Beach Trip - Summer 2011 - Part 1

Yes, believe it or not....sadly, our summer 2011 beach trip has come and gone. Sorry for not warning you, I'm trying to be careful (due to some things I learned in an internet safety class) about posting details about our family's whereabouts. I will happily post things that have already happened, but not BEFORE they happen.

As you know, we vacation with the Leslie family and this trip was no different - me, Landis, Luke, Mark, Melissa, Hannah, and her friend, Abbie traveled to the beach last Saturday- our destination, Breakers Resort (North Tower) in Myrtle Beach. We normally prefer to go to North Myrtle but we had some minor set backs with finding a condo this year so we stayed in Myrtle. In order to tell about our trip, I thought I would divide the details into two parts - this is part 1- part 2 will follow in a few days. And, now that Luke is saying a lot of words, I thought I would use words that he can say to "title" each day.

Here we go...

Saturday, July 9th (our arrival day) - "nasty"

Yes, that's right-straight from Luke's mouth, our condo was "nasty" - Melissa noticed the mess in her bathroom and told Luke not to touch anything because it was "nasty" and Luke quickly said, "nasty" :) When we arrived, the carpet was nasty, the bathrooms were nasty, the kitchen was so nasty there were old ketchup stains left on the trashcan, and the dining room table had mildewed food underneath the glass so it smelled horrible. To add to the disappointment, the room had a funny smell and we had no sheets for our beds. So, after unpacking, we called the rental company that Melissa and Mark dealt with and told them what was happening. The cleaning lady was super sweet and said she would bring us sheets that night and would come back in the morning and clean. So, it seemed that everything would work out okay.

Even though we weren't thrilled with the room, we tried to make the best of our arrival day. We went to dinner and after I strolled Luke for a little while, he fell asleep and the grown-ups played cards. The boys beat me and Melissa, as usual and then the boys stayed up pretty late. I was fairly tired from the road trip with a toddler so I headed to bed.

Luke had a horrible night - he woke up around midnight crying so hard that he had the sniffles. The only thing I can figure out is that he was scared because he was in a new place. To keep him calm, he ended up sleeping in our bed instead of the pack and play. He tossed and turned all night and so did we. And, to make it worse, he woke up at 5:30am!!! Needless to say, we were exhausted the next morning. Here are some pictures from our "nasty" arrival day:

In the car, ready to go....

Luke slept for only an hour and a half on the way. The other 2 hours, he did great! He chattered and sang and clapped and stayed fairly happy the whole ride.

This was Luke ready to load the car....he took his float to the door so we wouldn't forget it...

Sunday, July 10th - "oh me!"

When Luke woke up at 5:30am, I looked at Landis and I said, "Oh me!" Luke looked at me with a huge grin on his face and said, "oh me!" The day started rough but ended up being okay. (By the way, the "oh me" phrase has become quite a hit with Luke - he says it a lot now.)

After our early wake up call, we went downstairs for a much needed cup of STRONG coffee and ate breakfast. (The hotel had continental breakfast everyday, which was a perk.) Then, we lubed up with sunscreen and put on our suits and headed out doors. Luke didn't really want to do anything because he was so tired. He barely played in the water and in the sand before acting like he was totally exhausted. I held him and took him walking down the beach singing to him until he fell sound asleep. I laid him down on a towel under the tent and then I laid down beside of him and rested too. I knew that I couldn't go strong all day being so exhausted myself.

We both got up about an hour later and Luke was ready to play. He wasn't a big fan of the ocean or the sand, so we went to the pool. He rode in his race car float in the big pool. He threw balls in and out of the pool. He loved throwing balls out of the pool and then climbing out to go get them. For the longest time, he chased this tiny little leave around the baby pool - it was so sweet watching his little fingers trying to catch it. He played with memaw, Lexi, and Caleb (who were in Loris, South Carolina visiting family so they stopped by to play with us). He stayed outside for several hours before becoming bored.

