A Myrtle Beach Birthday 2010

Myrtle Beach 2010

While planning Jackson's 5th birthday party I very quickly became overwhelmed with trying to plan the 'perfect' celebration. We looked into renting a water-slide/bounce house for the backyard, renting out a room at Monkey Joe's or Space Kidets (indoor bounce houses), renting out a section of the bowling alley, etc. After assessing the cost for each and realizing that planning a 5th birthday party with lots of friends is not a cheap affair (so I therefore wanted to be sure he was going to like whatever it was... A LOT :) - I sat Jackson down and asked him for a final verdict - what did he want to do for his birthday? His answer: "Umm. I want to go to the beach with you and Daddy and Norah and Eddie." Sounded like music to my ears! Justin's new job has him working some pretty late hours these days so it literally melted my heart that of all of the above options Jackson chose instead to suggest a small family trip to the beach. :)

Of course Justin couldn't turn down his request so he found and booked a last minute room online and after he got home from work on Friday we headed down to Myrtle Beach for the first time. After a few bathroom stops (for the Prego and the Eddie-O) we finally arrived at our destination around 10:30 pm. Upon checking in, however, Justin was on the verge of swearing and I couldn't stop laughing (or was it crying? Or both? :). Our room was seriously the stuff movies are made of... The online pictures showed a luxurious two room suite overlooking the ocean... The reality was a moldy strip of a room with condensation covered windows, rotted wood, urine stained mattresses, missing linoleum in the bathroom, bedding covered with cigarette burns, kitchen burners covered with dirty tin-foil, and a door that didn't lock. Being pregnant and tired and overly emotional, I started tearing up to see how incredibly excited Jackson was to be in the room as he ran back and forth pointing out all of the 'cool' features: "Mom, look! It has an oven! Isn't this a nice oven?!" "Mom, you have to see this! Look at this nice refrigerator!" "Mom, look! This bed comes out of the wall! How neat is that?!" His sweet and innocent little eyes couldn't see the flaws (nay - the hazards!) that literally befell the entire 'suite'. I whispered to Justin that it wasn't what we wanted, but it was only for two nights and we could tough it out. I just couldn't take the excitement away from Jack (and Eddie, for that matter. He was right in the thick of things feeding off of Jack's excitement.). But Justin remained unmoved stating that he'd rather eat the cost and find someplace new or even go home (though I know at that point it was just the anger talking, lol. It's not like he has unreasonable standards for cleanliness which just testifies even more to the overall lack of sanitation that this place had). He then immediately got online and, after an hour of internet searching and making some phone calls, he found us a new suite at a Hampton Inn just up the street. (As a note - if you know Justin and know how incredibly cheap (er...frugal) he is - you'll understand just how bad this room must have been! Luckily, we only had to eat the cost of one night plus a cancellation fee - about $350 (which still bugged me since we were only there an hour!) and not the whole weekend.

So after explaining to two very upset little guys that we weren't going home - just moving to a different hotel room, we loaded up the car and drove to our new hotel. The difference was immediately night and day. The check-in area was well lit and clean and there were actually parking spaces (there weren't any at the previous hotel - we'd had to park in a no-parking zone with the promise that we'd move our car the next morning... Seriously?!).

When we opened the door to our room - we were all in awe. It was a corner oceanfront suite that had been a last-minute cancellation and was hands-down the nicest hotel room I'd ever stayed in (second only to our honeymoon suite). Everything looked brand new and they had a dehumidifier in the room so it wasn't freezing cold and wet. The bedrooms were actual rooms (not beds that you pulled out of the wall in the living room) separate from the living/kitchen areas and there were flatscreens in every room. The view was gorgeous, the amenities were awesome, and I was SO HAPPY that Justin had insisted on spending the extra money to find us a better place to stay. We can't wait to go back!

So now the photos from our impromptu weekend of Myrtle Beach and Birthday fun (not in order)!

We'd forgotten to buy a helmet, but since we got back on Sunday and couldn't go to the store we let Jackson take his new wheels out for a (very short) spin! He's such a big boy! Justin has been slowly moving the training wheels up, too, so I doubt it will be much longer before he's training-wheel free. :)

Justin and the boys looking at the horseshoe crabs at Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach. Eddie loved reaching in to touch the crabs. :)

First attempt at a picture of all three kids in the 'shipwreck' at the aquarium. At least Norah was ready! :)

Our beautiful blue-eyed babies.. I can't wait to see if Sprout will join them or start a brown-eyed trend? :)

Justin helping Jack open his new Ant Farm from Grandma and Grandpa Wilde. We have yet to order the ants (since it's been so hot they can't ship them!), but Jack is beyond excited to see how it works!

Eleanor, Sprout (who now makes a great little seat for Norah), and Mommy enjoying the view and the sun from our balcony.

Jackson's Birthday surprises! He was so excited to get his first bike! (He'd never really been interested before, but now we can't get him off of them!) He also got a sweet water gun (bazooka?) from Aunt Jayne who came for the second day with cousin Oliver. She also made him an amazing Spiderman/Transformer cake! I'm awaiting pictures so I can post them here. :)

Jack, Eddie, and Norah getting ready to hit the beach!

Justin had the boys out there diving into the waves, throwing sand 'bombs', and otherwise having way too much fun. :)

Jack even found a real sand crab! He picked up the shell and was very much surprised when a crab emerged, lol. After showing everyone within shouting distance he threw the crab back into the ocean to be with its 'family'.

The boys hunting for shells and crabs. I love this picture. :)

Eddie! While not quite as daring as Jackson in jumping and swimming into the waves, he loved to feel the water pull the sand back from his feet and did his fair share of (assisted) wave-dives. :)

Daddy and Daddy's girl :).

This was Norah's very first trip to the beach! She absolutely loved the sand and is my first child to NOT attempt to eat it! Yay! :)

Me and my amazing kiddos. :) I am one lucky Mommy! :)

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In the morning on the Friday we left for the beach a few friends planned a little birthday party for Jackson so his buddies could give them their gifts. He had a lot of fun and came away with some great gifts. Thank you to my friends who remembered his special day! :)

Jackson holding up his new floor puzzle from the Johnston family. He loves it!

He also got some really fun bug-collecting equipment from the Scienski's and Burgess's. This made me very happy since I've lost almost all of my tupperware to Jack and his bug-hunting expeditions. :)

For lunch the kids made homemade pepperoni pizzas.

And for a craft Ms. Tiffany helped each kid make some fun masks. Jack's was supposed to be a snake, but he looked more like a blue monster to me. :)