Myrtle Beach

After a long (especially in the eyes of the kids) night and day of driving we arrived in Myrtle Beach -- a long way from home, but weather not so different from home. Well, we at least did not have snow - although we drove in a snow "storm" almost all the way here, and did not bid farewell to the white stuff until at least North Carolina. Since we all LOVE spring - this was still considered lovely weather (though not quite what we are used to in our southern vacations:)) Having said that we ALL love spring, I should maybe clarify. Yesterday as I was sorting through and looking at pictures of our vacation, I had Kade standing over my shoulder grumping, and nearly crying, that he "wished we didn't go on vacation and wished we could have stayed here in the snow." Crazy child. Kevin also was rather disappointed to find the snow nearly all gone when we got home. They had just been busy building a snow fort/igloo the day before we left and were having a lot of fun with that. On the other hand, the adults in this home were quite happy to see that spring followed them home.
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Kylie having a nice sound sleep the night we got there. She slept pretty good there (which she doesn't necessarily do at home) Since we all missed quite a few hours of sleep the night we drove here, I was not surprised to see her sound asleep moments after putting her to bed!

A favourite morning activity was jumping out of bed and watching cartoons. Even my nighthawks dragged themselves out of bed cheerfully and became early birds in order to fit in some much loved TV time!

A late night soak in the outdoor hottub. It felt just lovely - though the 5C air felt rather FRESH when we had to get out!

Uncle Richard was a big hit at the pools. Kevin quickly learned Rich and MaryBeth's extension number and snuck in a call many times that we were headed to the pool to make sure that Uncle Richard would be there too. This ensured a fun time . . . .

. . . but definitely not a QUIET one!

Hunter and Mary Beth. Hunter was so cute in the pool. He would just snuggle and cuddle on the shoulder of whomever was carrying him and enjoy the ride. But he also loved to splash when he was on the steps!

Nate and Mackenzie. Mackenzie LOVED the water - but mostly only the water in the big pools - she didn't care for the hot tubs so much - which of course is the preferred destination of the adults. But she did get lots of water time - though I'm sure she would have stayed in longer if she had her way:)

Richard and Summer. Summer loved the water too -even after she fell in and needed to be saved. But it didn't seem to affect her. After she was rescued, she just got up and carried on like nothing serious had happened.

We went to see the ocean twice. It was very cold and breezy there - but very beautiful too!

Another fun place to visit was the park. This was a great place to go to when it was still too cool or early to sit by the outdoor pool, but still too nice to be inside.

Nerds!

On the rainy, WET, pouring, and cold day, we went to visit Ripley's Aquarium. This is basically a huge indoor aquarium and lots of small ones too. The kids loved it. It's quite amazing to see how many different kinds of sea animals there are - and that's probably just a small sampling. There were lots of beautiful and some rather ugly looking creatures too. Having seen it all, you surely have to think of what an amazing Creator we have!

I loved the sharks - especially the happy one on the left. Kevin thought the ones on the right should have braces, since "their teeth were all mixed up"!

Some more outdoor pool pictures . . . .

. . . and hottub pictures too.

Kylie is certainly the least brave of the girls and probably never left the steps unless we forced her - and then it wasn't too cheerful! Her preferred destination (probably like her mama) was the hot tub.

Catching some rays.

Sweet Mackenzie.

The three girls.

Out for a walk. Brothers and Buds.

And then it was over. We are home. We are getting busy again. But we are very thankful for this time away. It was great to spend time with family, to enjoy the sun, and to relax and be a little lazy:)