The Recob’s Trip to Myrtle Beach - Part 1

Saturday, April 11, 2009

3:45 AM – We woke up and got ourselves ready to go. The kids slept in their clothes so we could just grab them and leave by 4:30 AM. The van was packed the night before so all we had to do was get everyone in and we were off. We made it to Madison by about 5:30 AM after a quick potty stop. Randy dropped us off and went to park the car. A nice gentleman helped us in to check in with our bags. Everything went smoothly. I ran in to a student of mine and her family as we were heading through security (they were on their way to Hawaii). We went through security (took off our shoes, belts, unpacked the laptop, folded down the stroller) and made it through without a problem. In the airport the kids ate their gogurt and granola bars while we waited for the plane. Our first flight to St. Paul, MN went really well. It was about 45 minutes long and everyone was very friendly. Randy sat with the boys and I sat with Ava. We had a little over an hour layover in St. Paul so we grabbed breakfast at McDonalds, which went over well. We walked to the complete opposite end of the airport to catch our second flight to Charleston, SC. We were on a much smaller plane for this part of our flight. Cooper and Ava sat with Daddy and Logan sat with me when we started. After we were in the air Cooper moved back with me and watched a movie with Logan…Ava moved into the car seat to take a catnap. The flight went well, until we landed and sat on the runway waiting for a gate to open up. Ava spit up a bit and the kids were getting antsy. We got our bags right away while Randy took care of our rental car. This part seemed to take forever. The kids had a lot of energy and were way overtired. Finally, Randy got the car taken care of and we rented a cart and got all the car seats loaded into the car. A tight fit but it worked out well! We were finally off. It was about 77 degrees and about 1:00 PM. We stopped to grab sandwich stuff before heading up to Myrtle Beach, the plan was to go to a beach or stop in the National Forest to eat but Logan and Cooper crashed on the way to the grocery store. We arrived at our destination at 4:30 PM after about 12 full hours of traveling and checked into our place. The resort is nice. There’s a lot to do right here…a pool (indoor and outdoor), a small water park for little kids, basketball, tennis, playground equipment and shuffleboard. We got ourselves settled and went down to check out the pools. We also played on the playground. For dinner we went to a brick oven pizza place in town and then headed back for bedtime. The kids crashed hard at around 8:30 PM and Randy and I were close to follow.

Sunday, April 12, 2009 – Easter Day

We started out Easter Day with Krispie Cream Donuts, then headed to the park to play. Logan and Daddy played basketball, while Cooper, Ava and I played with bubbles. We ran around for a bit and played on the playground equipment. At 10:00 AM the kids did an Easter Egg Hunt that the resort put on. They each got a few eggs with toys and candy in them…they had fun. Then we came back to the room where Ava and Cooper napped. Randy took Logan to the pool while I relaxed a bit with my book. We packed a lunch and got ready for our first trip to the ocean. The kids were so excited. It was huge and endless and only about a mile from our resort. The kids started out building sand castles and ran back and forth with buckets to fill with water. They tried to fill a mote with water but the sand kept absorbing it…very funny. Then to our amazement Logan wanted to brave the water. It was cold but Randy and I took turns taking both boys in to run after the waves. The temperature of the water didn’t seem to bother them. Even Ava splashed in the ocean and had fun with a bucket and a shovel. After playing for a while we ate lunch on the beach. Logan and Randy went back into the water, while Cooper, Ava and I played on the beach. Logan found some neat shells and Randy found a really pretty one but it was broke in half. We left around 2:30 PM and I took Logan and Cooper to the outdoor pool and kiddie water park. It was freezing cold water, but the boys didn’t seem to mind. We played for a while then the boys got their faces painted and balloon animals. Meanwhile Ava took a much needed nap, while Randy rested a bit. We ate egg noodles and polish sausage for dinner (poor mans dinner as my father calls it) and then went to Broadway on the Beach. The kids rode on two rides (a boat ride and a car ride). Our favorite part was feeding the catfish off the pier. There were so many of them and the kids were just in awe. We finished up there and went back to the room where the kids went to bed. Randy rented us a movie and got icecream and we relaxed in our room for the evening. What a day!