Myrtle Beach Highlights from July 2010

We went on our yearly vacation to Myrtle Beach with my grandpa (Grampy) and Margarete. We were gone from June 23 to July 5. It worked out nicely since the office was closed from the 1-5. 

It took us about 16 hours  over two days to get to Augusta, GA. This was on the wall by the door in the motel we stayed in in Alabama on the way. It cracked me up. A) like I need a miniature motivational picture on my way out of the Days Inn in Bessemer, Alabama and 2) it is SUPER redundant and pointless. It says: "Your Attitude Almost Always Determines Your Attitude in Life." No my attitude ALWAYS determines my attitude. So we put on our vacation attitude and went on our way. Lea and I had a good time on the trip with lots of games, playing pretend and projects.

We had a wonderful time staying at Tina's and swimming in Grampy's pool for a few days. 

Here is Lea, all greased up ready for Grampy's pool. Unfortunately the sunscreen was a year old and Lea and I both got a bit burned our first day in the pool. It didn't slow us down, but we wore shirts over our swim suits for a couple days. She started out pale as porcelain and ended up brown as a berry.

Mom in her pink pool hat. 

Tina and Lea playing in the pool.
Rub-a-dub dolly made her way to Grampy's pool once again. She likes do dive off the diving board.

Below is my favorite picture! Every time Grampy went to check on the pool Lea wanted to go. Really any excuse to be close to the pool, but she did like helping him clean it. This photos says "Grampy's little helper" to me.

Mommy and Lea in Grampy's pool.

Grandma eating watermelon pool side to cool off in the afternoon.

Lea eating watermelon. This was the only bite she ate. Glad I got it on film!
Lea splashing Grampy. You can see the water hang in the air before it hits him. They played "Splash Grampy" for a LONG time. For the record, Grampy splashed back.

After a few days in Agusta we loaded Grampy and Margarete and all of our stuff back in the van and drove the last four hours to Myrtle Beach. 

We were in a different condo than the last 3 years. (poor us, you're thinking, right?) We were at a Condo called Ocean Blvd. The room could have used some ceiling fans and a bigger balcony, but the beach was closer and there was an indoor pool for when the wind was too much coming off the beach. Yes, there were days when it was a bit chilly even in July. 

This was our view, once we got to Myrtle Beach. 

Our living room with Grampy watching golf and dining room with Margarete keeping things tidy.

Lea's spot when she wasn't in the pool or on the beach. She became addicted to Total Drama World Tour - a cartoon network spoof of survivor. Thank goodness we don't have cable! She was usually pretty tired from all the swimming we did, so she'd get pretty grumpy if she didn't get to watch her "stories."

Each day was mostly the same (in a glorious, fantastic way!). Wake up head to the beach, then the infinity edge pool (there was also a zero entrance pool which meant it sloped like the beach but it was unheated so it was too cold to swim in). Then up to the room for some lunch and a rest (and Lea's stories). Then back to the beach, the lazy river, the pool and ending in the warmest very shallow indoor pool. A few days had added attractions but each day included sand, sun, surf and swimming.

The Neals at the beach.

Lea and Daddy on the beach.

Lea after a big swim with Daddy at the deep end edge of the infinity edge pool.

We put Lea in swim lessons at Baylor Tom Landry center. She was in one session for two days a week and when we got to go to the parents day on the last day it didn't seem like the teacher had challenged her enough to do much good. We enrolled her in second session with a more challenging teacher, but she got an ear infection so she couldn't finish. I figured, fine we'd go on vacation and bring the floats one more year... but SHE COULD SWIM. She spent all her pool time in the deep end swimming back and forth from us to the wall or stairs. She jumped in and swam. Here is Lea swimming in the deep end of the infinity edge pool at the condo.


Lea made friends with some girls from Ohio, Emma and Ava. Lea got to play with them about 3 times in the sand and pool through the week. They were good vacation buddies.

More of Emma and Ava.

Bubble pig makes his return to Myrtle Beach. Lea called it the Lea signal and the friends we met on the beach were supposed to see it and know she'd be down after lunch.

Lea, Mommy, Margarte and Dan in the waves.

Lea and Mommy in the lazy river. The lazy river became our transition from beach to pool. Lea used a fish float and had a lot more fun that trying to stay in the bigger ring. The three of us had so much fun floating around a couple times each day.


Daddy and Lea in the lazy river.

Lea on the beach in front of the condos. She looks a bit like Godzilla and I did call her Destructo - Scourge of the South. She stomped every sand creation I created until we started making hotels.


We built a 3 tower hotel with a pool. The waves came in and filled the "pool" but only at high tide. After high tide property value dropped and the property needed other amenities to draw shell guests. So we built a McDonalds and a fancy dress shop. All our guest were very satisfied (or washed away to sea).


Each afternoon at low tide there were many tide pools along the beach which made for some warm wading. There was quite a bit of sea life in the tide pools. Some tiny little fish (that nibbled on Dan). One day when the water was very calm it was so clear we could see the bottom. Dan saw a small shark and a sting ray. He didn't tell me until we were done for the morning.

On Wednesday of our trip, Dan took a Gulf Stream fishing trip. He spent the first of the trip attending to necessities in the bottom bow of the ship which lead to some sea sickness that put a damper on the 11 hour trip. This picture probably reflects how he felt much of the trip.

Dan's fishing boat. And his outlook as the fish began to come in.

Dan's catch. He didn't have enough cash to pay the fish cleaner after tipping the boat crew, so they got cleaned in our bathroom.

