First of all, quick update on Luke's night time craziness-he has still been waking up around 4:45 or 5:00am....however, I've found a cure, FOR NOW....I go get him from his crib, give him his pacis back that are usually in the floor, and his cup of milk, put him in the pack and play in our bedroom and he goes back to sleep until 6:45 or 7:00. I'm okay with this, if this is what I have to do - the only problem, if he continues to do this in about a month when I return to work, I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to get ready in our bedroom without waking him up. I'll worry about that when the time comes....for now, it's a solution that's working and I am getting some rest FINALLY! :)
Now, to the second half of our beach trip filled with ups and downs....I am thrilled to say that our last 3 days at the beach were the best! We had a great time! Here it goes...
Thursday, July 14th - "water"
We named this day "water" because, for some reason, Luke actually wanted to play in the ocean. (And, now, he can say, "water" quite clearly.)
Our day started as normal with eating breakfast - the part that made this day start a little better was that Landis actually ate breakfast with us (instead of being on the golf course). Luke loves it when we are both around. During breakfast, he would look up at us and say, "mommy", "daddy" - I think it's very comforting to him to see his family together. After breakfast, we went for a morning walk on the beach and found some seashells. It was a gorgeous morning - the temperature had finally dropped enough for it to be quite nice and there was a gentle breeze.
We did our normal nap time stroll and I read some more of my book on the balcony while Luke slept for 3 hours! I can't describe how much I enjoyed that "me time" - sitting in a chair, relaxing, reading, hearing the sound of the ocean in the background - a resting mommy's dream. :)
After Luke woke up from his nap, we all ate lunch together at the table and then went to the pool. At first, Luke did the usual - floated around in his race car float, played with his seashells and cups in the baby pool (we found some super cool large seashells that still had their shape - he loved filling these up and dumping them). Then, the wind started blowing so much that it made it very cold in the pool water so we headed to the ocean. Melissa decided to walk him towards the ocean to see if he would splash around, and, amazingly, he did! Melissa held him as he "jumped" the waves - he did this for quite awhile and then he wanted someone to take him deeper in the ocean where the big waves were. Melissa gladly handed him to me and off we went, I held Luke as we "jumped" the big waves. He would splash the water and grin when the water was calm and then lift his feet up really high when the big waves came. When he got water in his mouth, he made a funny face because of the salt taste and then acted like he wanted to drink some more. YUCK, LUKE! :) While I ran to get the video camera, Melissa and Luke jumped and chased some more waves. The video will be at the bottom of the post.
After he was finished with the waves, he put him some sand in his buckets, turned them over, and stomped on the "castles." At one point, he asked to go back into the waves but the water was getting too rough to go back. So, instead, we went back to our tent and sat together on a towel to eat our snack. Some of the greatest times with Luke was when it was him in the middle of all of us grown-ups talking to him, playing with him, and eating with him. He loved being able to interact with so many people that he loved. We loved just watching and listening to him. Maybe all this attention is why he came home and acted like a hornet when it was just me that he had around???? He might've gotten just a little spoiled on our vacation. :)
On this day, Luke ended up playing outside for about 4 1/2 hours - the longest yet - the grown-ups had a blast and so did Luke! Around 5:00, Luke and I went to the room, took our baths, and ordered the pizzas for everyone. While we waited on the pizza, I fed Luke his chicken noodle soup and by that time, everyone else was back from the beach and the pizza had arrived. While we all ate, Luke played and talked and played and talked to all of us. At 8:00, we strolled for about 15 minutes and he was out like a light - he had a BIG DAY of fun! :)
This was the best day that we had at the beach - it didn't get any better than this - I had a little bit of everything - some alone mommy time - Landis and I had some mommy and daddy time - and we had some family time with the Leslies jumping waves, playing in the sand, and talking together. What a great day! Here are the pictures...
Luke chasing the waves...
Friday, July 15th - "rides" Friday was also a very fun day! We will call this day, "rides" because that is how we ended our trip - with a few boat rides and train ride. More on that in a minute...
Our Friday started with an extra long morning stroll. It was almost like Luke knew that he wasn't going to get to see these sights and sounds after this day, because he wanted to stroll and stroll and stroll, so we did - or as he said, "lobby" "lobby". :) During one of the strolls, Luke finally fell asleep. Landis and Melissa were both in the room, so they let me go to the beach (with my book) all by myself to read. I sat on the beach, with my feet in the water and just relaxed for the 2nd day in a row. Hey, maybe that's why I had a rough few days when we got back home - I was a little spoiled from the beach too???? I had no laundry or dishes to do during nap time. :)
When Luke woke up, it was gorgeous outside - a little windy, but the temperature was great! Luke went to the beach and built a few sandcastles and chased a few waves but lost interest in the ocean this time very quickly. The pool water was too cold so I let him stand on the top step of the hot tub and play with his shells and his cups and bowls. A sweet little girl stood there with him and played - Luke enjoyed the company.
