The Beach House

A few weeks ago my mom called to say that they wanted to get out of the cold and come visit us. My dad really wanted to go to a beach so I started to explore options. We had originally planned on going to Charleston, but then we had the chance to stay in a beach house of some friends, the Gileses, in North Myrtle Beach. What a wonderful trip!! We left Thursday when David got home from work and came back Sunday morning. It was so fun and relaxing. It was perfect, especially for my parents who left behind 30 degree weather.

Friday morning I woke up early and went for a walk on the beach by myself. (The beach house was two blocks from the beach.) It was quiet and peaceful. I wish I could start every day that way.

The day was a little stormy and cloudy. I loved how the sky reflected on the wet sand.

It started to sprinkle lightly when I left the beach and started to pour just as I got to the beach house. Perfect timing!

Since it was supposed to be stormy most of the day, we decided to go into Myrtle Beach and do our souvenir shopping. It was a great day to go because there weren't any weekend crowds.

My parents treated us to a ride on the giant SkyWheel. It was a fun ride. (But watching some crazy person ride the Slingshot reverse bungee into the sky just a short distance over about gave me a heart attack.)

Last time we were at Myrtle Beach, we walked to the end of the pier. This year they wanted to charge us $1 just to walk out there. Ridiculous!

We also went to the candy store. The kids LOVE this place. I read the sign wrong and ended up buying $40 worth of candy!

Jaw breaker

Ripley's Believe It Or Not (We didn't go inside, but Jalen wanted to ride in this car).

We decided to buy our souvenirs from a shop with a shark's head door.

Mom and Dad bought colorful wheels for their garden. (Not this one, it was over $100!)

More like this size.

This is the one they bought! (And the Nemo one in the back.)

Check out this place!

Even though it was a bit chilly, when we got back to the beach house the rain was over so the kids decided to swim. Baylie is a little fish and doesn't ever want to get out of the water.

Baylie and Grandad loved looking for shells.

Jalen loves doing anything with his grandad.

Close ups.

On the second morning, the kids and Grandad joined me for a sunrise walk.

Because of the stormy weather, there were jellyfish washed up on shore.

Few things are as beautiful as sunrise over the ocean.

Daddy had told the kids to stay out of the water. Yeah, right!

The sand was always wet, which was great for walking and drawing.

Beach scenes.

Beach transportation - courtesy of our friends - they were so good to us in every way.

Saturday was warm and a beautiful day at the beach. We spent most of the day there.

Mark Giles had the beach all set up for us when we got there.

Corn hole - I hadn't even heard of this game until I moved to South Carolina. It's everywhere down here.

Fun in the water...

...and on the beach.

The kids and David made a "hot tub."

Jalen made Baylie a birthday cake. He worked really hard on it, putting in candles and shells and writing her a message in the sand.

We were excited the next morning to see that the high tide just nicked the cake, but left it standing.

The beach house.

Beach traffic.

The porch swing.

The final morning - Sunday - David and my parents came along for the morning walk on the beach. Each morning was so beautiful.

I forgot to sunscreen my feet. Whoops!

 I love South Carolina beaches - the grass, the fences, everything.

I think we wore them out!

What a perfect vacation!!

I liked some pictures my mom had on her blog so I'm adding them here.