3 Things You're Guaranteed to See at Myrtle Beach. Part 1

#3 - Too Much Skin. Seen below on "Alex". (Which brings us to #4 - just shy of making the list this year: Children With Little to No Parental Supervision. On The Beach.)

Yes, "Alex" spent a good deal of time with us making sand castles. And I spent a good deal of time watching hundreds of vacationers walk by wondering, "why doesn't that woman kindly tell her son to pull up his swimsuit."

Ah, Myrtle Beach. Here's a peek at some more of the fun. And more of the skin.

3 Things You're Guaranteed to See at Myrtle Beach. Part 2

#2. Wildlife

In the past we've hit Alligator Adventure and the Aquarium - both completely on the up and up, super fantastic fun. This year we decided to go a different route. And boy did we. The Waccatee Zoo. Seemed "quaint" on the brochure.

It all started out nice enough. Some wild peacocks, some ostrich's grazing in a grassy field. But the further along you got, the more you got a sense that this place was just some crazy guys illegal animal collection gone wild. Shady. In every sense of the word.

Which takes us to the boardwalk. Decidedly NOT shady. But there was ice cream. And once we got Anneliese's in a cup we were all better.

3 Things You're Guaranteed to See at Myrtle Beach. Part 3

#1. Some poor schmuck in a fit of frustration trying to get a family picture. In this case, me.

All right girls. Can you just give me 1 good minute and then we'll be all done. I just want 1 picture, so if you can both just look at the camera then we're done, ok? Here we go - Anneliese, can you smile? Just one - then we're done. Kate - that's beautiful! Just look at the CAMERA and smile. Anneliese. Smile. OK - look, how many fingers am I holding up - just look here. No - Anneliese, you don't have to count the numbers on YOUR fingers, just look at MY fingers. Just forget the counting - just look at me and smile!!!!!! Kate, you're doing great - Anneliese, no put Oliver down. I'll take a picture of Oliver later. Fine, leave Oliver in but LOOK at ME! Seriously girls, we'll be done if you just LOOK and SMILE. That's it! Just 2 things - LOOK and SMILE. Yes, Kate I see the airplane.

Just forget it. Let's go to the beach.

Aaaaaaaand, a final look at the beach week 2010 fun.

Marbles Museum and Easy Bake Ovens

You know what's great? Reciprocal museum memberships that let you get into other Children's Museums for free.

You know what else is great? Having one of those Children's Museums (Marbles in Raleigh) conveniently located between here and Goldsboro. (Notice Anneliese's well placed admission sticker?) Blake and I make a well-timed pit stop at Marbles, become the heroes for the day and it doesn't even cost us a penny. Score.

You know what's just as great? Yard sales. Easy bake ovens with ALL the extras for $4. And a morning of baking with my girls.

What's not so great? The crap that you make with those easy bake ovens. Seriously. Thank goodness my girls aren't picky when it comes to sweets. I think it's all about the hat anyway. Kate does rock a hat.

Dan Nicholas Park

Another day trip? Awesome Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury. (While all this day trippin' may make it sound like I SO have my act together and planned a fantastic summer full of day trips and spectacular days of fun - in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that this was just the second day trip in a list of . . . . 2. Way to go mom.) AND we snagged the Crawfords for this one, too. LOVE those Crawfords. Just LOVE. So, park, playground, carousel, water fun, zoo, stick your head through the hole blah, blah, you get the idea. Great day.

Homeland Creamery

One of our day trips this summer was to Homeland Creamery - a family owned/operated dairy farm in Julian. Boy do I have a whole new appreciation of milk. And dairy farmers. A (loud) hay ride, a tour, and a chance to feed a baby cow later we finally got to the grand prize. Homemade ice cream. Yum!

And how did it smell? (the farm, not the ice cream) I'll let Anneliese give you a hint. (see below)

Yep - that's about right. And here are some more pictures from the stinkin' hot day.

Why I'll never be a childrens' photographer

I've long since let go of the idea that I'll ever get a good picture of my 2 girls together. I'm trying to embrace the fact that Anneliese just wants to dance, jump and/or put something in front of her face and that Kate will NEVER look at the camera, and will most likely strike some sort of "pose" that just seems to be missing a pole. (Where did she learn that from anyway?!)

So here you go - the best of the worst. Say cheese!