Vacation 2010- Myrtle Beach, SC

We had such a blast on our vacation this summer! It really didn't even get planned until two weeks before we headed out. My parents own a timeshare and are able to get access to different resorts for a week during the year. We knew that we wanted to use one of those resorts, rather than renting a hotel room because we'd have tons more space, plus a full kitchen, and washer/dryer. We stayed in a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condo and it was WONDERFUL!!

My parents weren't able to join up with me, Ryan, and Karys on our first couple of days because they had tickets to see Sarah Palin in Tyler on the first day of our vacation so they didn't join up with us for a couple of days. Ryan, Karys, and I started our drive to Myrtle Beach (a 17 hour drive...without stops) on Friday, June 25, at 4:15 in the morning! I took the idea from a friend, who told me that for long car trips, they kill it on the first day so that the second day's travel isn't as long. We headed to Atlanta, GA, where we had made a hotel reservation for that night and didn't make it there until around 7:00 p.m. (It was supposed to be a 10.5 hour drive!) The next morning we got up (not nearly as early) and headed the rest of the way to Myrtle Beach. We would've gotten there about 2 hours earlier than we did, except that there is one main way to get into Myrtle Beach once you leave I-20 and it goes through this small town that has like 2 stoplights that backed all the traffic up for a long time! The part of the drive we were on was supposed to be about 20.5 miles, according to our google maps directions, and it took us about 2 hours to travel that distance. It was so frustrating!!!!! Karys was an absolute trooper in the car. She really didn't fuss about being in the car for such long periods of time. That first day when we left so early in the morning, we figured we'd just put her in the car and she'd fall back asleep. Nope!! She stayed 100% awake until after lunch, just like a normal day!! Thankfully, she was happy so we didn't care! This first picture is on our drive that first day. She was playing with all of these toys, and then just fell asleep with everything still in her lap! :)

One of Ryan's sisters, Misty, and her family live in North Carolina, about 2 1/2 hours away from Myrtle Beach. She and her kids were able to come stay with us on our first night in Myrtle Beach which was great because we don't get to see her very often. The first night we got there, we went to eat at Cracker Barrel and then got the kids in bed. The following day we headed out to the beach! We didn't end up taking any pictures at the beach until our last day there because we really didn't want to leave an expensive camera just laying around. Although I will say I like the atmosphere at the beach. It seemed to be safe, in that everyone just picked a spot for their belongings and no one messed in anyone else's stuff. But I didn't want to leave anything too expensive out there just to test that theory! After we got back from the beach, Karys took a 4-hour nap! I knew that the lack of sleep the day before would eventually catch up with her!

On Tuesday, my parents were finally able to join up with us, but not until the afternoon. In the morning, we headed back to the beach. Let me just say that Karys was only sort of a fan of the beach. Going in the water was not fun for her but being in the sand walking around she did find enjoyable. :)

I think all but one day were in Myrtle Beach we went to the beach. We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium one evening. Here are a few pictures from that:

And one night we went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. I don't have any pictures from that because photos weren't allowed during the show so we didn't bother taking our cameras inside. It was a really fun show...kind of like going to Medieval Times but with a Civil War theme. We were still served food that you could only eat with your hands and during the show were split into the North and the South and were supposed to cheer for our side during the different competitions they had. Karys LOVED watching the horses especially. She did really well during the entire show. :)

On our last night in Myrtle Beach we did take a camera to the beach because we had to get at least a few pictures! Here they are:

These last two pictures are from our trip headed back home. We ended up taking longer to get home and spent the night in two different hotels. One of those nights was July 4, so here's Karys in her cute 4th outfit. The lei was given to her by the lady at the front desk of the hotel. :)This picture is from our last day. Karys decided to catch herself a ride to the car!Can't wait for next year's vacation when we'll have an almost 3 year old and a 6 month old baby! :)