"22 bodies of water entertainment"

That's what the Compass Cove resort website states... we made it to 4. After all we came to the "Beach" so not a big deal. Today Alex had a blast playing in a quiet 1 foot pool with his dolphins and beach toys then it was over to the lazy river.

He thought it was funny that David was "chasing" us on his float behind us. Tomorrow we leave Myrtle Beach and head up to NC so Alex and I can spend Mother's day with Nan/Jan(my mother), Meca( my grandmother) and Aunt E( my aunt/godmother) and David is headed home to celebrate with G'ma( his mom).( Plus the bikers are headed here for Bike week and it's time for us to get out of their way!) We have enjoyed our 1st 2009 family vacation and look forward to the next one already.

Next stop E&A head home to NH( hmm, I wonder if Alex will like those beaches too??)

( pictures dark due to UV filter and my sitting under an umbrella)

Play hard sleep hard

Yesterday we had a great time again on the beach playing in the sand. Alex is no longer afraid of the big waves which freaks me out a bit but I was able to persuade him to sit and play in his very own tide pool. He played until he stood up and said " go upstairs, eat eat, go night night..."

Later that evening( after waking the sleepy boy) we met up for dinner at PF Chang's with a few of David's cousins, Jessica, Julia, Eric and Julia's little boy Kamren who is 18 months.( sadly I forgot our camera and don't have any pics of our dinner).

"Dunna Dunna Dunna..."

The windy, cloudy weather kept us out of the water yesterday, so we headed to "Ripley's Believe it or not's" aquarium. There was a lot to see, baby aquatic animals, horse shoe crabs to touch ( although no one was game) Stingray's to touch ( again, great to look at...), but the best part were the "Rainbow" tanks. There was a moving sidewalk that led us past a huge habitat for tons of fish, saw head sharks, tiger sharks, sting rays, tuna, larger than David's head. The sidewalk took us under the tank, and although we were separated by the tank it was a bit unnerving at first to have the Sharks swim toward or over us. Well it was unnerving for me, but not the boys they were amazed! The best part was right before our journey ended, a HUGE sea turtle came swimming right toward us! Alex is currently obsessed with Turtles, and Dolphins so he was a very excited little boy!!

The only thing that topped that moment was the "friend" he found in the gift shop!

Fun in the sun!

So we have arrived after about 8 hours. David actually let me drive half way and Alex got to watch an array of DVD's until we both decided we had heard enough and it was officially nap time. he only cried about 10 mins and slept for the next hour and a half. We stopped at a roadside farm stand so David could get boiled peanuts( which taste a lot like black eyed peas), and we picked up some great strawberries, plums and a small watermelon. The strawberries were displayed in a cute basket with the farm's logo. The farm's name was McLeod Farm :) but sadly the basket was not for sale.
When we got to our room Alex immediately went to the balcony and was amazed with his big brown eyes by the sights and sounds of the beach. " Seagulls! ooooo...Water! waves! ooooo...." He then found his new beach toys and was even more beside himself with excitement when he realized he could make music with the shovels. And even more excited about the noise he could make hitting the balcony railing..."and what happens when I throw them through the openings??"....Yes he threw 2 shovels over the balcony within 15 mins of being here :) Boys...

We searched for a place to have dinner and David was appalled that I would even suggest Olive Garden, so we settled on a nice mom & pop/family restaurant and had a great meal. We have decided to use the kitchen in our room for good and picked up supplies at the Piggly Wiggly then headed home after Alex entertained the staff and patrons with his animal noises, to call it a night.

Our 1st full day has been great and although a bit breezy and "chilly" we had a blast playing with the remainder of the toys on the beach. I wonder how many we'll have left at the end of the week.

Packing....

Maybe I am personally making packing harder than it needs to be. When I see families with small children in commercials or in magazines on the beach, they always look like they are enjoying themselves. The child/ren have only a shovel and pail, maybe a sun hat on. They frolic along the shore as if they arrived in their bathing suits and plan to make the most of their week with the shovel and pail. But my reality has me packing 2 pails, 3 types of shovels, a boat, sand molds, 2 beach hats ( that he was already fighting me in the store about trying it on we'll see what happens when we get there...) 2 pair of sun glasses. a beach chair, sun screen, SPF sun shirts, 2 pair of trunks, a floating suit, a float he can sit in, a jogging stroller, a DVD player, toys for the room, clothes and an assortment of snacks for the 7 hour road trip. Wonder if we should have rented and RV??