Myrtle Beach with the fam...

July 4th weekend we met my mom ("Mimi"), my brother and his wife, Jessica in Myrtle Beach, SC for some family time and birthday celebrations.  Our family is full of Cancer signs.  My birthday is the 4th, Sean's is the 8th, my stepmom's is the 13th, my mom's is the 14th and Jessica's is the 15th!  So we have a lot to celebrate in July!  It was also so nice to get away and have a change of scenery.  Not that I don't enjoy the immense heat and beach time here in Fort Lauderdale but it was so nice to be with some of my family.  Hunter did awesome and had a blast with his Mimi, Uncle Matt and Aunt "J" (he can't quite say Jessica, yet so we just say "J"=)) .

He took a little time to finally warm up to the ocean and understand the waves and we kept his water shoes on him the whole time so his little feet wouldn't get burnt and he wouldn't have to deal with the whole sand between his toes that he hates.  Here's a video of him loving the ocean.  (Please ignore the large preggo woman next to him):

 

He loved scooping the sand if someone were to help him so him and Mimi enjoyed playing a little game that we named "scoop and dump" together..haha.  That's what we would say as he did it and he would say it with us but it was a great way to get him used to the sand.

 

 

Unfortunately, Hunter just couldn't stay up late to watch the fireworks so Mimi stayed at the house while us 4 went 3 blocks down to the beach to watch them.  It was awesome because other people brought their own to shoot off as well so we were able to see alot of them.  Afterwards, I was pooped so it was time for me to get home and pass out! 

 

One night the 4 of us were able to go see a comedy show and the headliner was a guy named Pete Lee.  Hilarious.  Jessica booked the tickets online and I guess we were the fortunate ones to sit right up in the very front of the stage!  I really thought that we were going to be picked on the whole time but it was actually alright and we didn't have to weave through people's heads to see the show so it worked out.  Here we are right before the show started:

 

 

  I always like to take a photo with all the comedians that I meet so here I am with Pete Lee!

In the mornings while everyone was still sleeping (lucky them =),  Hunter and I went outside to play.  My mom brought a little pool for Hunter. I  know he missed his big pool back at home but he had just as much fun.  Just giving him a hose and some buckets to fill up and he is a happy boy.  There was also a nearby park that was a few blocks from the house we played at and he loved it.  So Hunter was definitely not bored!  My mom also helped by bringing him a whole big tub of new toys that he loved going through. 

 

 

 

We mangaged to make it to Murrell's Inlet one night for dinner (we were staying in Surfside).  We went to eat at Bubba's Love Shak! Hunter did awesome and sat in his highchair the whole time while Sean played cars with him!  We have been having a little issue with going out to dinner with him so a part of me was a little nervous of how he would act with alot of people around because of the holiday weekend.  It worked out because when he started to get ansty Sean just took him down to look at the water.  I think he was pretty pooped out from all beach activity that day so he wasn't fully energized like he usually is. 

The picture that our waiter took was horrible and didn't realize it until later but here we all are!

Matt and Jessica needed to leave a day before us so we decided to go to the Ripley's Aquarium where I knew that Hunter would love seeing the "shishies" and "tuuurtles".  He had a blast seeing all of them.  He would pace back and forth and would yell for the "tuurtles" to come back and then he would see a huge "shishie" and would say, "Oh wow!" when it came by.  So cute!!! I love these moments with him when he sees all this new stuff. Its so neat to see him put two-and-two together when he sees a little fish that we have in our fish tank and in books at home and then he sees a huge aquarium full of bigger fish he gets so excited!  He had a blast!

 

 

 

We all had a great time and by the time we left, Hunter absolutely loved the beach.  He would know which direction we needed to leave the house in order to get to the beach so whenever we would leave to go to the store or go out he would point to where the beach was and yell, "beach!!!" .

 

 

I have to say that wherever we go there is never a dull moment with Hunter so of course one morning, Sean and I took him to go to one of those "Wings" stores to get him some new water shoes because the ones that Mimi brought for him one of them fell into the ocean.  So while we were at the store, Hunter was with me and then wanted to run over to Daddy who was like 4 feet away from me and as he's running over there a lady was coming up the aisle that he was crossing to get to Daddy and nailed him with her shopping cart!  Hunter hit so hard that he fell to the ground and of course, I yell, "Oh my gosh" and Hunter is crying his little heart out (and so am I!).  Ugh. So of course, Hunter got a shiner on this trip.  My poor baby. He is never leaving my arms again while we are in a store (lol).  The woman felt bad and of course apologized but what was I gonna do? Call the police on her (trust me I thought about it).  Anyway, of course he is fine now but this happened like the second day we were there so half of his photos he has a shiner in them and not to mention everywhere we went everyone noticed and had to ask. 

 

 

Overall, we had a blast and can't wait to do it again.  Just next time, we'll have both boys!