If a picture says a thousand words, here are 6,000 words to summarize our beach trip.
Our trip involved lots of laughing, running, swimming, and just pure JOY!
...with the exception of salt water in our eyes.
And sand in our toes.
Here is your front row seat to the show!
Our 2015 beach vacation was nothing short of awesome. We headed out on Wednesday, the 1st, and as usual I packed enough luggage to clothe an entire hotel, plus staff.
Since our condo wasn't ready until 3:00 that day we headed straight for the beach with little miss Sun Fun.
She had a BALL. It was a far cry from last year when a one inch wave sent her away in terror.
That night we went to Barefoot Landing to eat and walk around. There was a live tiger being wheeled around in a cage inches from us, and Emerson ran around like she had been shot out of a cannon. Meanwhile, I apologized to about 26 pedestrians.
"Excuse us!"
"I'm sorry!"
"WATCH OUT!!!"
Pardon my toddler, ma'am.
I really appreciate all the kind souls at Myrtle Beach who didn't mind when a 31" little tike knocked them straight in the shins.
During our 20 minute wait to eat Emerson received a $10 bubble gun that Nana had been talking about since last year.
Then came meal time at T-Bonz, which seemed like a great idea until we sat down. First, Emerson choked on a crayon and vomited. It was very colorful in case you're wondering. Then she decided- the moment my food came to the table- to slither behind me like a snake and push me out of the booth.
I ate my entire meal like this:
At the end of the meal our waiter asked if we wanted a box.
My Dad's response? "Do you have one big enough for HER?"
Truthfully, a box or cage might have made our evening easier. And for some unforeseen reason my parents decided to skip going to dinner the following night.
So to use up some of her energy that would fill a land mine we decided to go on some rides. First up was the carousel.
Apparently her feelings toward this ride haven't changed much since our last trip.
And upon further examination of this photo I realized that we chose the SAME HORSE two years in a row! And yes, each horse on the ride is different. What are the odds of that?!
Next up were the boat and train rides. These were a little more her style.
It really is crazy how much changes in 365 days.
As well as cuddles with "Ma Ma" on the beach.
Consistency is key in life, right? So when I looked around the condo and exclaimed, "This looks like home already!" in reference to our mess Ryan was able to appreciate it. Or so I thought.
I will say this: he certainly didn't mind cranking the AC down since we weren't footing the electric bill.
On the second day God created Wild Water and Wheels, and it was an absolute blast SPLASH!
There really was something for everyone: a lazy river for the equilibrium challenged (not naming any names, Ann), the kiddie area with slides galore and shooting water, and the tube slides that Ryan, Daddy, and I LOVED!
How incredibly cute are these towels Mandy Smith made?
High Cotton Monogramming
That evening Ryan and I gorged ourselves at the Flying Fish Market while Emerson stayed with Poppy and Nana and threatened them with pool sticks if they turned the channel from Disney.
And you thought you'd get a break tonight?
Ryan suggested putt-putt that evening, which I hadn't played in a while, so we made it a friendly competition. And truth be told, it's a lot more fun to debate a golf score than the usual husband and wife disputes.
During our game a dark, apocalyptic cloud came out of nowhere, and we were the only morons left vulnerably on the course with metal sticks.
This wasn't your typical storm; just check out these photos Ed Piotrowski shared. They'll make you want to get right with the Lord quickly!
It's the end of the world as we know it.
On Friday Ryan's parents joined us.
Do you see that look? This is the face of a little girl who is tee-teeing all over her grandmother.
#vitamintee
We went to the Waccatee Zoo on the fourth day and really enjoyed it!
At first Emerson was all like, "You want me to what? Feed those animals? Not on Mickey's life."
But perhaps she remembered how much she enjoys her snacks and figured the animals would, too.
One thing I LOVED about this zoo is how up close and personal we were to the wildlife. Seriously, any closer and we would have made a great appetizer for Mufasa over there.
