This year, our annual family beach trip with my side of the family was in late July. It fell during the last full week of summer break before school started back. We even got their teacher assignments for the new year while we were still out of town, which was a first. Here’s the recap of our super fun week:
7/22/23 SATURDAY – We had an uneventful drive to Surfside Beach this year…probably our best drive yet. We did have a storm on Friday night when we were packing that caused the power to go out for about 1.5 hours, which was…interesting, but thankfully it came back on before the girls went to bed. We left Saturday morning at about 5:45 am and got to the beach at 5:45 pm eastern time! We only made one stop all day, and that was for lunch at Zaxby’s/gas on the same exit. This was the first drive I can remember where I drove the majority of the way. I started driving after lunch and figured we would swap back again when we stopped the next time, but we never had to stop…haha. The girls did great all day! They were very excited to get to the beach.
7/23/23 SUNDAY – We got up and went to worship in the morning and made a quick stop by Walmart on the way back home to get a few things. The girls couldn’t wait to get down to the beach after lunch. We were talking about nicknames, and Aunt Jenn casually told the girls that next year there would be a new member of the family that needed a nickname…the baby in her tummy. The girls all screamed with excitement. Savannah especially has been talking lately about how she wished she had a new baby cousin. Aunt Jenn made the mistake of asking them if they wanted a girl or boy cousin, and of course they said girl. She said, “Well it’s a boy…” and they all groaned…haha.
We noticed right away how pretty the water was when we got down to the beach after lunch. Normally I feel like the Gulf is much prettier in color than the Atlantic, but today the ocean was a very pretty blue/green color. Travis had recently read an article online about how the ocean near the Grand Strand has been very pretty lately because there haven’t been any big storms to stir up the water.
The girls immediately wanted to get in the water and boogie board when we got down there. Travis went out a little deeper with Brooklyn and Savannah, and Abigail and I stayed closer to the shore. All of the girls had a blast. Savannah and Abigail definitely seem less afraid of the waves than last year, although the waves weren’t as rough today as I remember from last year. All the girls caught some good waves that carried them to the shore. Abigail is so lightweight that she can catch almost anything…haha. They also had fun digging in the sand. Savannah found a sand flea (we think). We went on a short walk down the beach collecting some shells. It was pretty crowded when we got out there, but the crowds thinned out as the afternoon went on.
We headed to the pool around 4:15 pm and stayed there for about an hour too. Jenn and Chandler got a taste of parent duty when the girls kept saying “Watch this! Watch me!” and asking them to throw balls/toy fish over and over. We ate chicken enchiladas for dinner and then it was time to get the kids in bed. A successful and fun first day!
7/24/23 MONDAY – We got down to the beach around 9:30 am after eating breakfast. Everyone has been sleeping well so far. The girls immediately wanted to get in the water…no surprise…to jump and ride the waves. It was very gentle out with no pull, so we were able to sit in the chairs and watch them rather than get in right away. Brooklyn was super sweet and helped Abigail try to boogie board.
We spent a lot of time in the water. Other than digging in the sand a little, we spent most of our time boogie boarding and jumping waves. Savannah was showing off her skills by boogie boarding with no hands…haha. Travis and I caught some waves too! It brought back our glory days of long ago ;) We went back up to the house to eat lunch, and the girls dug some holes in the sand afterward. We also ate frozen lemonade (always a treat!), and rode more waves. We stayed out there until about 3:30 pm. All in all, we spent about 4.5 hours at the beach today, and the girls played hard for the whole time.
It’s no wonder that Abigail voluntarily curled up in her bed around 5 pm because she felt so tired. She caught a quick cat nap before we headed out to eat for dinner. We ate at Russell’s Seafood Grill in Murrells Inlet. We sat outside on the porch, and the food was really good. Savannah ate her entire hamburger! The hushpuppies were delicious too, as were our seafood entrees. After getting the kids tucked in bed, the adults played cards before hitting the bed ourselves.
7/25/23 TUESDAY – We tried something new this year and played putt putt golf in the morning rather than going after dinner. The past two years when we’ve gone after dinner, it’s always been SO crowded and we’ve felt rushed to get through a hole because so many people were waiting behind us. We thought maybe it would work better to go in the morning and there would be less people. We went to a place called Shipwreck Island in Myrtle Beach about 15 minutes from our beach house. We were about the only people there when we arrived at 9:30!
It was HOT, but otherwise I feel like it went much better than going at night. The theming of this putt putt place was really good! They had a talking pirate, waterfall, and one of the holes was played inside the pirate’s ship. Jenn and Chandler were off playing real golf this morning, so it was just Paw, Rae Rae, and us. Savannah got the only hole-in-one of the day on Hole 3. She jumped up in the air in excitement! She really played well today and got 3rd place overall, even beating Daddy!! All 3 girls had their moments of frustration…I think because it was so hot and the course was difficult. On one of the holes, you had to putt over a “ravine” with water in it and up a hill. If you hit it too soft, the ball went in the ravine. If you hit it too hard, the ball would go up the hill and roll all the way back down. It was difficult! I ended up winning, which has never happened before!
We came home and ate lunch and made some homemade ice cream (vanilla with dark chocolate Reese cups) before heading to the beach for the afternoon. The waves were a little stronger today but still not too bad. The girls had a blast playing in the water and riding waves. It seemed more crowded today, but as the afternoon went on, it thinned out a little bit. We stayed down at the beach until about 4:30 pm. We ate Frogmore stew for supper (yum!) and homemade ice cream for dessert. The adults played Wizard after the kids went to bed. It was another great day. This has definitely been our easiest beach trip with kids so far. Every year it gets a little easier, especially now that they can all get themselves dressed, help with putting on sunscreen, carry things to and from the beach, etc.
