Myrtle Beach Vacation, 2013: Day 2

Day 2 is in the books, and boy am I tired!  As I mentioned before, we got an early start and I had a nice run to get things going.  After that, the kids and I went down to the pool with Patty, Sam, Michael, and Megan.  The kids played hard in the pool and we are getting every single penny's worth out of those swim vests; they love them!  Ben played with his boats and water squirters and Emma had fun tossing diving rings to the bottom of the pool and commanding me to retrieve them, or sometimes going under water and helping me.

After Mariah and the gang came back from the grocery store, we came inside and dried off.  Ben and Emma took a break and watched some TV and then we had a early lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  Next, I hauled all the gear down to the beach and set up the umbrellas and chairs while Mariah got the kids back into their bathing suits and covered in suntan lotion again.  As I may have alluded before, it was an absolutely PERFECT day to be on the beach.  Hot, but not too hot.  Breezy, but not too windy.  You just couldn't ask for better weather and water.

At the beach, Ben was content to play in the sand, first digging a big hole with his shovel (and a little help from Mommy) and then driving his trucks around.

He was having fun here, I swear!

Of course Emma would not be denied a chance to be in the ocean, and had a terrific time jumping the waves, first with Uncle Zac and then with me.

Zac and the older kids had gone down to the beach earlier in the morning and all were stung by jellyfish multiple times.  I was surprised by this as I have rarely seen jellyfish at Myrtle or Surfside, but there were none to be seen in the water when we were out there in the afternoon thankfully.  I just hope it stays that way for the rest of the week.

While Emma and I played in the ocean, Ben went back to the house and swam in the pool with Dee Dee (Patty) for several more hours by some reports.  Emma and I took a break from jumping and I had her sit down in the shallow water where the waves were just barely reaching and we dug in the sand and sifted for shells.  She got so excited every time she found a big one.

Eventually we made our way back up to the beach chairs and relaxed in the shade for a while.  Mariah took Emma back to the beach house and was nice enough to let me have some time to chill on the beach in peace, a rare gift.

After I packed up and came back, Mariah and I fixed a taco feast for everyone for dinner.  The kids played around the house for a bit, and then it was bedtime and Mariah read them one of the new books we bought for the beach trip, which they were very excited about.  Mariah and I stayed in the room for a few minutes looking through the day's pictures on my laptop and the kids were soon out cold.  Not surprising after such a busy day!.