Halloween 2009

I'm finally getting around to posting some Halloween pictures...I guess better late than never. This year for Halloween we had Zoro, a knight, and a Spanish dancer! My mom brought Rachel's dress back from Spain, so it was fun for her to be able to wear it!

Not too happy about this dressing up thing! Later..when she learned there was candy involved...she was all smiles!

Rachel got over her crying fit and luckily gave us a smile.
Checking out the pumpkins
The boys with their cousin Lydee at the trunk or treat! Zac's family came over for dinner and the 3 of them went out later for some trick or treating. Everyone had a great time and I think we've finally seen the last of the candy!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Recently, we were able to take a trip back East to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My mom had a week at the Marriott Resort there, and needed someone to help her use it! None of my other siblings were available to go, so we decided we could help her out! We took the kids with us this trip...which was good and bad...but over all I'm glad they came and were able to see someplace new. We had a great trip with lots of fun memories. I broke it down into many posts so I could remember everything....so sorry if it's a boring travel log!

The view from our balcony

On our balcony..we are in one tower of the resort with the other ones behind us also part of the same resort.

Another view of the resort taken from the beach

Walking out to the ocean. It was still a little chilly that day, but it didn't keep the kids from getting wet!

Checking out the beach

One of the many sea shells that Lucas brought back home with us!

This all started are very innocently getting their feet wet until they went all the way in with all their clothes on!

This was taken our last day which turned out to be the warmest at about 79 degrees. I enjoyed laying out, watching the boys play and swim, while Zac stayed back for Rachel's nap!

Growing up on the west coast has made me naturally favor the Pacific Ocean. However, this was a very nice beach with miles of sand. The boys thought it was weird that there weren't too many waves, but they liked that there wasn't any seaweed! Either way, Atlantic or Pacific, I love the beach and it definitely is my happy place!

USS North Carolina

One day we drove an hour north into Wilmington, North Carolina to visit the USS North Carolina. We had a fun time touring the ship and were amazed that over 2000 men were able to live aboard it at one time. This ship was used during World War II.

I think this was in a kitchen area

Lucas testing out the ovens

Sitting down in the eating area

Climbing up on the chain link bunk beds....I have no idea how they could sleep so close together!

Hanging out in an Officer's chair

On deck

This was one of the favorite things for the boys on this trip. You really get to see all aspects of this ship and was well worth our time!

Broadway at the Beach

After our trip to North Carolina, we decided to stop back in Myrtle Beach at this shopping center called Broadway at the Beach. There are shops surrounding a pond, with bridges that connect you to the other side of the shopping center. It was pretty dead this time of year, but I can imagine that it would be packed in the summer.

This isn't a great picture, but there were these huge fish all gathering to be fed. They have fish food along the walk way, so the fish are used to getting fed so much...maybe that's why they are so big!

They had a few rides that we let the boys each pick one. They were the only ones on the ride...and not surprisingly they each picked a different one!

Lucas on the swing ride

Umm..I think Zac took this picture...I'm not exactly sure what to say!

Miniature Golf

On every street corner, there is a miniature golf place...and I'm not exaggerating! It seems like they all try to out-do the next one with the fancy themes and decorations! We had a hard time deciding which one to try, but in the end settled on this one called Mt. Atlantis. Up close, it wasn't anything to get too excited about, but we had fun anyways. I would also like to say for the record that I beat Zac by one point!

Medieval Times

One of the many tourist attractions in Myrtle Beach was a place called Medieval Times. It's a dinner and show with horses and lot's of theatrics and sword fighting. Zac and I had been to one similar when we went to Tennessee, except that it was called Dixie Stampede..but it's the same idea. We contemplated taking the boys...but found out it would have been $170 to take the 4 of us!

Anyways, when we were walking around the shopping center the previous night, we stopped in to talk to a lady selling discount tickets to local attractions. She told us we could all get into the Medieval Times show for $40..and all we had to do was give them 90 minutes of our time to do a tour of their facility. Well, we knew it wasn't really that simple, and that we would have to listen to their time-share spiel, but for the sake of our kids, we decided to sacrifice our time to get the discount! We went early the next morning, and all we had to say was that my mom owned 4 time-shares and really needed our help to use them, and we never have to spend money on our accommodations! After that...they really didn't even try to sell us anything. One guy did try to tell us that coming just for the discount tickets was "highly frowned upon"...well..why else to people come anyways when that's their whole marketing strategy! Anyways, we did spend 90 minutes of our time, but got our tickets and felt that in the end that the savings was worth it.

Sir Ben

Sir Lucas

The gang...we left Rachel home with my mom that night!

This was our knight fighting that we had to cheer for

The boys with the Blue Knight!

It was fun to take the boys here and see the show. There was plenty of fighting to keep them entertained. They also were surprised that there were no utensils for our meal!

Fort Sumter

One day we took a two hour drive to visit Charleston and Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is where the first battle of the Civil War started. We took a boat over to the small man made island.

The bridge we crossed over into Charleston

A picture of the Fort....apparently it was never fully finished but has a brick wall around most of it.

Lucas in front of a cannon

Another cannon shot inside the Fort that was used to fire through a window in the brick wall

Rachel getting in on the cannon shot

Having fun being out of the stroller

Another cannon shot. I'm suprised this picture turned out cute because I could hear in the background some lady yelling at us to get off the cannons! Oh well...I didn't see any signs...and at least I got a good picture!

Zac really loved visiting Fort Sumter...he could tell you more history and facts. I'm really horrible at paying attention and remembering things...plus I had to keep Rachel quite while the Park Ranger was explaining the history so I didn't get to hear too much!

Charleston

After visiting Fort Sumter, we toured around downtown Charleston.

In front of a wishing fountain

Outside the Ben and Jerry's

A very old cemetery outside a church...some of the tombstones were dated in the 1700's. There was a sign here that said that there was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a signer the US Constitution that were buried here.

Zac and the boys walking down the streets of Charleston

On a cobblestone street

An old church in the middle of downtown

Outside the church and cemetery

We all liked Charleston. The streets were so narrow which leaves little room for all the cars. I liked the unique buildings and architecture. We also had fun walking through Market Street which is a local farmer's market and seeing the local women weaving baskets. I didn't want to take their picture because I was afraid I would offend them since I wasn't going to buy one!