Labor Day Weekend Away At The Beach

Oh well Friday was a little hectic, actually the scary part started on Thursday afternoon ... Thursday Dave and I went to go sign the papers for the house closing, the buyers were going to sign later the afternoon but Jade had her first day at gymnastics that afternoon which by the way went really really well. Let me tell you about that quickly before I go on about the house, I might have mentioned to you that we were taking her out of her gymnastics class and putting her into a trampoline and tumbling class, well Thursday was her first day in that class. The age range if I remember correctly was 6 - 10 but because she had been doing gymnastics there the past two years they were confident she would be ok in that class. Anyway I expected the class to be really really full but was pleasantly surprised to see that only two kids were signed up. Now I know that will change in time especially since many folks would have left early for the Labor Day Weekend but my gosh if it stays two, she will be having semi private classes, that's awesome !!!

She loves her coach and he actually is not only a gymnast but he also trains with the Charlotte All Star Cheerleaders so thankfully she is going to get great training from him. Because the class was so small he managed to jump right into the training and said both girls did really well, the other little girl is 7 but she has no gymnastics background so Jade kept up to her just fine :-) So we are excited about all that, I will keep you updated to let you know how things go.

Ok back to the weekend or Thursday ... so we went off and signed everything fine but come 4pm and this is all way too long to explain here but the buyers were not happy about an inspection on our aircon units so wouldn't sign the papers so potentially we could have lost the sale of the house which was scary as heck, not only would we have to then move back into our house again out of our apartment but we could have lost the contingency on our new house we are building so, Thursday was not a good day, and it didn't help that we had an absolute jerk as a realtor, we cannot believe how much money he gets on this sale when really he has done nothing to help us but oh well what can you do.

Thankfully the buyers realtor got someone in on Friday morning bright and early to do an inspection on the aircon units and it turns out we have to pay for some sort of repair that we didn't didn't even know was broken to start off with but we had to go ahead and make the repair or we would lose the sale and that wasn't worth it. So as crazy as things were that morning, those that know me know how organized I am and well it was Friday morning and I had not started packing for the weekend and we were leaving Friday afternoon ... and now I had to run around to the lawyers office etc. gosh crazy crazy crazy but thank God it all got signed in the end and Dave and I could get away and hopefully relax for the weekend.

Now you all know most every year I take Dave away for the weekend of his birthday, it normally falls on the Labor Day weekend or around there but this year it was a week early but still I went ahead and planned a long weekend at the beach, Myrtle Beach. Dave and I had been there a few times but Jade I think as far as we can remember had only been there once, but his time things would be a little different. We were taking my girlfriend Tina's child Louis which is a week apart in age to Jade wish as company for her, she was so excited.

Anyway we got a slightly later start than we wanted to but we eventually got going, it was a very long 3 1/2 hour trip to the beach, my car has never been that noisy, don't laugh ... what did we get ourselves into ? I knew I should have brought my MP3 Player. I think the difference is that usually Jade watches a dvd by herself so she is quiet but can you believe our dvd player just packed up so I thought I would wing it ... what was I thinking ???

We got there pretty late on Friday and both kids were worn out since they had been at school since very early. When we arrived, we checked in and then quickly ran out to get dinner, on returning the kids hopped into bed and were out for the count within seconds. Below you can see our two little angels asleep :-)





Saturday was a very long day ... the kids woke up really early so we got an early start thankfully we bulked up on a good breakfast at the Marlins Buffet Restaurant at the hotel so we were ready to go.

These are two pictures from our hotel, one of the pools outside our section of the hotel, there were many other pools but we only really made use of these, you can't really see but the outdoor pool actually runs into an indoor pool and there is a lazy river too which the kids and Dave and I enjoyed :-) And that is the Springtime Peer which is awesome, unfortunately I did that walk by myself, the kids wanted to be on the beach more so they missed out on that.





Our first stop was to collect our tickets for the Dixie Stampede that we were going to on Sunday night as well as our Spy Glass Miniature Golf tickets which we were going to use later in the day ...

Then it was off to Barefoot Landing where the kids enjoyed feeding the fish and the one lonely swan. The kids enjoyed shopping too, Dave said thank God he only had one their age because just one asking 'daddy can I have' was enough but both of them asking ... too much as far as he was concerned. Here are a few of the pics we took walking around at Barefoot Landing.









This one is of a truck that was parked close to our car, it's no bigger than the normal trucks over here, what I am meaning is that it isn't a big wheel truck or anything but just look at the size of it with Jade in front of it, isn't it amazing, gas guzzlers if you ask me !!!



Then it was off to the beach, we grabbed some lunch on the pier which was neat and then off to the beach for the afternoon. Unfortunately a couple of people got stung by a jelly fish so our ocean swimming was limited, but thankfully the kids had had a lot of fun in the waves with Dave already so were content to play on the beach building sand castles and big dams ... as you will see below.







