Planes, Trains and Automobiles

This year the Gray family embarked on our first actual vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Cody had a conference to lead and we decided to tag along. The trip started off with excitement and anticipation of flying on a plane. Airports, escalators, moving sidewalks and the subway trains that took us to different terminals were also exciting moments. Once we arrived at Myrtle Beach, the boys were elated to ride in their first taxi.  If I had know transportation was going to provide so much joy we would have stayed in Colorado and ridden the public bus.





Taxi ride!  

After an entire day traveling we arrived via taxi at the Myrtle Beach Hilton late in the evening. Lele and Popie surprised the boys by meeting us at the hotel and joined us for the vacation as well. Welcome to Myrtle Beach, the hotel gave away our room and they scrambled to find us a place for the evening.  First room they attempted to give us didn't even sleep 4 people, second room barely fit 4 people. Cody was the president of the convention and responsible for almost 300 people staying in the hotel, so the next day Hilton found a more appropriate room for the president of the convention and up, up up graded our accommodations to a condo with 2 bedrooms, full kitchen, 8 person dining room, living room, 2 full bathrooms and a laundry room with balcony. Wow! Living the fancy life. Cole said over and over, his favorite part of the trip was moving into the big hotel, sleeping in his own full size bed (both of the boys had full size beds) and having a tv in his room. We have been home 2 weeks and Cole is already asking when we can go on another vacation and stay in a hotel. He is going to be sorely disappointed when we vacation again someday and stay in a lowly normal hotel not a condo.





The next day, once we were finally settled in a room, it was time to have fun. We spent that afternoon at the hotels beautiful pool. Zero entry, sand bottom, waterfall, multiple kids pools, lap pools, etc. The boys had fun dumping water on their heads to cool off and throwing a ball back and forth to Popie in the pool but the real excitement was for the beach.


 

We spent the majority of trip at the beach. The boys loved the ocean. First thing in the morning they were dressed in swim trunks and ready to go "jump" the waves. The boys only took breaks from wave jumping to collect buckets of sea shells, dig a few holes and build then squash sand castles. 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon and 2 hours in the evening only stopping to take a break and eat meals.  We even went walking on the beach looking for hermit crabs one evening with no luck.  The ocean was the highlight of the trip.






 
 
 
 
    
 
 

Cody worked the entire trip but we did get spend one evening with him at a reception dinner where the boys danced to a one-man band for over 2 hours.  They danced and danced and danced.  They rolled on the floor, shook their legs, spun in circles, ran around each other and kicked their feet so hard shoes flew off.  With such a late night, high energy and lots of nonstop action I have no idea how the boys lasted as long as they did.  But they were the life of the reception and I am positive I have not laughed so much in a long, long time.



No vacation is perfect. Long days of travel, late nights and lots of fun in the sun took a toll.  Cole had a hard time adjusting. The first 3 days were full of "No!" Temper tantrums, attitude and stinky looks.  Some of the bumps along the way were things like Cole throwing his ice cream on the ground at boardwalk and trying to run away from me because I bought ice cream in a cup instead of a cone.  After a couple good nights sleep in his own big bed in the new big hotel room, Cole was back to himself and much more pleasant to be around. Right before "the ice cream incident" we toured the Ripley lighted mirror maze. 3-D glasses projected the little red dots of lights lining the ground everywhere which actually made the maze a challenge. The boys ran into walls, corners, each other and had fun giggling along the way.


 
 

Myrtle Beach is Putt Putt capital of the world and you can't go to the Putt Putt capital of the world without playing a round of golf, so we tried out a pirate themed Putt Putt course one afternoon. Peter Pan, Captain Hook, a hologram of Tinker Bell and the lost boys sleeping quarters, along with caves, water falls, giant skull and a ship were part of course. Putt Putt from such an awesome course would be nice if it had not been 1,000,000 degrees outside. 36 holes later everyone barely escaped heat stroke and we were literally a hot mess. Flushed cheeks, buckets of sweat, bodies melting and a heat induced temper tantrum from Cole. Back to the beach please. At lease the water cooled you off!




 

We went on one late night outing to Pirate themed interactive dinner theater. The red pirates battled the blue pirates for Davie Jones treasure. The show was incredible. There were ships, trapeze performers, jugglers, balancers, people shot out of cannons, sword fighting, sea lions stealing treasure, water set on fire, mermaids and so much more. The boys were even picked out of the audience to chase ducks as part of a red team, blue team competition. They each received a special pirate medallion and a new love for all things pirate.
     

 

X marks the spot.  

Pre show entertainment.

 
 

Cole is giving me his best mean pirate face in this picture.  I think he nailed the look.  

Myrtle Beach was a low key vacation and I'm glad we were able to share the memories with Lele and Popie. We did what we wanted and if plans didn't get done, no problem. The beach was the highlight, we ate ice cream every day and wished the trip lasted longer.  I took too many pictures to post but this gives you the gist of our fantastic family vacation!