Sun, Surf, & Storms

 

Our family just got back from vacation. I can't tell you how excited this made me. Not only did we go on vacation, but we went to the BEACH for a whole WEEK! Do you know how long it has been since we have been on vacation as a family? (Camping does NOT count!) It has been 4 years since we have been anywhere & 5 LONG years since we have been to the beach!

I am such a beach girl. I could move there & not think twice about it! (Ok, maybe I would think twice, but not long.) My husband, on the other hand, loves the mountains.

Austin has been to the beach 3 times - 2, 3.5, & 6. His first reaction to the ocean was "Big O Big O Water". Makenzie has only been once, when she was 2 years old. I really don't remember how she reacted, but I know she had fun. 

Aren't they adorable?

We drove down to North Myrtle Beach, SC Sunday afternoon after church. Immediately after unpacking & eating supper, everyone headed down to the beach with flashlights. They had a blast hunting for crabs!

As soon as Logan's feet touched the sand, he said "Huwts. Hold You." & held out his hands for me to pick him up. He was not a fan of the sand or the ocean. Thankfully, he did start to like it before we left.

Austin almost mastered "surfing" on a skim board by week's end. Justin probably would have had it down pat too if we had a bigger board. 

We spent our days on the beach soaking up the rays & our nights out & about in town. The weather forecast called for scattered thunderstorms all week with a tropical storm rolling in on Friday. Yep, you heard me right, Tropical Storm Andrea decided to join our party!

Hey did you know that sting rays & other critters come in close to shore to feed right before a storm? Well, I had never really thought about it until Justin & Austin came charging out of the water, excitedly talking about the rays that just swam by them!

I can finally check that item off my bucket list! I rode out a tropical storm/hurricane. We even ventured out onto the beach on Friday at the height of the storm! Oh, we only stayed about 10 minutes. The blowing sand STUNG & Logan could barely stand up. It was certainly an experience!!

Austin & Makenzie rode their first roller coaster at the Ocean Drive Pavilion. Justin rode the Alien Abduction (otherwise known as the Gravitron) with them & felt sick the rest of the night! I tried to convince Austin to ride this thing with me that flipped upside down, but he wouldn't take me up on it. They did talk me into riding the Tilt a Whirl & the Scrambler. Oh, I paid dearly for a while after that! I just can't go round & round the way I used to could. I'm still ok with flipping upside down, but not doing circles.

We walked out on the pier. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to make time for fishing ourselves but we watched plenty of other people catching fish. Some guys caught little sharks & some Toad Fish while we were out there. I've never heard of a Toad Fish, but they claim that they are very poisonous. We also saw several Sting Rays swimming by.

Putt putt is a MUST on vacation! It always has been! Captain Hook didn't let us down. 

On Wednesday, we headed to Wet, Wild, & Wheels for all the swimming & racing we could stand! I watched the sky with dread as it turned black & the clouds began to build. Thankfully, it blew on over & we had a beautiful overcast, day that was not too hot! I even managed to get Logan to sleep smack dab in the middle of all the fun. But, it was hard to make him understand that he was too little to ride the go carts. Yep, I have mad skillz, but some things are just out of my control! LOL

Since it was raining again most of Thursday, we took a trip to Ripley's Aquarium. {See, I got school in! We are studying Swimming Creatures with Apologia next year.} Sharks are always a favorite, but touching the horseshoe crabs was an experience as well. We even had our pictures taken with mermaids!

The ONE thing that I REALLY wanted to do (other than take pictures on the beach) we didn't get the opportunity to do. Mother Nature & Andrea had other plans! When I told the kids we were doing school while at the beach, they were not too thrilled.....until they found out what I had planned. Myrtle Beach State Park had a bunch of really cool things planned for the kids all summer. I was especially interested in hunting for sea turtles! The problem with this little adventure - we had to be on the beach 30 minutes away at 6am! Well, it was calling for pouring down rain most of Friday morning so we didn't even bother setting the alarm.

....SIGH....

But wait, there's more! 

We saw several turtles throughout the week. Then, as we were looking off the balcony Thursday afternoon not 1, but 2 turtles lumbered by. One of them even dug her nest in full view of our room!

After tempting fate through the storm early Friday, the weather cleared & we were able to spend the rest of the beach digging in the sand!

Saturday greeted us with the dread of cleaning, packing up, & heading home. Farewell ocean, until we meet again...........hopefully sooner than later!

Oh yeah, while we were living it up in paradise, we kept getting reports from home. Apparently home had A LOT more water than we did! Our driveway greeted us with deep gullies in the gravel. Our road (& several others) were impassible for some time due to flooding. And I now need a new roof!

Well, at least my good ole Suburban made it down & back, almost 800 miles & tripping the big 200K mark, in one piece .....

..... or did it?

From Snow Bibs to Swimming Trunks

It has been a wild and crazy weekend. Thankfully we are off of school this week.

As I write this post, I am lounging on my bed, surrounded by laundry and thinking about how sticky my floors are, while resting my knee on a few pillows. Hold on & I'll tell you all about that story.