After the pool, we went upstairs and bathed and then cooked spaghetti in the room for dinner. Luke was starving and ate a ton of spaghetti. Not long after dinner, he acted tired so I put him in his pjs and took him on the beach, thinking that he would let me walk him to sleep. WRONG! Instead, he chose this time to sit down in the sand and play and I just went with it - we found some shells and talked about the sand and the water and let him climb up and down the boardwalk steps. Then, finally, he said, "up" ready for mommy to carry him. I decided to take him strolling down the busy Myrtle Beach strip to see if he would fall asleep. Believe it or not, he loved this. Even with the many different noises and lights, he fell asleep in about 45 minutes. This would only be the beginning to these little strolls.....:) In the pack and play he went around 8:00pm!

Here's the pics from Sunday....

This is Luke wearing one of my shirts being silly while I got myself ready for the pool and beach....
Here is a picture of my mom and Kim with all of the grandsons and Lexi.....
Here is "Memaw" with her two grandsons...
Luke digging in the sand....a rare occurrence...


There's uncle Mark and aunt Melissa or as Luke would later call them, "MarKK" (emphasis on the K sound) and "Misty"
Luke with daddy...
Luke playing on the beach in his Thomas pjs...


Monday, July 11th - "pool"

Luke was all about the pool on Monday. As soon as he woke up, he grabbed his float and said, "pool". By the way, on Sunday night and every night there after, he slept in his pack and play all night. He still rose early (around 5:30 or 6:00 everyday) but he slept well with the ocean noise in the background.

The pool didn't open until 9:00am so Luke and I played in the room with a few of his toys, threw the ball, read some books, ate breakfast downstairs and then got ready for the pool.

Just me and Luke went to the pool early that morning. His favorite part on this day was climbing the pool steps getting in and out of the pool. He did this for an hour and rode in his float a little. Then, about 10:30am, he was already tired so I put him in his stroller and took him for a long walk down the strip. Once asleep, I put him in his pack and play and headed to the beach with the boys. (Melissa volunteered to stay in the room and watch Luke and I didn't argue with that. I rarely get time to myself.) While Luke took a 3 HOUR NAP, I sat on the beach and read a novel. Luke napped for at least 2 hours each day, so I was able to almost finish my first novel since Luke was born. I came home with only 50 pages left to read. The book was a great romantic comedy called "Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner (you should read it).

When Luke woke up, Melissa changed his stinky diaper and then fed him some beanie weenies. Luke and I went back to the pool for a little while (he still wasn't liking the sand and the waves). He picked up a few shells but that was about it. He seemed to get bored outside easily so I decided to take him to this place that had a bouncy playground for toddlers. I checked the website, found the directions, programmed my GPS and Luke and I headed that way. I was extremely disappointed to see the sign on the door that said CLOSED when we arrived. Evidently, the place was closed on Mondays even though their website clearly said they were open. I couldn't believe that I drove 25 minutes and wasn't able to take him inside to play. I knew I had to make the best of it, so I drove Luke to the Myrtle Beach state park to the playground. Luke ended up having a great time playing on the slides, picking up rocks, walking on the boardwalk beside of the beach, and chasing the birds on the beach. The beach was very peaceful at the state park - it was calm, quiet, and Luke and I enjoyed each other's company. The trip ended up working out okay.

For dinner, we went to Landis' favorite restaurant "Fiesta del Burro Loco". Luke did well at dinner. He ate a ton of black beans and even nibbled on a lemon. (You will see pics below.)

After dinner, we came back to the room, I put Luke in his pjs, brushed his teeth, and we headed out for our nightly stroll. By this time, Luke was copying all of the sounds as we walked - the motorcycle motors, the beeping cars, a weird sounding frog that was in one of the bushes that we passed every night. As expected, Luke fell asleep with no problem and I walked probably my 4th or 5th mile for the day. :)

Here are the pics from Monday...

Dinner at the Mexican restaurant...see the black beans???

there's the lemon....
Some pictures from our trip to the state park....Luke on the boardwalk...
Luke holding my hand....

Luke chasing the birds...

Playing on the playground....



Here's Luke coming back from one of our strolls...he was "reading" about all of the things he wanted to do this week...
Tuesday, July 12th - "lobby"

We will call this day, "lobby" because by this time in the week, Luke had gotten used to riding the elevator and actually, he loved it. Every time the elevator reached the lobby, the lady on the recording would say, "lobby". Well, Luke started saying it with her. I think he thought the elevator was called a "lobby" because every time he was ready to go, he would look at me and say, "lobby". It was super cute!

