Myrtle Beach Vacay: A Picture Post

How has an entire month gone by since returning from vacation without a single post about the awesomeness that was vacation? I'll tell you how. Life. That's how. The past few weeks have a been a whirlwind of crazy...but today, I pause from the crazy to bring you a little recap of our fantastic family vacation to Myrtle Beach.

We drove 17+ hours to get there because we're crazy. And also cheap. I have to admit, I was a tiny bit panicked before we left because, hello...we have two children under five years old.

In a car.

For 17+ hours.

But you know what? My boys surprised me, and were the epitome of perfect little angels for pretty much the entire trip. We strategically planned our drive so they'd be sleeping for at least several hours both ways, and I packed the appropriate distraction tools, i.e. DVDs, oreos, cars, the fridge farm, oreos, I Spy books, coloring pages, and oreos...did I mention the oreos?

We started out at 3:30 AM so we could get several hours of driving in before the boys woke up. Or so I thought. About ten minutes into the ride, I heard Gavin say, "Momma...Bennett's touching me!" and I immediately regretted the decision to drive, but the I'm-excited-to-leave-so-I'm-not-sleeping wore off about an hour later and they were both zonked out for next three hours.

We stayed the night in Nashville on the way there and the way back. The boys got in some roughhousing, and we got to see Ryan's brother, Matthew, and sister-in-law, Brooke in their Nashville home.

Brooke, Matthew, and our overly-excited-been-stuck-in-a-car-too-long boys.

It was a nice break in the long drive, and we even got a pet fish in our hotel for the night. Gavin was enamored, of course.

Our "fish for the night" was deemed "Fred."

We got to Myrtle Beach the next day and the rest of my mom's side of the family joined us shortly after. We rented a house right on the beach (of which I failed to get a picture!), and spent the entire week as a family.

At the Ripley's Aquarium with Uncle Adam and Aunt Jahlynn.

At the beach building sand castles.

Gavin put on "fireworks shows" with building blocks for our pre-breakfast entertainment.

The "old folks" mini-golfing team...and Gavin. Gavin even got a hole-in-one!

Aunt Jahlynn and Uncle Adam taught Gavin to bodyboard. He was quite the little surfer by the end of the trip!

Boys at the beach!

Late-night puzzle fun!

On the Myrtle Beach Skywheel.

The boys' first ride in teacups--they loved it as much as their Momma!

There was so much to love about that week, but the best part? Spending it all together. We got to stay together, eat meals together, do puzzles, go mini-golfing, watch old home movies, go to the beach, and just generally enjoy each other's company. It was awesome to be in such a beautiful place surrounded by people I love. The other plus? There were other people who could entertain our boys besides the two of us, which meant Ryan and I got bits of a parenting vacation as well!

It was a fabulous week with the whole Cohoon side of the family. We can't wait for the next one!