Saturday started E A R L Y with a trip up to Jonas Ridge in Boone snow tubing with the church. If you are local and haven't tried Jonas Ridge yet, you need to! The slopes are fun, the drive isn't too far, and the price is reasonable.

This is the 3rd year in a row that my family has been to Jonas Ridge, but it was the first time in 5 years that I was going to get to actually tube. Pregnancy & nursing a baby knocked me out 2 years running. YEAH finally, I get to have fun too!

The first hour and a half went by without a hitch. Kids and adults alike took turn after turn zipping down the slippery snow white slopes and creeping back up the moving sidewalk. Squeals of delight and fear could be heard all over that mountain.

I took a break to snap as many pictures as I could.

I should have stopped while I was ahead.

The very next trip down, my foot found a rather large snowball that tried its best to keep me up on that slope. My left knee was snapped outward & I have been limping since.

I seriously considered a trip to the ER, but my wallet talked some sense into me.

Here's praying for a quick recovery!

Saturday night was our sweetheart dinner at church. I really wanted to stay home with my leg up, but I'm glad I went. We played the Newlywed Game & I haven't laughed that hard or seen that many red faces in a LONG time.

Monday also held a special treat for all of us. We took off with a ton of kids to Ray's Splash Planet for a little "summer" fun at their indoor water park. As I was thinking about all 10 children that went with us, I realized that we had 8 different grades/age levels represented. (I know, weird, but it fascinated me) 9th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 5th, 2nd, 1st, 1st, K, and 20 months - 6 boys & 4 girls. They got along great and had a blast, except Logan.

We got down there at nap time & the water was a little chilly, so Logan was not happy. Less than an hour into the fun, Logan was all wrapped up in a towel & asleep in my arms. That's ok, I got to rest my knee, take lots of pictures, and read while snuggling with my baby.

We had a picnic lunch outside and thankfully it was a pretty day and the wind wasn't too brutal.

Unfortunately, lunch ended up being anything but peaceful because my little dare devil wanted to be like everyone else sitting on the picnic tables, except he lost his balance and hit his head on the way down. So now we have a hysterical, bleeding baby who is holding his breath.

Its a good thing I don't get too excited! Of course having my EMT hubby and a nurse friend there helped a lot.

It looks like we didn't escape a trip to the ER this weekend after all, we just delayed it.

Hey, at least now I know how to get to the hospital in Charlotte!

So almost an hour and a half and 2 staples later, we rejoined everyone else back at the water park. It seems that the excitement didn't die down when we left. We also dealt with a cut across Makenzie's nose and another child with a bloody nose. Just about every one of our 10 darlings ended up having some sort of issue before the day was over. Due to the high chlorine content in the water, there were several coughing, breathing, and red burning eye issues. Headaches also seemed to run rampant through our group.

But all in all, I think everyone had a good time & they were returned to their families in relatively good condition.

Hey, we are planning a trip out of town in a few months, don't you want to go with us?!?!

Koinania Vacation Giveaway

While trying to plan our family vacation this year, I came across this giveaway!

This is a ranch owned by a homeschool family out in Missouri. I've never been to Missouri.

We haven't even been on a real vacation in a couple of years. How awesome would it be to actually win one!!

Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Calgon Take me Away

I have been in DESPERATE need of a vacation for a LONG time! I worry, I stress, I get ill over the drop of a hat, yep, a vacation!

Justin told me a couple of weeks ago to clear our schedule for a couple of days. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Between school, extra curriculars, baseball, soccer, & church, not to mention any free time (wait, scratch that, I don't have free time. Although some people think I have all the time in the world. Anyway, that's a story for another day.) our days stay pretty busy, but I like it that way! So, I managed to squeak out a couple of days, even though I will be missing the Mother's Encouragement Tea (oh, how I need to be there).

He wouldn't tell me anything other than we were taking off for a couple of nights. One of those nights being without the kids. Not even Logan!! Oh my! I immediately start feeling guilty with a capital G. We haven't had a real family vacation in 4 years. Now, we have been camping & to the Great Wolf Lodge a couple of times, but not an actual go away, stay away, vacation (read BEACH). In fact the last time I went anywhere off was almost 3 years ago for our 10th anniversary & that was without the kids. I said never again!

So here I am, battling my selfish desires against my sane objections. The kids need me, Logan can't handle it, we can't afford it, we have school, etc, etc, etc.

Well, today is the day. And it came none too soon. My stress level was through the roof and my patience was nonexistent. I smiled as we dropped the kids off at my mother in law's, but I still felt guilty.

BUT, come to find out, my wonderful hubby won, that's right WON a 2 night stay at a local hotel. So no more guilt about money.

AND, the kids are coming to stay with us tomorrow. So no more guilt about them not getting to enjoy the pool.

AND, Justin is preaching at a local church tonight (the same one he has been preaching at for the past 2 weeks) & the kids are coming there. So no more guilt about completely abandoning Logan.

AND, we are close enough not to take Austin to baseball tomorrow. So no more guilt about missing their activities.

AND, I got to do WHATEVER I wanted this afternoon AND I get a full nights sleep. So no more guilt...period.

Well, maybe a little. I pray that Logan doesn't have too hard of a night!