Myrtle Beach trip

We enjoyed a mostly lovely trip to Myrtle Beach this past weekend. David was helping lead a pre-deployment retreat for his unit and we got to go along!

We turned the girls' car seats forward a few days prior to the trip. I think they enjoyed their new view! Turning the car seats proved to be a challenge in rigging up the dvd player, though, which is why there are many yards or rope coming from all sides of it. The kids watched a Maisy movie from the library, a Thomas the train movie, and one of their Bible dvds which Graham has affectionately named, "God."
'Mama! I don't want Thomas! I want God!'

Bea looks like she's getting away with something during a gas station stop.

After almost four hours, we made it! We arrived Friday night after dark so the first view of the ocean the kids had was Saturday morning. Graham said, "Mama! Look at that big lake!" See, he's a Minnesotan at heart.

Bea and Inga weren't too impressed with the water, but they LOVED the seagulls.

I spent time with the kids on the beach Saturday during the day while David worked. He was off late in the afternoon and we enjoyed some family time together on the beach. We walked around by the shore for awhile and watched the waves crashing up on to the sand.


I think the waves muffled the sounds behind us because we didn't hear the horses galloping toward us until they were right there!



Bea is our animal lover. She immediately pointed to the horses and cried, "Puppy!"

Graham showed us how he could 'ski' down this little sand hill. He was pretty proud of himself.
We walked a bit further down the beach and out onto a long pier. There, we saw people catching 'whities'. We pointed out the 'No shark fishing' signs to Graham.

Sunset from our room Saturday night.

Sunrise from our room Sunday morning.
Looking at the pictures of the sunset and sunrise, you'd never suspect that something unpeaceful could have happened in between. But it did. We went out to dinner as a family and we promptly became 'that family.' You know, the family everyone looks at and wonders what they're doing in public with screaming children. The family some people observe and wonder when they might next read about them in a newspaper for abandoning their children (still screaming) on the side of the road. The family older couples look at and then look at each other and smile. You want to think that they are smiling because they remember raising their own children and are having happy thoughts about it. But they are not. They are smiling because their children are all grown up and are not living with them and they get to enjoy eating out without screaming kids (until your family came into the restaurant). Let's just say that our waiter brought our bill when we were about a fourth of the way finished with our meal. But it's fine. We still love our kids. We just don't love eating out with them. Except for Graham. He's still good as gold. It's just the other two...

Good thing we can't stay mad for long!

Bea developed a cold and a fever late Saturday (maybe that's why she was screaming...) and delighted in finding the kleenex conveniently stored on the bathroom vanity within reach.

Sunday morning Graham and I played with magnatiles while the girls napped and David finished his presentations.

Then Inga came down with a fever. Then we drove our four hour drive that took six hours.
We loved our trip, but we really love being home!