Myrtke Beach 2012

This year we decided to head back to Myrtle Beach for our summer beach vacation.  Myrtle Beach is extremely kid friendly and there is so much to do.  Our week started out well with a trip to the beach on Sunday but it rained pretty much all of Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday.  While the weather wasn't pleasant, we still managed to have some fun.  We went to the aquarium where they had a dinosaur exhibit for Andrew, a place where you could touch some sea creatures for Davis, and a Mermaid Show for Aubrey (although she liked the dinosaurs just as much and went through the exhibit twice).  On Tuesday, we headed over to the Children's Museum (along with the rest of the tourists on that rainy, cold day).  It was so crowded that we had to wait to go in but all three children (and both adults) were very patient and we ended up having a blast.  There was a place to put blocks with batteries together to make currents for Davis, an art center for Andrew, and Aubrey pretty much enjoyed everything there, although she put together 3-D puzzles with Rick for quite a while.  On Wednesday, we went to Alligator Adventure.  It was obviously outdoors and we got quite wet for the first little bit but the sun eventually came out and dried us off.  We watched a reptile show and Andrew got to show off his knowledge by answering the question, "What's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?"  In case you don't know ( I didn't until Andrew told me), the alligator has a shorter snout.  On Thursday and Friday we went back to the beach where all 3 were great little swimmers, swimming under the waves and boogie boarding over the waves.  We also went to Barefoot Landing and Broadway at the Beach, two different boardwalks where we ate lots of yummy foods and the children could ride rides and play games.  Despite the rain, it was a great trip!

My 3 guys in the ocean.

Working hard on their sand castles.

Andrew giving Aubrey instructions.

Playing Marine Biologist and digging up fish fossils.

He loved filling up buckets of water and pouring it into holes in the sand, although he usually preferred for someone else to get the water.

Aubrey loved boogie boarding!

There she goes!

She also loved giving herself "mud baths!"

Aubrey never minded getting her own water AND Andrew's!

The boys checking out the waves.

Daddy's turn for a mud bath!

Andrew found his own little ocean. So funny!

Aubrey found one, too!

Broadway at the Beach. These two were hysterical!  They couldn't stop laughing!

They loved the race cars!

Andrew won this giant stuffed Anaconda from a fishing carnival game.  He was over-the-top excited about it, too!

Andrew was quite fearless on this trip.  That's him on the 2nd square from the top.  You can barely see his white shirt and he's hiking his leg up to climb to the next square.  He did this all by himself and didn't want any help, which was good since his big brother wanted no part of this!

This is the entire structure.  Once he made it to the top, he slid down the giant inflatable slide right behind him.

Aubrey and Davis flying in the plane.  Amazingly, Davis let Aubrey be in control.

Aubrey got pretty adventurous herself and decided to ride a few rides on her own like the cars...

...on a plane...

...and on the train.

Not to worry, the boys had plenty of fun, too!!

Mommy and Daddy had fun, too.  Davis took this at Senor Frogs, one of our favorite places to eat.

Aubrey REALLY liked their spaghetti!  Yes, all manners go out the window when we're on vacation.

Every night after dinner, we fed the fish.  They had different levels of feeding.  Andrew pretty much dumped his in, Aubrey threw in a few pieces at a time, and Davis savored his, throwing one piece of food at a time, tormenting his two younger siblings.

Andrew holding his ears in the dinosaur exhibit at the aquarium.  Notice little sister in the background NOT holding her ears.  She kept saying, "It's not scary, Andrew.  They're not real."  He didn't care for that.

Once we got past the loud part, Andrew enjoyed controlling the robot T-Rex.

Aubrey loved the tunnels with the jellyfish.

Aubrey watching the Mermaid Show.  You can see the tail near the left side.

Digging for fossils.

Aubrey decided she just had to take our picture.  Silly girl!

Watching the rays.  You can see Andrew sitting in front of the window, he has on the blus shirt & orange shoes.

Trying to touch the horseshoe crabs.  Andrew wanted to, sort of, not really.  In theory it sounded great.  He never put his hand all the way in water but we think he finally touched one that a worker picked up for him.

Riding through the tunnel.

Andrew loved all the sharks!

Boys and their electronics!  Keeping themselves preoccupied while waiting to go in the museum.

Drawing with magnets.

Andrew & Aubrey couldn't get enough of these cut outs.  The mailman...

...the fireman...

...the chef and the policeman.

I am going to make one of these for home.  It's just water bottles filled with colored water and a cardboard box with circles cut out.

Helping Aubrey put her connector together.

We did it!

Davis working on his.

His finished product.  Very cool!

Aubrey digging for fossils.

Bubble time!

Trying to make a giant bubble around himself.

Trying to help Aubrey.  Neither time worked.  We only saw one girl who was able to do it.

"Riding" in the lifeboat.

Rick helped Aubrey trace two bears.

Andrew loves to do art more than just about anything.

He traced a cat and then drew in the cat's skeleton.  It looked pretty accurate.

He also liked this giant guy who had the parts of the body inside him.  He's pulling out the large intestine.

Rick and Aubrey playing hockey.  She was pretty good!!

Davis designed this all by himself to make the ball roll all the way into the jar.

Not sure she's ready to drive just yet.

The best store on the beach- It's Sugar!  Andrew and Aubrey holding giant gummy snakes.  No, that's not what we let them get.  Andrew got a chocolate frog and Aubrey got an edible Hello Kitty necklace.

Davis REALLY wanted this giant box of Nerds but he settled for some Jolly Ranchers (which he sometimes accidentally calls Jolly Rogers) instead.

Sitting in the swing outside our room one last time before heading home.

Bye Bye Beach!