Beach Time!

This year so far has been month after month of Jeff slaving away at his job at Synergy.  A typical day for him was to leave early before we woke up, and get home around 7pm.  A typical week for the past few months was working 6 days a week, and often on weekends.  So yeah, we didn't get to see him much.  Which really would have annoyed me at any point, but especially during my very sick first three months of pregnancy, I was losing patience quickly with his employment status.  Luckily I knew he was moving on in June so that kept me sane and kept the complaints to a minimum.  But Jeff was having a hard time getting a day or two off, let alone a full week.  But I insisted he use his vacation days before he lost them all after the job change (As it was he still lost a week or two).  So I hopped online and bought a two day hotel stay in Myrtle Beach for Memorial Day week, which was at the end of May.  We've both never been there but that's where a lot of people go for their beach vacations so I thought it would be nice to try it out.  Then I also decided that a trip to the zoo was in order, so we'd hit the Columbia Riverbanks Zoo on the way out.

The zoo was fantastic.  She had a great time last year when we went, but this year, she could name most of the animals herself, and would look longer.  In the koala habitat, they were sleeping, so she 'ssssh' d me for talking too loudy.  She loved the animal carousel, and was eager to get to the aquarium, which she acted like she remembered!  We also paid a little extra for her to feed the giraffes, which was the best $2 spent that day!  She loved feeding them, and talked about it for a whole week afterwards.  Even now she sometimes mentions it, and has renewed interest in her giraffe figurines.  So the zoo is something I'd love to do again with her soon, maybe before this next baby comes if we can cram it into our busy summer schedule.
The hotel in Myrtle Beach, Dunes Resort, was a family-entertainment type location with both indoor and outdoor pools and water features, a ship playground (Jane's absolute favorite place during the trip), dining, and on the beach.  So we spent most of our time there.  It was nice that the resort gave us a free upgrade to an ocean front suite with a full kitchen and living space, along with two queen size beds in a separate bedroom.  Lucked out from our original ocean view king studio reservation!  A great start to the few days we would spend there.

Jane loved the playground and asked to go there often, asking me to pretend to be Izzy while she would pretend to be Cubby (Jake and the Neverland Pirates, one of her favorite shows if not THE favorite).  I think she likes Cubby because he always has the maps and Jane is kinda into maps right now.  But she's also into pixie dust so I don't know.  She'd put her eye up to the play telescopes and say "Captain Hook coming!!!!", or, "Tick Tock Crock!"  Unfortunately she's past the 'croc-o-gator' phase, which didn't last nearly long enough.  She didn't like walking around on the hot sand without shoes, but didn't want to wear her shoes in the sand, so Jeff carried her around the playground a lot.  It's funny but she has no interest in the swings or slides.  She spends her time on playgrounds running across bridges and using her imagination, wanting us or another child to join in her pretend fun.
I think the second most enjoyable thing for Jane in Myrtle Beach was the Captain's Hook themed miniature golf.  She would place her ball right next to the hole before putting it in, but I think she really enjoyed it.  She loved the mermaid scenery and Captain Hook's boat, but the dark caves with voices spooked her, we had to carry her through those.

Most exciting for us, was Jane coming around to the ocean.  Our trip last year was a sand-only affair for her, but this year she dipped in her toes and didn't take long to venture a little deeper.  When daddy held her, she'd go as deep as he'd take her.  She loved 'jumping' over the waves as they rolled in.  It was so fun to hear her laughs and squeals and see the big smiles on her face.  She went on a long walk along the shoreline, jumping in and out of the tide pools.  She had so much fun, she cried when it was time to go in for lunch.

Our last day was spent exploring the main tourist part of Myrtle Beach, the Boardwalk, where we ate some food that was not very impressive at Peach's Corner, visited a candy store where Jane could hardly keep her hands out of the candy jars, and let her enjoy some of the fun to be found, a Stuart Little car ride and all the stuffed animals she could hold at 'The Gay Dolphin' gift store that Jeff and I sniggered at every time we saw the signs.

Overall, we decided that although it was a fun beach trip, we will probably continue to visit the South Carolina beaches in the future.  We loved our experiences at Seabrook Island, Kiawah Island, Isle of Palms much more, just because we enjoy a more scenic beach with quieter or more historical attractions.  We aren't so much into the entertainment scene which Myrtle is known for.