This next photo is my DREAM! I'm obsessed with peacocks, and this one spread out his beautiful feathers right beside us! This one's going in a frame.
And while pressing a million buttons on my phone Emerson evidently clicked an ad saying that we were attending a grape stomp at the Duplin Winery?!?! I found out the next day when asked about it, and I was going...
I'm a Diet Mountain Dew kind of person. You know this! That child of mine and her quick fingers.
We spent the 4th with Ryan's extended family (Uncle Chris, Aunt Sharon, Aunt Missy, Logan, Austin, Carson, Granny Earl, Scott, Laura, and precious Maddie). It was oh so much fun!
Meet the Apple enthusiasts.
...and their accompanying paparazzi.
Getting all three of them to look was practically impossible!
So we saw the fireworks, visited the water park, zoo, and beach, ate the food, rode the rides, but the biggest event of the trip? Our now infamous raft ride. Get ready for this one.
You ain't seen nothin' yet.
I had been dying to go parasailing, but for the second year in a row no one would go with me. As luck would have it, Ryan parked RIGHT by the parasail station, so it was the first thing we saw when we got on the beach. He immediately regretted his decision.
I was like a three year old who's been told they're going to Disney World in a week.
"Can we go now??? PLEASE!??!?!?! I wanna go NOWWWWW!"
When Ryan turned me down and walked away I cornered Daddy and gave him my sales spiel. It shockingly didn't work, even after I resorted to, "But I'll be your best friend."
Here's a summary of our conversation.
"But Daddy, WHY NOT?" "I said, "No."
"But what if..." "NO."
"It'll only take a few min..." "NO!!!"
*That last one was accompanied with a hand motion
Then- a ray of hope - I saw some people coming in from the ocean on a raft attached to a jet ski. Ah HA! Here was my loophole. And speaking of holes, there better not be any in that raft.
I insisted that it was a compromise, and my Dad agreed so that I would be quiet. We paid the money, signed our waivers, and got our life jackets. We were the only two fools on the ride.
They called it the banana boat. And all we had to hold on to were those tiny handles.
We said hello to our driver, and he told us to hang on. I was envisioning a scening boat ride until we darted out into the ocean like a Boeing 747.
We were moving at lighting speed and bouncing around like kernels of popcorn. Was this a raft, or a mechanical bull?
After all, there were only two of us holding down a floating device that could actually seat ten. I was laughing my head off and assuring my Dad that, "THIS A BLAST!!!" That's when I looked over at him, white knuckled and hair flying with a look on his face like he was about to meet his maker.
We were WAY out in the ocean, and the hotels looked like monopoly pieces. Our driver stopped and asked if we were okay, and Daddy fell over in a humpty dumpty like fashion into the raft. I thought he was having a heart attack.
"ARE YOU OKAY!?!? WHAT'S WRONG?!?"
"I DON'T KNOW! I JUST DON'T KNOW!"
"TAKE A DEEP BREATH!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"
"WHY ARE WE YELLING?! WE'VE STOPPED MOVING, AND ALL IS QUIET!"
I guess he was panicking about seeing one of these guys swim up beside us...
"Why are you frightened? I was just going to ask if I have food in my teeth. Sheesh."
I talked him out of his tizzy, and we rode back to shore much slower, probably because our driver was fearing a lawsuit from which we had already signed our rights away.
My Mom, Ryan, his parents, and even Emerson were watching the whole ridiculous scene unfold from their comfy beach chairs under our tent. After what seemed like two days we made it back to shore and stopped. Safe at last...or was I? One of the other workers yelled at me, "HANG ON!!!!" just as a massive wave came to shore and flipped my side of the raft completely over, sending me tumbling into the ocean and inhaling a gallon of seawater. All of this took place in 20 minutes. When it was all said and done we looked like survivors of a zombie invasion, volcano eruption, and head-on train crash while being left behind as Noah closed the doors of the ark.
Here's hoping your 4th of July was good 'til the last drop.
"I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE GONE PARASAILING!"
