Myrtle Beach

WARNING: You will be sick of looking at us by the end of this post.  Well, if you even make it that far.... dun, dun, dun!  Oh, and I talk about poop in this post, too.

Since we haven't done too many fun things as a family (and since I'm in the ever so lovely 2nd trimester) we took a two day trip down to Myrtle Beach (a tourist trap at the northern tip of the South Carolina shoreline).  One of the best parts about living in Raleigh is living halfway between the mountains and the beach.  It's the best of both worlds. 



The kiddos were pretty excited.  As they get older they get better and better at car trips.  We didn't even pop in a DVD for them on the way down.  They were awesome.  Don't mind Skyler wearing Lil's sunglasses.  That kid is so sensitive to light (like his mommy) and I managed to lose his aviators about a day after I bought them a few months back.  It's a good thing Lily's good at sharing...



The next few pictures were taken at my favorite spot at Myrtle Beach: the aquarium.  So don't mind the bad quality pictures.  Cheapo camera + being in an underwater tubey walkway = really bad lighting for pictures.

 We were tickling the sting rays and sharks.

 My favorite part about the aquarium is getting to pet the sharks and sting rays.  Unfortunately, the pool is about 3 feet deep and Lily's toddler arms weren't quite long enough to reach them, though she did try for a good 20 minutes.  Ben and I were lucky, though.

First of all, you should know that back in the day I had no problems with horseshoe crabs.  I'd pick them up even thinking they were cool.  But years have passed and when I watch someone pick one up and their little crab legs try to get ya from under the shell, oh man, those things are CREEPY.  I would get the willies anytime I was around one.  Now, I'm an animal person, I really am.  But there are some animals (tarantulas, snakes, komodo dragons...) that fall under the "Don't Come Near Me" category.  Horseshoe crabs have been under that category for the past few years, so I finally decided to conquer my fear and pick one up.  And I made Ben document it, too.  And I may or may not have dropped that thing as soon as I saw the flash.

 Skyler and I giving each other kisses through the giant fish eyeball.  Now there's a sentence I'll never say again.

 Sometimes I've got to make Ben jealous.  Keeps the romance alive, right?

 Since Lily was unsuccessful at petting a stingray inside the aquarium, we took a pic of her petting a statue of one just outside it.

 As we walked around the boardwalk, we stopped at the coolest candy shop in the world.  You could get a huge box of NERDS that had 52 servings.  I mean, that's awesome.  Unless you're me and you know my embarrassing NERD story.  That story.... not so awesome.  Another day, perhaps.  These "lollipops" are actually spun marshmallow.

 The beauty of Myrtle Beach is that hotels are dirt cheap during the off season (although it was in the 70's while we were there.  Happy February, y'all).  So this was the view from our hotel room.

 Another one of the beauties?  Most hotels have heated indoor and outdoor pools/mini water parks to keep you happy all year long.  This is Lily in our hotel's lazy river.  Just hop on a float and glide with the current forever.

 Just minutes after taking this picture I had an official "Mommy Moment."  Skyler walked up to me and looked uncomfortable.  It took about a half second to realize that he had some brown liquid dripping down his legs.  Ben got out of the lazy river and watched Lily so I could run Skyler up to our 8th story hotel room.  Ah, the joys of running a toddler with diarrhea through a busy hotel lobby and having to wait an eternity for an elevator.  Nothing can quite compare to when someone says, "Oh, isn't your son so cute!  Look at his.... OH MY GOSH!" as they point at the poop running down his legs.  Oh, motherhood.  You never cease to amaze me.

 Then we spent the morning on the beach.  And here is my sad confession: we live a mere 2 1/2 hours from the beach and this was my children's first experience seeing the ocean.  Someone slap me.

 My version of taking a picture with a dead sea urchin.

 Ben's version of taking a picture with a dead sea urchin.  We weren't 100% percent sure if it even was a sea urchin, and we weren't sure if they could hurt you when they are dead, either.  So we played it safe and held it in a shell.

 Then a few minutes later Ben found this beauty. 

 And he picked it up and made the kids touch it when I wouldn't.  Gag.

 Then some horses came by and one of the riders asked if the kids wanted a ride.  Since Lily has some serious guts, she hopped right on up.

We ended the trip by doing what everyone does at Myrtle Beach: going shopping at the outlet malls.  We got some pretty sweet deals getting clothes for the kids, though they didn't think it was that fun.  It's a good thing they have these little rides placed 50 feet apart all the way down the mall. 

When "Mommy Moment Episode II" happened in The Children's Place, I knew we were done.  I ran Skyler out to the car and many wipes later he was a happier boy. 

So now we're home.  And we're much better rested.  And we're eating homemade food again.  And Skyler hasn't pooped all day.  Life is good.