Our very own Baywatch :-)









Then it was off to the pool and the lazy river where we all had a bunch of fun. I took a few videos too but I don't think I will have time to load them today, but I will try and do them as soon as I can.





Then as if that wasn't enough for the day, we went to go play our miniature golf which was a lot of fun, the golf course had a pirate like theme so there were always cannon ball blast going on all the time and there was this awesome waterfall which you will see in the picture but what you can't see is that behind the waterfall is a cave like structure which we had to walk through to play two of our holes, the kids got such a kick out of it. Just for the record, Dave and I tied and Louis and Jade tied so everyone was happy :-)





Then last but not least and the kids were so tired but Tina had told us that they had awesome fireworks at Broadway at the Beach so we quickly got a quick dinner and then it was off to watch the fireworks ... what I haven't told you yet is that last minute Tina and her family also decided to go to Myrtle beach and it was so weird knowing they were so close and we didn't see them ... I still think they didn't totally trust us with Louis ... huh Tina ??? Anyway we thought we might see them at Broadway but we didn't and it worked out for the best, Louis was happy :-) and having fun and that is all that mattered.

Anyway the fireworks were awesome so we are glad we made it but the kids were exhausted and well were out like a light as soon as they hit the pillow. Dave and I actually got early night all nights we were there too so I think either the fresh air had gotten to us or the kids had just worn us out :-)

Sunday was also hectic, we had planned to take it easy so that the kids would last for the evening show but we still did a bunch ... we actually went to Broadway by the beach to go look around during the day since we were only there late Saturday night, it was hot though and the kids took strain. Oh before I go on ... on the way we stopped at Warbird Park which is a memorial park with three war planes in it as well as a memory wall which I had never seen before, it gave me goose bumps ... anyway the kids loved being close to the big planes, here are some pictures before I go on about the rest of the day.







Then to go on ... at Broadway while I looked at a couple of other stores Dave sat and watched the kids play in the fountains, we had planned on going to the beach first thing this morning so thankfully both of them had their bathing suits on so they had fun.







Something I didn't mention yesterday was something else we did was stop at the Tanger Outlet stores, we always get lucky there with Fossil watches for me, you know the dual time ones, well Dave has been meaning to get a decent watch for a long time but he really just hasn't found one that he totally loved, well even though he didn't find 'the' watch he did buy a nice Fossil watch this time around, I am sure this will will bide him over until he finds the right one. Actually I think this one is nice but I know we can do better :-) but I am happy he finally got one since I know his mom gave him birthday money what maybe a year or two ago and it's his birthday this coming week and only now he got one.

Here the kids are again feeding the fish but these were big ones ... golly !!!



These were some pictures I took from the peer, gosh my dad would have loved it there, there were so many fishermen out there, and on the tip were the real serious fishermen, you paid a fee to stand there and I get not be disturbed as there is a rope up there, crazy actually coz there are so many other fishermen out there and I sure they catch the same fish no matter where they stand.



This is a picture of our hotel from the peer, the funny thing is I was looking to see Dave and the kids in the water or on the beach and I thought I saw them when taking this picture but couldn't be sure till I got it home and zoomed in and I was right ... nothing wrong with my eyes (hehehe), there they are right in the centre !!!



This was in the other direction.



Then this guy caught a little shark, still scary if you ask me.



Then we went off to the pool and lazy river again for the rest of the afternoon, we got done early and the kids rested as you can see below, they watched Tv and took a break before we went off to see the Dixie Stampede.



Dave and I have seen this show three times but every time it has been so different, the only thing that has been the same is how much food you get. Shame poor Louis eats like a bird and when this entire chicken, ok it's a baby chicken but it's an entire chicked got put on his plate, along with some pork loin, a half a baked potato, corn on the cob, well the poor guy didn't know what to do with it. That was after a serving of really yummy soup and a biscuit with it, and desert was a yummy apple turnover thingi.

The show was good as usual, unfortunately we can't take pics in there but heres a link for you guys to go take a look http://www.dixiestampede.com/ The kids loved the show, we had gotten them so excited about everything that I think they couldn't wait to see it all, it was fun to see their faces through everything.

And well that was it ... that was the weekend in a nutshell ... a long nutshell I know but it's been a long time since I updated and now I have given you tons to ready, below you can see all the other big events that ran up to this weekend away, so scroll down.

I hope the kids and Dave had a good time, I really planned it as best I could so fun was had by all :-)

Shame Louis phoned us last night to say, please can he come on our next vacation with us ... poor thing :-) well Miss Tracy has to recover from this one still but I am sure we can make a plan :-)

Until next time, bye for now.