things for kids) and it was just steps away from the beach.  There were ponds with ducks, swans, turtles and fish you could feed, a playground and tennis courts and it was all secluded in its own gated area.  It was a bit farther away from central Myrtle beach and was surrounded by RV parks, but we actually liked that.  Our condo was a bit out of date, and smaller that we would have had in Corolla, but it suited our needs just fine.  

One of the things I wanted to do with the kids was to take them to this elaborate pirate dinner show.  Similar to Medieval Times, you eat pirate food with your fingers while watching the entertainment on the stage.  The stage in this case was a huge pool filled with singing, dancing, acrobatics and swimming.  It was an expensive treat, but certainly worth it with the caliber of the performance.  They even had performing sea lions!  I wish I could've captured the looks on Gavin and Mason's faces as they watched.

 One day Cameron and I took a helicopter ride over the beach.  This was a surprise treat just for him, rewarding him for his straight A report card at the end of 3rd grade.  Neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before and it was quite the thrilling experience!  We flew out over the ocean and although Cameron isn't one for exclaiming about things, his face told it all, he loved every minute.

Other than that, we spent our time enjoying the perfect weather at the beach and the pools.  Each morning we would get up and go straight out to the beach.  Mason would barely get his feet wet the first day, but by the end of the week, he was riding the boogie board and coming out into the water with us on our backs.  Gavin was as always, perfectly fearless in the water, he didn't have a problem going out by himself as far as he possibly could.  We constantly had to keep reeling him in and telling him to be more careful.  Cameron was cautious but he still got out there and enjoyed himself.  One day he and Jeremy were out for hours just floating in the water, enjoying the waves.  All the boys love the sand part of the beach too.  We dug pits and made "quarries" and found copious amounts of bean clams that we collected and sorted.

We all looked forward to Friday, the day when our friends, the Tolers would come and spend the night with us on their way to Charleston which was on the way to their new home in New Zealand.  It was definitely a bittersweet visit, we were so excited to be able to have them at the beach with us, but we knew that the goodbye when they left was a biggie and that loomed over us the whole time.  They came Friday night with fireworks to let off on the beach and we spent most of Saturday at the beach with them.  We had some excitement that day, as our section of the beach had to evacuate the water due to sharks.  Right where we had been standing we witnessed a swarm of fins grazing the water for over an hour.  Later we saw sting rays swimming along side us and dolphins farther out.  Crazy!  Later that evening Angie and I got to go out on our own to dinner while the rest of the families got pizza.  This family deserves a post of their own which will be coming, but it was a terrible feeling knowing I would not be in the company of me dearest friend for three years.  She is more than a sister to me and my kids feel the same about Ashley and Austin.  They left that evening taking a part of each of our hearts with them and it was difficult to pick ourselves up and find something to smile about after that.  We will be counting the days until their return.