Spring Break 2017

We just had the best vacation, y'all!

We decided to spend the kids' spring break in South Carolina this year. 

I love South Carolina!

One of Jason's brothers, as well as my brother, both live in South Carolina so we headed down to hang out with family and have a lot of fun.

We got to Columbia, SC (where Jason's brother lives) mid-afternoon on Saturday.  It was a super special trip because we got to meet our sweet little nephew who was born just three weeks prior.  I know everyone says it, but it's crazy how quickly you forget just how little babies are!  Both kids were in heaven that they got to hold him.

  

After they got the baby snuggles in, the kids had a blast playing with their cousin Sophia.  She's the same age as Redmond and the three of them get along and play so well together.  Even though they don't see each other too often, it's like they see each other all the time when they're together.

  

Sunday was full of more playing and a visit from grandma and grandpa as they passed through from Florida on their way back to Michigan.  To say that Jason's parents were excited to have all four of their grandkids together would be a ginormous understatement :)  They are seriously the best grandparents ever.

  

We said our goodbyes in the late afternoon and headed to my brother's house.  He lives about 20 minutes from Myrtle Beach so that's where we spent the majority of our trip.  We got to his house and the kids were exhausted!  We got them to bed and Jason and I stayed up for a bit to chat and catch up.  Then, it was off to bed.

Monday morning we headed to the beach.  The kids loved playing in the sand and, somehow, Redmond convinced his uncle to get into the water with him.  It was freeeeeezing!!!

   

  

After a couple hours at the beach, we headed back to the house, had some lunch and got ready to go watch my niece play softball.  I was so excited that we were able to watch her play while we were down there.

                   

Tuesday was a big day and was the day where we did both of the kids' favorite things from our vacation.  We started the day by stopping at Krispy Kreme and having hot donuts.  The kids loved watching the donuts get made.  If you ask Ashlyn what her favorite thing was from vacation, she'll tell you it was the donut :)

              

After the donuts, we got in the car and drove to North Carolina for the kids to go on their first ferry ride!  Redmond really wanted to visit an aquarium while we were down south and my brother recommended we go to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.  You can get there either by car or ferry.

  

  

The aquarium was awesome.  They had some really cool exhibits and very knowledgeable volunteers to answer any questions.  They even had a shark "petting" tank.

  

  

  

  

After the aquarium, we ate lunch and then headed to Redmond's highlight of the entire trip - Battleship North Carolina.  I was afraid that the kids might not really enjoy this and Ashlyn was over it after 30 minutes or so, but she was a trooper.  Redmond, on the other hand, has not stopped talking about this battleship since we left it last Tuesday.  He was completely enthralled by it and has had Jason look up different facts about the ship.  So many questions going through his little mind!

  

  

After such a busy Tuesday, we decided to lay low Wednesday and have another morning at the beach.  The kids, again, had a great time playing in the sand and water.  They also worked on their boogie boarding technique.  We also found a huge jellyfish that washed ashore.

         

         

Thursday we decided to do a few things outside.  We started with taking the kids out onto a pier on Myrtle Beach.

  

  

We walked around a little more, got some lunch and then went on a hunt for a Pirate-themed putt-putt course.  If you've ever been to Myrtle Beach, you'll know that it didn't take long to find one ;)

Technically, we didn't keep score, but since I'm the only one that got a hole-in-one, I'm pretty sure that makes me the winner :)

     

Friday we decided to check out the Children's Museum of South Carolina.  It was packed!  The kids had a great time despite the crowd and it kept them entertained for almost 2 hours.

     

     

     

The Grand Finale for our vacation was a trip to a Japanese steak house for dinner Friday night.  This was the one thing I wanted to do while we were in SC (isn't that where all vegetarians want to eat at!?!?).  The kids weren't too sure of the hibachi at first, but they (thankfully!) warmed up to it.  The food was sooooooo amazing!!!  (The sake wasn't bad either ;)

     

And just like that, our vacation was over.  We woke up Saturday morning, had breakfast, packed up, and hit the road.  The trip was awesome, the company was awesome, and I miss everyone already!  Here are a few other fun things/highlights from our trip:

We went to a few parks - and Redmond worked on perfecting his lizard-catching abilities!

  

        

The kids got to spend some time with their cousin Hannah.  Unfortunately, she had school/softball/school trips while we there, but we loved the time we did get with her!

  

  

Car naps.....

The kids watched the Trolls movie 3566422 times..... ;)

We ate.  Boy, oh boy did we eat!

And drank....my liver is still not happy with me :)

     

We watched cable tv.....sometimes while drinking.....

  

We got as many cuddles as we wanted from the neediest dog ever this puppy.....

We had a little rain.....

We played kickball.....

       

Jason hacked into our niece's Instagram and posted this picture.  I'm still laughing!

The kids got a lot of 'ipad' (Kindle Fire) time....

Jason got some crossbow lessons from my brother....

     

Ashlyn helped Uncle Dan collect eggs....

And, we had an amazingly fabulous time!!!

Jason and I both said this was probably the best vacation we've been on since we've had kids....they're old enough to not need a nap and are so excited about everything.  Looking forward to our next vacation!!

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering where Oliver is, we decided not to take him with us on this trip.  However, thanks to our fabulous friends Katy & Jake, he also got to go on vacation and had a blast.  They took him on their little vacation up north in MI to play in the water, go on hikes, and play with other dogs.  He probably had more fun with them than he would have with us :)

 

       

     

     

~ Sara :)