Last of the beach trip

Saturday the weather finally cleared and was nice - of course our last full day at the beach.  We headed out early to check out WonderWorks at Broadway at the Beach, and it was better than I expected.  No line at all, and practically empty even.  We had plenty of time to check out the exhibits without feeling overcrowded.

Lily on a bed of nails.



Astronaut Madeleine


The highlight was the indoor ropes course.  I had figured Lily would be too scared to go up, so we'd hold down the fort while Madeleine and Eric were above us, but she ended up going up as well.  No pictures because we had to lock everything up in a locker so nothing fell off.  Super proud of my brave girl.

We walked around Broadway at the Beach some more before heading back to the hotel for more swimming.  The girls loved the pirate ship playground by the beach.



And they loved learning to play shuffleboard.

More Myrtle

For our first full day in Myrtle Beach, the forecast was rainy and a high of 42.

Like the rest of town, we headed out to Ripley's Aquarium.  For the 4 of us admission was roughly $75.  I got in line for tickets right at 9 and ended up going in around 9:20.  While the tube through the shark tank was really cool, we'd finished everything in the aquarium within an hour.

So we went over to try and go to WonderWorks, but the wait at that point was close to 2 hours.  Yeah, no.

The girls were cold, and we tried to get them to walk around the shops.  We did some Old Tyme photos and had Hard Rock for lunch before heading back to the hotel for an afternoon of indoor swimming.


The highlight of Friday was dinner at Medieval Times.  We hadn't told the girls about it, so they were excited to see us pull up to the castle for dinner.  They got really into the show, and were thrilled to cheer on our red and yellow knight, even though he didn't win.  Both girls were lucky enough to receive carnations that he threw earlier as a display of chivalry for winning his tasks during the tournament.

Vacation - all I ever wanted

We were able to get away last week for a few days to the beach.  It was my first trip to Myrtle Beach since our 1990 senior beach trip, and a LOT has changed.

Based on friend recommendations and the weather, we stayed at the Dunes Village resort way north of central Myrtle Beach.  Since I had no idea what the weather was going to be like, I wanted somewhere with a lot of indoor activities, and their indoor water park looked pretty fun.  When I first looked in February our dates were 25% off, but I was scared by their cancellation policy and didn't book until March when it was 20% off and I had to book a Queen suite instead of just a studio.

But the suite was great.  Eric, Madeleine, and I slept in the bedroom while Lily slept by herself on the murphy bed in the living room.  It was nice to be able to just hang out while they were asleep and not be in the dark too.

I didn't bring a camera to the water park/pools, but you can check them out on their site.  We preferred the park in the Palmetto tower with the lazy river over the one in the Palms Tower which seemed more for the teenage set.  But we were in the parks for HOURS the three days we were there (arrival on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday).

Saturday it finally got sunny so the girls were able to enjoy the pirate play area. 

Lily

Lily had some one-on-one time with Eric on Saturday.  She got to be the special store opener at the Disney Store and got a My Little Pony comic at the comic book store.

We've got spirit, yes we do

Here's the pictures from crazy hat day (Tuesday)




And crazy sock day (Wednesday - thanks Aunt Robin!)

Spirit Week - Crazy Hair Day

This week is First Grade Spirit Week.  For those who don't know, that means some aspect of your appearance is "crazy" every day.  Yesterday it was the hair.

Both girls had me put rollers in their hair before bed Sunday night.  Then Madeleine wanted glitter in it as well.  Lily did not like her hair being big, so I had to pull it back.  This picture is in the evening before church school at their favorite spot.

Skating Hiatus

This week was our last week of skating lessons for a while.  They continue year-round, but there are a lot of things going on in March/April/May that I thought it best we take a break this session.  The lessons are getting harder as they progress, and we were warned that most kids don't pass the 3rd level the first time through.  We haven't gone to public skate and practiced as much this session as we did the first two, so I'm not surprised.

But the girls pulled it out at the end, and I'm super proud of them.  This is the only time all year they matched in class, BTW.

Here are a few highlight videos: