Family Beach Vacation 2011

This week we had our annual family vacation at the beach. My in-laws rent a house in Garden City and we get to stay the entire week. This time my sister and her little boy got to stay the entire week with us. Her husband got to stay Saturday through Monday but had to go back home to work, and my father and step-mom got to spend the last few days with us. It is so nice to be able to be together and enjoy the beach. We never really make any kind of real plans and decide from day-to-day what we want to do, which usually involves relaxing on the beach. Most days we got up, fixed breakfast, got everybody dressed with sunscreen and headed to the beach for a few hours. We were usually some of the first out there and with four small children (my three and my sister's one) a morning trip to the beach worked out nicely. We would come home and eat lunch and then it was nap time. Even my oldest two took naps most days. We also enjoyed hanging out under the house where the kids could ride their bikes and we set up a pool for them to play in. We rented a golf cart this time so we got to go on some rides around the neighborhood, and the kids got to ride their bikes on the rode for the first time which was exciting for them (except when I unknowingly sent Hannah down a street that went down-hill, but she handled it well with no scrapes).
We got to see a lot of wildlife while we were their. Underneath the house (it is on stilts) we were priviledged to watch baby birds in three different nest. Two of the sets of birds actually flew out of their nest for the first time while we were there. On one of our golf cart rides we saw a raccoon and then during a trip to a near by park we encountered another raccoon. This one got a little too close for comfort and caused our trip to the park to be cut short.
We ate out three different times while we were there. The first was to Sara J's which is our usually can't-wait-to-eat- there place. However we were disappointed this time because they had cut back on their portion size but not the price. It was still very good, but we just felt cheated. The second was to Crabby Mikes for crab legs. We had never been there before and was pleasently surprised at the food. The third was the best. We went to our friends new restaurant in Aynor called Miss Ellie's Dinnerbell. It was delicious and we got to hang out with our friends which made it even better.
Our one big outing was to the Family Kingdom. The kids had a great time. There are some many rides that they can ride. It was so great to see their huge smiles as the got to ride each one. The most memorable one was the Log Flume. They had ridden all the rides that they could by themselves and so we were on our way back to the car when they saw the Log Flume and obviously didn't know what it was all about because they wanted to ride it and guess who got to go with them because they weren't tall enough to ride by themselves (not that we would have let them anyway)--mommy was the chosen one and I do not particularly care for water rides. But we got on and the attendant told them they were going to get wet which completely went over their heads when mommy tried to tell them they would, and they started to have second thoughts to which I explained that they were out of luck and had to finish the ride at this point. So we went over the first small hill and they were about ready to jump out of the boat. And again I had to explain that that was not possible and they had to finish the ride. I tried to be as positive as I could while secretly dreading the huge drop myself but I didn't want to make them panic anymore then they were, so I went on and on about how fun it was going to be. I think I convinced Cayden, but Hannah was not at all fooled. We made it to the bottom of the drop and came out of it not as wet as I had thought. The kids were not in fully panic mode and Cayden even said he wanted to ride again. Hannah still wanted no more of the ride and was all to ready to get off. We have a picture of us coming off the ride. We are all three wet(although not drenched) and Cayden is crying because he wants to ride again. I think it was more because he didn't want to home.
The weather was pretty nice. The temperature was very bearable, however the winds were a little rough a few days. It didn't rain the entire trip.
Our trips to the beach were fun. Hannah loved the water and sand. I think she would have played all day in the sand and ocean if we would have let her. Cayden on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the water. The ocean was just too scary for his little three-year-old self. He did play in the sand far away from the water but if you tried to take him to the water he would cry and ask to go home. Usually Cayden and Parker were playing in the sand near where we set up the canopy and chairs and Hannah was playing in the water with one of us. One day Craigan and her dug a huge hole near the edge of the water and sat in their "warm tub" as they called it. She enjoyed walking down the beach and collecting shells. Her and Memaw (my mother-in-law) were looking for a special shell which is called an olive shell I believe and were able to find three of them.
The trip to the beach was great. It was nice hanging out with the family and spending quality time together. I can't wait for next year.