Later, Melissa wanted to walk to the other Breakers hotel (remember the one with the wild people everywhere???) to check (a.k.a-spy) on her daughter, so Luke and I decided to join her. I mean we can't have Hannah cheating on Luke with some hot guy at another pool - that was called "two-timing" in my dating days. :) Melissa, Luke, and I walked down the beach to the other pool. This time, it wasn't quite as bad - still crowded and still loud, but not as bad. It was calm enough that Melissa and I were able to convince Luke to ride on the float with me in the lazy river. We did this for awhile - while riding, we spotted Hannah and Abbi - they were being good girls - they talked to a few boys, but nothing over the top - just normal teenage girl stuff. :)
After the lazy river, Luke stomped on the bubbles in the 1 foot pool and then wanted to climb the steps and the ramp on the bridge over the lazy river. I let him do this a few times, but I was scared he would slip and fall, so we decided to head back to our pool. Before leaving, Luke gave Hannah a big hug, took a few pictures with her, told her to be careful and not to "two-time" him and off we went.
When we got back, Luke and I went up to take our baths to get ready for dinner. For dinner, Luke, Landis, and I went to TBonz Steakhouse for a nice dinner and nice, it was. Luke looked so cute - Landis dressed him in the crocs that he bought him and his new, button up blue checked shirt that he bought him with khaki shorts. He looked adorable! I swear he could be pictured in a baby magazine (okay, okay, I know - I'm a little biased - sorry for the arrogant moment). :) It was sweet to see how proud Landis was that he dressed him so well! Like father, like son - I mean they look just alike! :)
During dinner, Luke did fairly well. We had to get on to him a few times for throwing black beans and his lemon. But, for the most part, he did well.
After dinner, we headed for the Family Kingdom rides. Funny story here - I told Landis where to go because I "thought" I knew where it was. We got to what I thought was the right place and Landis agreed because we saw a few kiddy rides - we paid $10 to park, walked to the rides and realized that there were only 2 kiddy rides here and that the Family Kingdom ride park was actually 16 blocks away (that's like 2 miles). We didn't want to waste 10 dollars so off we went for a LONG stroll. Luke did well. He was very sleepy so we talked to him the entire way trying to keep him awake. Once we arrived, it was already like 9:00 so Luke was exhausted, I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but as soon as he saw the lights and the rides and all the people, he perked up fast. :) We knew the walk was going to be well worth it.
We took a look at the rides to see what Luke would be able to ride. The only two that were small enough for him were the boats and the train ride so we bought tickets for those.
Luke LOVED the little boats. You know he's ridden these before in Burlington so he knew what to expect. As soon as he saw them, he said, "boat". I loaded him in, walked away, and then watched him ride. It's so sweet to watch his tiny little head go round and round. I think Landis was a little nervous that he would jump out, but he never tried. He rode the boats two times (make sure to check out the video at the bottom).
After the boats, we all 3 went to ride the "choo, choo" (in Luke's words). The train was really neat. It was a 10 minute ride through the entire Family Kingdom. It went under roller coasters, across pathways, around neat little "skit" areas - it was cute! While we rode, Luke sat on Landis' lap all curled up just watching. By this time, he was exhausted so this is exactly what he needed - a quiet ride UNTIL the horn on the train blew and he jumped!!! Poor thing - we sat in the very front seat so the horn was VERY loud. He calmed down quickly though and enjoyed the rest of the ride!
As soon as we left the rides and began our 2 mile walk back to the car, Luke was asleep - it only took 5 minutes he was so tired. Landis had complained the entire 2 mile walk to the rides so I asked him on the way home - was that worth the walk? He said, "Absolutely!" He said that holding Luke in his lap during the train ride and watching his little eyes light up while he rode the boats made every step worthwhile - now, that's a good daddy who loves his son! :)
We reached the car, drove to the hotel, and put Luke in bed. Then, we ended our last night there with a game of cards between the Bumgarners and the Leslies - we got our rear ends kicked by Mark and Melissa, but it was still fun! We had quite a few laughs - mostly laughs at Mark (a.k.a - the "SM"). By the way, Melissa - how is your hip???? LOL!!
What a way to end our trip! A day on the beach and some good 'ole old fashioned park rides!
Here are the pictures....
Riding with Daddy on the train....
With Hannah...
Sitting on the towel with us under the tent...
High 5 to daddy....
Saturday, July 16th - "all done" Well, our Myrtle Beach trip for the summer was "all done"-yes, in Luke's very words (even though - as you will see later in the video - Luke said this when referring to his yummy milkshake. :)
On Saturday morning, we ate our regular breakfast and then walked to the beach to tell the ocean, "bye-bye". We packed the car and began our trip home. We stopped by the outlet malls for about an hour and then hit the road. Luke was asleep within 2 minutes.
On the way home, we stopped by David's produce for a milkshake - Landis doesn't go on a beach trip without making a stop here for their delicious strawberry milkshakes. As you will see in the pictures, Luke loved them just like his daddy. He ate almost all of mine. Then, in the video that you will see below, when he was done, "I asked him - are you done?" and he says, "All Done" (which he also says when finished eating at home) - make sure you listen closely.
So, that's all folks - the play by play for the Bumgarner family vacation for Summer 2011. I'm super excited to say that we will be returning to the beach with the Lohr family (Heather, Jason, and Luke's buddy, Silas) in September for a 4 day weekend - I am super excited to see the boys vacation together and the mini-vacation will give Heather and I something to look forward to when school starts back. :)
Thank you all for stopping by to read. I hope you all have made or are going to make your own family vacation memories for 2011! See you back next week (maybe Tuesday) for some pics and a post about Luke's play date and road trip this past week. :)
Toddy
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