As long as I can remember, my parents have been taking my sister and I down to Litchfield Beach for our summer vacation. Litchfield Beach is located on Pawley's Island, South Carolina and is about 20 or so miles south of Myrtle Beach. We always stay at the Litchfield Inn and I have so many good memories of that family time spent together. Now, that I have a family of my own, we have continued that tradition. Actually, Keith and I have been going just about every summer even before the kids arrived. We especially love this area becuase it is not overly crowded and the area is very family oriented. There aren't many crazy teenagers running around and it's just a nice quiet place to take a family with young children.
This year, we headed down for a four-night stay. Keith works for BMW and this year the powers that be decided to schedule a plant-wide shut down, so we decided to take advantage of the time he would have off anyway.
I have found that traveling with kids is a huge undertaking and no trip is ever the same. This year was no different. We begin about a week in advance buying groceries and all of the necessities. We like to eat our breakfast and lunch in our hotel room, and usually take things to make sandwhiches and things like that. We end up with this huge box of non-perishable items which usually ends up parked on the kitchen table until it is time to pack the car. Speaking of packing the car, that in itself requires some sort of degree, I'm convinced. This is definitely my area of expertise and I don't let Keith anywhere near the car while I'm trying to figure things out. I like to be able to pack the minivan so that we can still have two of the three seats in the way-back available for use as Makenna usually claims this as her little hideaway. I have noticed that she inherited some of her organizing traits from her momma. She has a precise place for all of her animals/dolls, activites and a stack of movies to play in the car. I then find the perfect location for the beach tent, chairs, all of the luggage, pool toys and floats and of course, the cooler. Keith seems to not be able to go very long without a soda, but it seems to get worse when taking trips in the car that will last anymore than 30 minutes.
The kids had so much fun this year as they are getting older and getting more and more comfortable in the water and on the beach. Makenna has always liked it. From the first time she set foot (or I should say knees as she was crawling at the time) in the sand, she has enjoyed every minute. Noah, on the other hand, has been a completely different story. For a boy, he certainly does not like to get too dirty, which I find a little odd. Anyway, once Noah figured out that the sand was not too big of a deal, he was pretty okay with the whole thing. The past two years, he wouldn't even walk in the sand, even with his shoes on. This year we actually got him to play in the water and dig in the sand and he had a blast. Makenna put her swimming lessons to good use and we just about couldn't keep her out of the water. She's become much more comfortable in the water and has even given up her swim belt for the most part. She learned to swim in the waves and her daddy even purchased a Hannah Montana boogie board, which she got pretty good at. The pool is always a big hit and we ended up going back and forth from the beach to the pool just about the whole day.
We did get to experience something very special during our trip this year. It turned out that Papa Mike and Mema Joyce would be vacationing in North Myrtle Beach at the same time. We were all able to get together a few times and have supper. Makenna was so excited to see her Mema and Papa at Myrtle Beach that she could hardly contain herself. Even more special, for Makenna, was that she was able to take Mema and Papa to Build a Bear so that they could watch her complete her most recent creation.
What a fun time. We can't wait to go back next year!!
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