Day 7 & 8- Our vacation sadly to an end...

(Lindsey)

Our last two days went by way too fast, but they always do when you're on vacation!

Friday morning was not out of the ordinary. We all woke up around our usual time, and did the same routine. We all went down to the ocean, while Caitlin stayed with Alexa. Lex went down for a nap at 11:30am, and Dillon stayed in with her as he slept all morning. (I think the boy might be half vampire or something...!?!?) The weather was perfect, as we soaked up the last full day of sun we would see in South Carolina. I went inside around lunch time, and the others came in shortly after me. It was perfect timing because around 3:00pm, it started to storm! Major thunder and lightening. It passed quickly. We decided earlier in the week, that Friday night would be just Jarrod and I. Therefore, we all got ready and went our separate ways. Jarrod and I had a WONDERFUL meal at a nice restaurant called Cagney's. He ordered a steak, and I had the baked scallops. We both agreed it was the best meal of the week! The other kiddos went to a Sports bar. They all ordered appetizers and a few entrees. Alexa had a cheese pizza, which I guess she loved. After we all ate, we met back up at the ocean and took lots of pictures. It was a lot of fun being silly with the camera. Caitlin and I went to a few shops, and the other's watched TV. That night everyone packed and got ready for the next day....departure! :(

Saturday....tear....our last day. We woke everyone up at 8:45am, and stated packing the car- we were even able to wake Dillon up to help. We were very rushed getting out of the condo by 10am. To top it off, I packed the only keys in my bag the night before, so there was a brief moment of chaos trying to locate the condo keys! After rushing around and throwing things in the cars, we were out of there with only minutes to spare! Caitlin and Jordy took K.C.'s car to get some breakfast. Jarrod, K.C., Dillon, Alexa, and I went to little family restaurant that was serving breakfast. We had eggs, pancakes, and sausage. K.C. and Dillon hopped in his car and started the long drive home. The rest of us decided to beach it a little longer and kill some time. We played in the pool and ocean for an hour, then washed off under the showers. We changed clothes in a public restroom in the condo. We also stopped at a few more shops to pick up last minute souvenirs, and then to the car we headed- our vacation sadly to an end!

Jarrod was the first to drive. We stopped for dinner (and a break) around 6:30pm. We decided upon a McDonald's that had a play-place for Lexie. We ate some food, and then let her play for an hour. She LOVED it. She had a fit once we pulled her from the tunnels and slide- screaming and kicking! However, our plan worked. She was asleep within 5 minutes once getting back in her car seat. Our drive home was pretty uneventful, EXCEPT when I missed a major exit that put us over 2 hours out of the way...ooooooppps! To say the least, Jarrod wasn't too happy when he woke up and realized something wasn't right. Most importantly, we all made it home safely.

We all had an amazing time, and would love to return back to Myrtle Beach to vacation in the future. Alexa had a great first vacation, and we will always remember it.

Day 6- Fun in the Sun

(Lindsey)

It is Friday afternoon around 1:30pm. I just came in from the hot sun. Jarrod, K.C., Cait, and Jordy are out playing in the ocean. The waves are amazing today. Dillon is sleeping, of course, and so is Alexa. Therefore, I decided to blog about yesterday.

Yesterday was another typical and perfect day at the condo. The three of us woke up around 7:30am, ate breakfast, drank coffee, and then went jogging. Alexa once again fell asleep, as we were dying from the heat. Jarrod and I went to the ocean, and the others were relaxing inside. Lex took her morning nap. After lunch, all of us went to ocean. It was a lot of fun. The tide was very high, so this created little water puddles- perfect for Alexa to play in! They were like her own little swimming pool. A little girl played with her for a little bit. Alexa was hesitant to share her toys, but she behaved herself for the most part. Her mother took her away once Alexa started feeding her sand with her fork! HaHa. We all laid in the sand, and enjoyed the weather. K.C., Dillon, and Caitlin had a blast as Jordy got burried in the sand. Surrounding people also found the little show funny.

After the long day in the sun, we got ready for our evening. We ate dinner at another seafood buffet. It was called Preston's. Like the others, it had a large selection of very good food. We all ate too much of course. Alexa was exhausted from playing all afternoon. We let her sleep for an hour in our booth as we ate. We then woke her up, and fed her dinner. She topped it off with a delicious chocolate chip cookie and ice cream. After dinner, we all went to a few local shops to look around. Caitlin and Jordy took Alexa back to the condo to get her to bed. Jarrod, K.C., Dillon, and I were going to go play putt-putt, but EVERY place was packed. One place had 29 people waiting to get in! This was 9:00pm at night! To say the least, we just came home. Caitlin, Jordy, and Dillon went to the ocean. K.C., Jarrod, and I started a movie.

Day 5- "Alligators, Tigers, Crocodiles...Oh my!"

(Lindsey)

Today was another great day. We were once again blessed with wonderful weather. Our morning was pretty predictable. Jarrod, Alexa, and I woke up around 7:30am. After breakfast, the three of us went running on the bike trail for 30 minutes. Alexa fell asleep within 10 minutes into her ride. K.C. was awake working on his paper by the time we got back to our condo. I woke up Caitlin and Jordy to watch Alexa as I headed down to the ocean (Jarrod went to the gym.)

Jarrod and Alexa made it down to the pool shortly after. She loves the water! She played with her Nerf balls, but she wanted every other toy she saw others playing with. The three of us played until she wore herself out. Jarrod took her up for a nap, and I went to the beach. Dillon was staying inside and watching TV, so he listened for Lex as she slept. Caitlin, Jarrod, K.C., and Jordy joined me on the beach. There were some major waves today. So, as the hardcore surfers we are, we grabbed the boogie boards and faced them head on. It was fun. We also had tire tubes out there to float in.

I was the first to come in from the sun. The others were not far behind me. Alexa woke up, and we all had lunch. Everyone was just lounging around and relaxing. As Caitlin and I were primping, the boys were watching "Bring It On- All or Nothing." HaHa. They won't admit it though if you ask them....Finally, we were all ready and left for an exciting evening out!

(Caitlin)

We had a fun night. All of us went to a place called Alligator Adventure. We arrived there at 6:00pm and stayed until 8:00pm. They have all sorts of different animals: tigers, alligators, crocodiles, birds, hundreds and reptiles, ducks, beavers. otters, tortises, etc. We walked around looking at the various types of animals. We got to see the largest croc in the whole world- weighing over a ton and 20 feet long! And they had a concession stand where we all got a snack (Chocalate Bannanas on a stick...mmmmm and frozen cheese cake...yummy) and while we were in the food court, along came a wild squirrel! I started feeding the squirrel and eventually started petting it, While Alexa tried kicking it!! It was really tame! But Alexa loved looking at the different animals! I think her favorite thing to look at were all of the ducks because when we decided to move away from the ducks she threw a fit!!! They had a lot of neat places to get pictures too! So we ended up taking A LOT of pictures!!

Here are just a few pictures of some of the animals we saw:

And here are some pictures of all of us: