Myrtle Beach 2017!!!

The big event of the summer was our family trip to the beach!! We try to do this vacation once every two to three years and the last time was in 2014 so we were all excited to go back! I kept thinking vacation is at the end of summer and to enjoy summer because once we go on vacation it means summer is almost over. Imagine my surprise when all the sudden it was time for the beach! The Hatz family left on Thursday so we could be in Myrtle Beach on Friday. We left bright and early Thursday morning and made it a good 5 hours or so before stopping for breakfast. The kids did NOT go back to sleep in the car as we hoped but traveled really well. Carter gets car sick now (?) so we also picked up some Dramamine on our first stop, which helped settle his stomach. It also made him pass out that afternoon. Isla continues to be our all-star traveler! I attribute this to the fact that we took this trip with her as a baby. That girl cannot be in the car for longer than an hour without falling asleep. Brea is our wild card! She didn't nap particularly long in the car and wouldn't keep headphones on so wasn't really interested in any of the movies for an extended period of time. We mostly kept her occupied by feeding her and letting her goof around on my ipad. She watched a video of Nora on Instagram for like an entire hour. I felt really good about my parenting skills at the beginning of the trip when my girls chose to eat bananas for breakfast over mini donuts. I was knocked off my pedestal the last hour an a half when I purchased the kids jumbo push pops to keep them quiet until we got to our hotel. I was operating under the parenting philosophy of  'whatever works!' also known as 'keeping my sanity.' ;)   Once at the hotel, it was pool and dinner before going down for the night and by 9 o'clock or so we were all OUT!

We only had 4-5 hours to drive on Friday so we didn't rush out the door to early in the morning. We made it to Myrtle Beach around lunch time. The kids just wanted to get into the pool but we decided to go to Boardwalk on the Beach for lunch and to walk around. We ate at Wahlburgers and just walked around. We let the kids pick out candy at Sweets and that was a hit for sure. We decided against going to the aquarium because all the kids really wanted to do was swim.

We went back to the hotel to let them do that. It was overcast but warm. We headed to downtown Myrtle Beach to walk on the boardwalk, see the beach (!), and have some dinner. Brea was not a fan of the water at first but the other two loved it.

We had to pay a dollar a piece to walk out on the pier to check out the ocean. Major eyeroll! But we drove 1,100 miles so we paid the five bucks to check it out.

We had a pretty late dinner and were ready to go back to the hotel BUT there was a live band and decided to do a little dancing first.

We got up the next morning and had planned to hang out on the beach. The weather had very different plans as it poured for quite a while. So instead we ate breakfast at the hotel and then drove to check out our beach house for the week. We couldn't get in until the afternoon but decided to see where it was located then we just drove up and down Waccamaw and looked at all the beach houses including the ones we have stayed at previously. The rain eventually cleared and the rest of the crew was heading into town so we decided to eat at Flo's Place for lunch. Most of us ordered sea food including Carter who chowed down some popcorn shrimp. After lunch, we met up with the Wachal's and headed to the public beach to kill some time before we could get in our house. We had a nice time and ended up getting the call that the house was ready around 2 pm.

The house was AWESOME!!! It was so spacious and nice. It had everything we needed. This house was further south than we have stayed previously and the beach was much more secluded. which was amazing. Saturday was a beautiful day weather-wise and everyone enjoyed time on the beach and in the pool.

The rest of the week we stuck to a very relaxed schedule. Lots of pool, beach, and family time. The weather this year was not as nice as we have had during previous trips. It rained at least once a day but we didn't have an entire day that was a complete rain out. It rained Wednesday afternoon/evening through Thursday morning so that seemed like quite awhile. So much so, that Thursday morning the kids were so sick of being inside that they swam in the pool in the pouring rain. It was just raining no lightning so they were safe :). Even some of the adults got in on the action. Matt and I were in the hot tub that morning and it was raining so hard that it was almost hurting our faces. We looked at each other like "I can't believe we are doing this!" But when you are on vacation you have to make the best of the situation.

We went out to eat as a big group to Nance's (of course) and then my mom was feeling VERY brave and let the big kids and my dad go out to eat Friday night while she watched ALL NINE KIDS! The woman is a saint. My great aunt Natalie came in to visit from North Carolina for a few days and we all had fun hanging out with her. She is such a cool lady and positive spirit it is almost impossible to be in a bad mood around her.

Other Beach Memories:
We had ice cream at Meyer's Ice Cream Shop

Isla lost her first tooth in the ocean!!! What a fun memory for her to have. Her bottom tooth had been loose for most of the summer and I knew she was going to lose it before school started. She was just sitting in the waves with her cousins when I bigger wave came in and knock her over and her tooth out!! Luckily for her, she must have been wriggling it because she had her hand in her mouth and she caught her tooth in her hand so it didn't get swept away by the sea :).

Carter is such a fish and LOVED being in the ocean. I couldn't keep that boy out of the ocean. Unfortunately, he is so skinny that the life vest we bought for him gave him really bad burns so he couldn't wear it. I was brave enough to let him NOT have swim wings on if he was boogey boarding and had his boogey board attached. I did make him put on the little kids swim arms when he just wanted to swim. It is crazy that those still fit him! He is a really good swimmer but I just nervous about him and the current with nothing to keep him afloat. I boogey boarded with him almost the entire day on Friday. I think we were in the water for close to three hours. He fell asleep at 3 o'clock in the afternoon he was so worn out!! I don't remember the last time that happened. I told Matt that I can totally see Carter moving somewhere near the ocean when he is older :).

It was funny to watch Brea warm up to the beach/ocean as the week went out. She never wanted to venture too far out and certainly wouldn't get into the water without an adult but she didn't hate it at the end of the week so I considered that a win :). She also wasn't too sassy that I remember and sort of went with the flow of things even if that meant she didn't nap certain days.

Picture Overload:

The Trip Home:

The week went by super fast (as it always seems to do) and before we knew it it was time to head home. The trip home ended up being eventful and not in a good way. We traveled 800 miles the first day to Scottburg, Indiana. Brea was a wreck the entire day in the car. She was crabby in the  morning until she fell asleep but then we had to stop for gas quickly after that, which woke her up. So she 'napped' for about 30 minutes the entire day. She was a total crab in the car and nothing would make her happy. So needless to say it was a long day for Matt and I. The other two kids did pretty good in the car. Carter's Dramamine knocks him out and Isla has always been a good car rider so they were fine. But everyone was more than ready to get to the hotel, eat, and have some time in the pool. The Tiemeier family flew home but everyone else stayed at the same hotel, which ended up being such a blessing. After dinner there was an incident with Brea, which will get its own blog post, and we ended up in the ER and then transferred to Riley's Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. Fortunately, Carter and Isla were able to go home with my parents and everyone made it home safe and sound. It wasn't exactly the way we envisioned ending our vacation but everything worked out.

Until next time South Carolina...and I don't even want to think about how old everyone will be when we make our trip back ;).