Beach Trip

Nornally we spend MLK weekend with Paul's family in Maggie Valley, NC. However this year we all went to Myrtle Beach instead and stayed at the house of a family friend. We had a great time even though the weather didn't quite cooperate!

We got there on Friday afternoon in the pouring rain and got all settled in and just hung around the house.
We got up early Saturday and went to the aquarium. The girls went to the aquarium when we were at the beach over the summer and they were really excited about going back. All Ellie could talk about was going to see the mermaid. She was so, so excited. (We'd totally convinced her last time that it was a real mermaid.) Both girls were excited about the exhibit where you can touch a jellyfish. Last time they spent about 20 minutes working up the courage to touch one and this time they were much braver...I'm pretty sure they thought they were experts as they told all of us the correct way to touch a jellyfish. I was really proud of them for their bravery!

touching the horseshoe crab

love this part of the aquarium!

Brave girls touching the jellyfish. Ruthie did it too but we didn't get a picture.

After the aquarium we headed back to the house for lunch and to let Ruthie and JP take naps. While they were napping Emmie and Ellie went with Paul and Fred to feed the ducks at the park down the street. (It was a really fabulous park. They had a super playground and a pond with ducks!) Later Gin-g and I decided to go to the outlets and we took Emmie with us. I rarely get time with just Emmie and she's a great little shopper. Plus it's so much easier to buy pants for her if she's around to try them on. We had a great time shopping with Emmie although we had to drag her around from the jewelry display jn every single store...that little girl loves shiny things!

Hanging out in the little car at the outlet mall. She was obsessed with all of these little rides and I offered to put money in so she could ride but she wasn't brave enough to try it. She said she needed Ellie there to do it with her :)

When we got back Emily and Blake were taking Ellie to the park to play on the playground so Emmie tagged along with them and Ruthie and Franklin and I went over once she woke up from her nap. Saturday evening we went to a seafood dinner and then to a little Christmas shop/gift shop nearby.

Apparently Emmie was discussing serious issues with Uncle Blake. Perhaps they were lamenting that she tried to eat all of the clam strips off his plate before he realized what was going on!

We came back and put everyone to bed and then Fred, Gin-g, Paul, Blake and I played our new game, What the Face. It was pretty entertaining! We headed to bed only to be woken up in the middle of the night by Emmie throwing up. Yuck! Fortunately she only threw up once and we think maybe something she ate didn't settle right with her. By morning she was all better!
Sunday was COLD and rainy and windy. It was pretty awful weather. We hung around the house in the morning and then after naptime we went bowling. It was lots of fun and I must say I thought I bowled a pretty good game. Which of course had nothing at all to do with the fact that I was in a lane with bumpers! Ha!

Sometimes you bowl like this...


...and sometimes you need to hang upside down!

JP supervising with Uncle Blake

Emily bowling

Sometimes when you're little it seems like forever before the ball gets to the end!

Paul the pro bowler ;)

Emmie bowling

We went back to the house for dinner afterwards and after the kiddos went to bed we settled in for a rousing game of Phase 10 which I was quite excited to WIN! (This NEVER happens. The joke in the family is that Fred will start out about 4 phases behind everyone and then all of a sudden he's won the game. Every.single.time.) 
Fortunately Sunday night was much less eventful than Satruday night in that nobody threw up!
Monday morning we got up and went and ate breakfast. The place where we were eating had a basket of crayons at the front and a stack of coloring books. The girls all got a few crayons and a coloring book and were happy as can be to sit quietly and color. Genius. After breakfast Paul and I took the kids to the beach for a few minutes. They had been begging to go the whole stay and it was SO COLD. They were excited to see the ocean even for a few minutes!

We found a sea urchin!

JP's first time seeing the ocean. He was mostly unimpressed.

After the beach we headed back to the house, packed, and headed home at lunchtime.

We had a great time during our weekend away and loved getting to spend time with family!

Papa, JP, Emmie, Uncle Blake, Ellie, Aunt Emily, Ruthie, GG