We started our morning off with our regular coffee and breakfast downstairs. Because Luke was getting up so early each day, he acted exhausted by 9:00 everyday. On this day, the only thing he wanted to do was ride in the stroller, so that's what we did. I took him walking for what seemed to be 5 miles (it really might have been). As we walked, we counted all of the bicycles that we saw. The word, "bicycle" is one of Luke's new ones so he loved repeating it as he saw the bicycles ride by. I think the most bikes that we counted on our walks was 18. On this morning, we strolled for about an hour, then went to the room for a snack and to giggle and play for a little while and then went strolling again until Luke fell asleep. Luke again slept for about 3 hours while I read my book on the balcony with the monitor beside of me.

After his nap, I decided to take Luke to the sister hotel of ours (The Breakers resort on 21st avenue). I knew that it had a huge pirate ship and several baby pools and a lazy river. Once again, I loaded Luke in the stroller, took our pool bags and headed 6 blocks to the Breakers. When we arrived, Luke immediately covered his ears and my mouth fell open. This place was WILD!! There were drunk people everywhere, loud music playing, kids running around unsupervised - it was crazy! I knew that we wouldn't stay long but I wanted to make our walk worthwhile so I put Luke down to see if he would try anything. As soon as I sat him in the baby pool inside the pirate ship, a teenager came running in and just about knocked Luke down. So, we went to the lazy river. Luke was okay riding with me on the float until some wild kids started splashing and got his face wet. I tried taking Luke to several of the other baby pools but he was nervous by this point. So, I took him to a quiet spot in the corner, let him eat his snack, and then we walked back to our calm, quiet hotel.

Back at our pool, Luke played great! He stacked his blocks, dumped and poured the water from cup to cup, put the seashells that we had found in the cups and boat, and threw the ball. He was content for several hours.

After playing for awhile, Luke, Landis, and I bathed and decided to take Luke to the bouncy place that I tried on Monday. This time, it was open! :) Luke fell asleep on the way there so he was kind of drowsy when we arrived. Luke liked the toddler play spot with the balls and he liked going down the big slide with me. He also liked playing with the little cars they had and driving the riding toys. He met his some cute little friends and played well for about 45 minutes before acting like he was ready to go. I thought he was ready so we put him in the car and, all of a sudden, he screamed and cried. I felt so bad - maybe he wasn't done playing or was it that he was still tired??? I will never know. :)

On our way back to the condo, we stopped by Martin's Golf and Tennis Superstore so daddy could do some shopping. While Landis shopped, I let Luke run around the store and explore. Oh my goodness! He had a ball! The most fun he had yet! He played peek-a-boo with me behind the clothes, dumped out socks and put them back, played with the huge ball in the workout area, looked for daddy by calling his name, and tried on hats. It sure was fun! I guess the lesson I learned on this day was that sometimes the most fun comes from places that aren't planned, but that we just stumble upon. :)

This day ended up being the best day yet. :)

Here are the pics...

Luke at the bouncy place...

Luke eating his snack at the crazy pool...



Wednesday, July 13th - "sand"

I will call this day, "sand" because Luke decided that he would finally play in the sand on this day and he even said the word.

The day didn't start out well even though it ended up being great! Luke woke up at 5:30am and was ill as a hornet. He whined through breakfast, spilled my coffee, nothing made him happy UNTIL I took him for a walk on the beach around 7:00am. All of a sudden, he was interested in the sand - he dug and filled his buckets. It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed playing together. He took an early nap (8:30 - 10:30) and I took one with him on this day.

He woke up in a great mood. We sat on a blanket in the living room and ate his beefaroni. While we ate, he talked and talked and talked to all of us. After eating, he walked to me, Mark, Hannah, and Melissa and gave each of us about 4 kisses and hugs. Being around so many people without his paci (except for sleeping times), had caused his language to blossom. He said a ton of new words this week - one of them, I wasn't so happy with. As we were talking with him during lunch, Mark told him to say, "Duke". (Mark is a Duke fan and knows that we hate Duke.) Well, to my dismay, Luke said, "Duke" plain as day. I couldn't believe it! I quickly began training him to combine a few words and say, "Nasty Duke". He sort of did. During this time, we were able to get him to learn to say Mark and Melissa's names and a few other words. He enjoyed copying us.

