Myrtle Beach Vacation, 2013: Day 5

Well, it had to happen sometime; our first rainy day, although I guess it really threatened to rain more than it actually did.

We slept in again this morning, Mariah was up first and then Ben was up around 9.  Emma and I snoozed a little longer, maybe until 9:30.  Mariah made bacon and eggs for breakfast, and made me a delicious omelet.  Emma had breakfast out on the deck with Aunt Jena while she worked on one of her puzzles, and Ben ate inside and played some computer games after he was done.

After everyone had their fill, I once again gathered up our gear and headed down to the beach to set up shop. Patty was out there waiting for us, and had grabbed a great spot again.  Even though it was very overcast and cooler today, I brought and set up the canopy anyway, as we started feeling a few scattered raindrops and wanted to keep our towels and things dry.  Zac came down with Ryan, Megan, and Michael next, and they all jumped right in the ocean and got right to riding the waves.

Mariah, Ben, and Emma arrived shortly after and played in the waves for a while with Patty.  They never get enough of running around screaming at, and being chased by, the waves.

We had talked yesterday about building an epic sand castle, so Ben and I picked a spot above what we thought was the high tide line and started building.  Mariah and Emma helped by digging a moat and building a sea wall to protect the castle.  It was a race against time, as the tide was coming up further than I anticipated, and Mariah and Emma were fighting a losing battle against the sea.  Ryan pitched in to help in the battle against Poseiden, and we did manage to finish the castle in time for a few good pictures before the waves overcame our defenses and ravaged our castle.

At this point it started to rain a bit, and we heard some thunder off in the distance as well, so we packed everything back up and headed back to the house.  The kids played with their puzzles for a long time, and then headed up to our room to watch cartoons and play games on the iPad again.

We decided to have seafood for dinner, but instead of going to an expensive restaurant we cooked it at the house.  Mariah and Patty went out for supplies, while I chilled with the kids and worked on this blog a bit. Eventually I felt we'd had our fill of "screen time" and so I turned off all of the electronics and ushered the little ones back downstairs to play some games.  While Mariah was cooking snow crab legs, shrimp, corn on the cob, and hot dogs (for the kids), Ben, Emma, and I played a few games of Uno Attack.  Emma still needs a little bit of help with the rules, and keeping track of whose turn it is, but Ben has gotten the rules down really well at this point and takes great joy in sticking someone with a draw-two or skip card.

Before we knew it, dinner was ready and everyone gathered around and dug in.  I think this was probably the best dinner of the trip so far, which is really saying something as everything else has been so good so far.  We were feeding quite a crowd, so Mariah and Patty bought 14 pounds of crab legs and a few pounds of shrimp, and it all went fast.  The crab legs were delicious, truly some of the best I've ever had, and the shrimp were excellent as well.  One by one, we all slowed down, but in the end it was Zac, Mariah, and Jena that brought the team home and finished off the crab legs in a glorious mess of cracked shells and melted butter.  I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did when Jena cracked and ate her very last bite, gave a mighty high-five to Mariah sitting next to her, and then collapsed back into her chair.

This is probably only half of what was cooked!

 

But we weren't done yet.  Mariah had already put a massive apple dump cake in the oven and we had vanilla ice cream waiting in our not-so-freezing freezer.  Soon (but never soon enough for me!) the dump cake was done and removed from the oven in all of it's golden, bubbling glory.  I was first into the fray and it was worth the wait. I guarantee you won't find a desert half as good at any seafood restaurant!

The kids played for a while longer and then we put in a DVD of the Little Mermaid once things started getting rowdy.  After the movie was over it was time for a bedtime story and some sleep for the children.

More rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, so I'm not sure how much more beach or pool time we'll be getting in.  We will have to keep an eye on the radar and see, but today was definitely a welcome break from our action packed start we had the last few days.