14 hours each way, and we survived! We went to Myrtle Beach, SC for the kids Spring Break. Back in February I decided I (we) needed a little vacation to look forward to, so we decided to try a road trip, the longest we'd ever driven with the kids before was 11 hours to Williamsburg, VA and that was a long trip, but we decided we could handle the 14 hour trip, and we'd "try" to have fun doing it.
We set out at 4:30 am on a cool Saturday morning. The kids were so excited they popped out of bed, they had both showered and dressed in their clothes before bed, so a quick trip to the bathroom and a little teeth brushing and they were in the car and ready to go! It was smooth sailing (driving), with no traffic in site. We made several bathroom/snack stops and did stop for a sit down lunch, but I was determined to get to Myrtle Beach before dark and so we drove and drove and drove.... the kids were amazing! They didn't nap at all, but played ds, watched a couple of movies, colored, read magazines, and played on my Iphone and Ipad (thanks Apple). We pulled into our hotel (Long Bay Resort) at 6:30 pm (exactly 14 hours after we left CT).
I snapped this on my my phone while Steve checked in... they were all smiles.
Once in our room we ordered some pizza and went to bed! The next day I was itching to hit the beach and the kids wanted to go in the pools and lazy river (have I mentioned how much I love vacations). Myrtle Beach really does have a beautiful beach, it looked endless from our hotel.
These pictures are from different days spent on the beach and at the pools, I could sit on a beach all day with my toes in the sand... it truly is my happy place.
I spent some time building a sandcastle with the kids, Tyler basically told me what to do, but it was fun and they were happy with the results.
Later that day I saw that Steve was building on with the kids.... not exactly the same effort was put into his that was put into mine...
We spent a lot of time at an area called Broadway at the Beach. It was full of shops, restaurants, and many other family activities. We took the kids to a hands on museum called Wonderworks, we liked it so much we went back at night. It was all hands on fun exhibits, Steve and I had fun too.
We spent some time almost everyday at Broadway at the beach. The kids loved feeding the fish (it was a feeding frenzy) and most of all liked (I should say loved) a store called "It's Sugar", Juliana said it was her Heaven Destiny!
My favorite morning there was when I finally got the kids out on the beach not long after sunrise to take a little stroll, there weren't many people out and about yet and the beach was just pristine. I would of taken a walk with them every morning, but they didn't always want to.
Steve's parents drove 12 hours from Florida to spend a couple of days with us. The kids were so excited to see them! We spent some time on the beach, went to an arcade, strolled the boardwalk, and went to some restaurants with them. We also visited the Apache Pier (the longest pier on the East Coast), I thought it would be cooler then it was, but it was something to do.
One of the most fun things we did while we were in Myrtle Beach was visit a mirror maze at Broadway on the Beach, it had just opened two weeks prior and was so much fun. We all laughed and got lost many times. We could go through it as many times as we wanted, so we took turns with different partners trying to see who could get through the fastest, the pictures really don't do it justice.
Another of my favorite things we did while we were there was go on the Skywheel (the highest ferris wheel on the east coast). Juliana and I were the only ones "brave enough" to go on it, everyone else had a fear of heights or were having a bad hair day or some other lame excuse. You ride in a gondola and it goes up 200 feet. The view was amazing, on the way down you were over the sand and it looked like you were going right into the ocean.
We also spent some time mini golfing, we went to Cancun mini golf course, it was a lot of fun, half indoors and half outdoors.
I am sure there are many more things that we did that I missed. Juliana lost a tooth on the first day (a molar) at breakfast, and Tyler got sick one day (I always say it's not a true family vacation until someone gets sick)!
I am sure we'll be visiting Myrtle Beach in the future.