After he finished his lunch, he and I went to the beach and, amazingly, he played in the sand. It helped that there was a sweet little girl named Tiffany digging and making sand castles. She was 3 years old, super cute, so Luke wanted to do what she was doing. He filled his buckets, dumped them over, played with his sand turtles, filled his dump truck and even sat on his bottom in the sand without worrying about getting dirty. He also stomped a few sand castles after I showed him how. :) Then, when Tiffany went to the pool, he was ready to go to the pool also. Matter of fact, his toys and the end of the baby pool that he was playing in became quite the hot spot - I think at one time there were 5 boys and girls (ages 5 and under) filling and dumping every single cup/bowl/block that Luke had. Luke loves sharing and he was as content as he could be for a long time.

Luke began to get tired again (because his first nap was so early), so I gave him a snack and then put him in the truck (it was too hot for a stroll) so he could go to sleep. He was asleep in less than 5 minutes. :)

After his late afternoon nap, Luke was ready to go! Wild as could be! Since he was energized, we thought this would be a good night to go do some shopping because Luke would be up later than usual. We went to dinner and then to the outlets. Luke and I rode the mini-cars and carousel while Landis shopped. Luke had no interest in sitting in the stroller after his long nap. Leaving the outlets, it was like 9:45 so Landis and I thought that we could get Luke to go to sleep on the way home. Well, that didn't work - we drove for 45 minutes, Luke had just fallen asleep and then when I took him out of the truck, a huge family of 8 walked by laughing loudly and woke him up. That's all it took - no sleeping for Luke (is what he was thinking). I let him play for about 20 more minutes in the room and then I "rocked" him the best I could on the balcony. In between firework explosions, he finally went to sleep, but it was quite a struggle.

This day was wonderful, but the night time was trying. By this point, poor Landis (who played golf at 8:00am two mornings in a row) was exhausted. He had been going to bed later than me, getting up at 5:30am with us, playing golf in the heat, and getting no naps (like I had) SO his patience were limited, no, they were GONE! :) When Luke wouldn't go to sleep, he became quite ill and frustrated. He doesn't understand why Luke refuses to go to sleep sometimes. He said that, with having Luke around, everything seems like work. He loves that little boy like crazy, so don't take it wrong - having a toddler is work. However, the work is well worth it. With every blessing comes a challenge - I explained to Landis that this is a season of our life that we must work through together and enjoy the good times and pray for patience during the rough ones. I promised Landis that the next day would be better.

Falling asleep on Wednesday night, even though I told myself that the rest of the week would be better, I questioned myself a little. Every time we take a vacation, everything seems to work out perfect - we always have a smooth trip - this trip (at this point) was different - each day had a "speed bump" - the room was dirty, the bouncy place was closed, Luke wouldn't go to sleep - I had to wonder what "speed bump" was coming the next day or would we finally get that perfect day we were hoping for. Stay tuned to Part 2 to find out......

Here are the pics from Wednesday....

Luke playing on the mini-cars at the outlet stores...

These pictures are cute! When Luke woke up from his naps, he would talk to himself in this mirror that was behind his pack and play. Sometimes he would play in there for 10 to 15 minutes before asking to get out. Because he enjoyed his pack and play so much at the beach, I have put it back up in the bedroom here at home for him to play in while I take showers in the mornings. He is way too active and way too agile to be left alone running around in the house.





Here is Luke digging and playing with his green bucket during our early morning trip to the beach...



Look at that chubby foot...




And, some video of Luke digging in the sand...

By the way - sorry for the delay in posting (in between laundry, errands, grocery shopping, and trying to get Luke back on schedule, I have been trying to post this blog since Saturday - it's really Monday). I hope to post part 2 by Friday. :)

Have a good night! I'm going to watch The Bachelorette. :)

Toddy