7/26/23 WEDNESDAY – At the girls’ request, we started off this morning at the pool. They had been looking forward to playing “fish fry” with Daddy all week, a game where Daddy looks for little fish to fry and tries to grab them and throw them in the fryer (a certain spot in the pool). They love it! The fish kept escaping the fryer though by tagging each other out ;) After a while of playing, Daddy was worn out, but the girls had more energy left. They raced on floats across the pool and showed Rae Rae all the things they practiced in swim lessons this summer. Savannah finally got the hang of doing “3 arms, then a breath” during her freestyle this morning for the first time ever! We stayed at the pool until a little after 11, then ate lunch on the porch at home before heading to the beach for the afternoon.
The waves were pretty calm again today, and the girls enjoyed paddling around on their boogie boards and jumping waves. We also had pop-ices as an afternoon treat! We stayed out for several hours, and the girls had a blast! We heated up leftovers for dinner and watched the U.S. vs. Netherlands soccer match in the Women’s World Cup after the kids went to bed. It was a nailbiter that ended in a 1-1 tie.
7/27/23 THURSDAY – On Thursday morning, we got a little bit later start because Jenn and Chandler left to go back home. While we were hanging around the house, I was admiring how beautiful Savannah’s eyes looked! We told Jenn, Chandler, and Champ goodbye and then headed down to the beach for a little while. The waves were SO gentle this morning. They were barely crashing just at the edge of the sand…not even enough to boogie board. You could stand out in the ocean with your back to the wave and not even worry about a wave crashing on you…it was crazy! We decided it was the most calm we’d ever seen the Atlantic Ocean…and it had been pretty calm all week. One reason that Brooklyn loves Surfside Beach is because of the big waves so she decided after a little while that she was bored ;) She’s definitely turning into a pre-teen, although she needs to learn how to spell “bored” first. The rest of us still had fun! We ate a snack down there and enjoyed floating around in the water and digging in the sand.
We ate a late lunch before heading back to the beach mid-afternoon. Travis forgot his flip flops at home this week (2nd time in 3 years he’s done that!) and he refused to buy a cheap pair at the store, so he’d been burning his feet all week on the hot sand in the afternoons. Today, he finally decided he would “wear” my extra pair of flip flops (with polka dots)…haha. It looked funny but at least they somewhat protected the bottom of his feet! The waves were a little bigger in the afternoon, but still not very big. The kids spent a while digging a huge hole together!
We stopped by the pool after leaving the beach, and the kids and Travis threw a frisbee for a few minutes. That evening after supper, Rae Rae and I took the girls to a beachwear store nearby for souvenir shopping. They all picked out a t-shirt and one other item. Brooklyn bought a dream catcher and two small sand dollars for Waffles’ tank, and Savannah and Abigail bought small ring toss toys. I was super surprised no one came home with a stuffed animal, but they didn’t have a great selection at the store we chose ;)
7/28/23 FRIDAY – Brooklyn and Savannah made their own board games this summer and had been asking all week if we could play them. We finally made time for it on Friday morning after breakfast. First up was Brooklyn’s revamped edition of Sugar Kick. It was a pretty short game because of the chance cards she made…haha. Several of them disqualify you completely from the game! We had fun playing it…she definitely improved it from the original version that she made last year. Savannah also made a board game called Be the Best Baker. It was more akin to Monopoly (slower-paced) and required each player to earn money to buy ingredients to make different foods. The first person to collect all of the ingredients to make the cake won the game. We weren’t able to finish because we wanted to still have time to spend at the beach…haha…but we were impressed with her creativity (especially the spinner!). Both of the board games definitely reflected each girls’ personality (Brooklyn – fast paced and full of surprises; Savannah – methodical and organized). At one point in Savannah’s game, Brooklyn was required to yell “Roll Tide!” which we all thought was hilarious.
By the time we stopped playing, it was close to lunch time, so we just went to the pool for about 45 minutes instead of heading to the beach. The girls played, and Travis and I sat in chairs. Savannah was trying to teach Abigail how to do a stingray. Abigail also figured out how to swim down to the bottom of the pool to get a toy (in the shallow end), so that was neat!
After lunch, we went to the beach for the afternoon. It was cloudy and rained a little off and on, but we were able to stay out there since there was no thunder/lightning. The waves were the biggest we’d seen all week! The girls had a blast boogie boarding, even though they all got knocked off their boards at times. Savannah flipped over the front of her board when it was almost time to go inside and came to the chair crying that that her board hit her back. I asked her if she wanted to end on that note or ride one more wave, and she chose to get back out there! They also had frozen lemonade one more time. I think this was their first time making “sand beards” too…haha. We were expecting teacher assignments between 4-5 pm, so they started coming in via email while we were still on the beach. Savannah got the news that Mrs. Borys would be her teacher, and we all cheered while we were sitting under the beach umbrella. We were up at the house when the email came in that Mrs. Curry would be Abigail’s teacher. When I told her, she started jumping up and down and screaming and cheering. It was so cute! Brooklyn had a wait a while longer, but we finally heard that Mrs. Maynard would be her homeroom teacher. We spent the evening getting packed up and trying to find friends in all of the girls’ homerooms :)
7/29/23 SATURDAY – We got packed up and left the beach house a little before 9 AM eastern time. We made pretty good time for the first few hours and stopped in Columbia at Cookouts for lunch with Paw and Rae Rae. It was really yummy! I think it was our first time eating there. We hit pretty bad traffic around Augusta and several times after that before we got to Atlanta. We ended up needing to stop for supper because we were going to get home so late. We finally made it home at 9 pm (central time). It was a LONG day. As always, we were so appreciative to Paw and Rae Rae for a wonderful week. Beach week is definitely one of the best weeks of the year!