The fisherman's haul

Dan cooked his grouper (a week or so after we got back - it was frozen on the way home and after)

He cooked it on the grill on a cedar plank with lemon and onion. We ate that fish for 3 days. It was super yummy!

On Thursday night we all went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. We whooped, stomped and ate chicken with our hands while watching pig races, barrel riding and southern belles in dresses that light up. Lea got a flag and waved it and cheered. We took it to the beach a couple times and it made a great flag for our castles. Lea on the beach with her North flag from Dixie Stampede.

Friday July 2. While on a trip to Walmart Grandma and I stopped for gas. The van would not start. We were panicked. We've always relied on the kindness of strangers, however. A kind man pushed us from the gas pump to a parking spot (much kinder than that cabbie that just honked at us and told us to move!) and gave us a card to a mechanic. Of course right before a long weekend we had visions of being stuck with no place to stay in Myrtle Beach. But when mom called the mechanic the lady began to do the sound we heard and said it was just a battery.



A guy from the mechanic's shop came out and changed our battery on the spot. It took about an hour an a half, but boy it could have been so much worse! We were very lucky and grateful to the kind people who helped us.

So... we went to church. Well, we would have gone to church anyway, but we had extra stuff to be thankful for. The church was Our Lady of Star of the Sea. I really kind of feel like they made that one up, being close to the beach, but who knows.

We enjoyed our trip to the last minute. The last two days we were out in the pool till dusk and in the pool till after dark. We were bound to squeeze every moment we could out of our wonderful trip. Lea on the beach at sunset.
These pretty well wrap up the end of our trip.

Except of course the 20 hour trip home. We were on the road for the 4th of July (Grandma's birthday). We we got sparklers and snappers at a store in one of the many states where fireworks are legal all the time.

Lea's first sparkler. It was a nice quite 4th, but in excellent company. 

A wonderful trip. And reservations are made for next year!

Summer Recap - Blog Un-bog

So I promised I wouldn't get bogged down with the blog and here it is 3 months since I posted. So here's a quick recap of the first part of summer to un-bog the blog.


May 1st brought a school carnival at the elementary school Lea will attend starting in August. I can't believe it. We've gotten involved with a really nice group of people and Lea has met quite a few kids that she will be attending Kindergarten with. I volunteered at the carnival and ended up face painting. It was very fun.

I did a lot of butterflies.

But strawberries turned out to be my specialty.

That night I got free tickets to a Reverend Horton Heat show (at another elementary school fund raiser) and Dan got sick so my surrogate hubby Uncle Scumfy Hopens came with instead. It was very fun (open bar) and I managed to not spend a dime at the high tech auction.

The Rev's finale.

At a friend's garage sale Dan was gifted these very awesome tennis ball texture high tops as a goof, but he's worn them almost every day. He even got new laces that fit better - hot pink Ramones laces! He's certainly got style.

Around the end of May, when the fireflies started to show up Lea and I went out one night to Stone Tables with our nets. Lea liked playing more than catching, but we got one in a jar. Later Lea and daddy looked up lots of facts about fireflies.

Stone Tables Park at dusk waiting for the fireflies.

For Memorial day we headed to Clovis, NM to see Great Grandma Dusty Jones. Gra was at Uncle Kyle's house convalescing so we didn't get to see him, but Grandpa Dan was there. It was a day's drive and we had a good time. Our first road trip in Daddy's new van!

And staying with Grandpa and Great Grandma had its perks.

Like ice cream and cake for breakfast!

Great Grandma Dusty and Grandpa.
We went out to a friend of the families to see their horses and some other livestock.



Lea was very excited she still fit through the dog door. We were at their house when she was about 2 and she loved going through the dog door. I told her she was probably too big, but she proved me wrong. She loved playing the the dachshund Sabrina who had as much energy as Lea. Lea would say "talk her mommy" so I came up with a voice for Sabrina that said "Play with me little lady. Throw the ball little lady. I have to go check on my lady." Jake the dog was a bit more old and less energetic, but he kept a solid eye on the place. He had a gruff voice and mostly said "who is that by my fence, this is my property. I'll sniff around the fence to check for strangers. Now I gotta check inside."

Clovis has a zoo. Who knew? It was pretty big for Clovis, NM! They even had bears. Lea got her zoo glasses there for $1.

They had a zeedonk... a hybrid between a zebra and a donkey!

Our little monkey with the monkeys.

Family at the Clovis, NM zoo.

Saying good bye for our trip home out front.

Then we got to visit the Dallas zoo, thanks to a new school friend Hayden who had her 5th birthday at the zoo. The girls got to pet some animals (including a hedgehog - mommy got to pet it too. It felt like the tines on a comb) and played out in the water park in the children's area.

Each kid got to take home a friend. We got baby tiger.

We wondered around the very hot zoo and saw the new Savannah exhibit with giraffes and elephants. And on the way out Lea and I rode the carousel.

Twice! We almost made ourselves sick on the spinning nest.

And for 5 days Sherry was in town between assignments. So we all met at the Elbow Room for a little grown up refreshment.

Here's to Sherry

June 8 there was an outdoor concert by the symphony at Exall park. We brought a picnic and met Ann & Abel and the kids. Lea got a giant snow cone and got to do the bounce house for free!

We didn't make it to the end of the concert, but we had fun.

A friend of ours burst his spleen (by "jumping" out of a tree). So out of that unfortunate event came some fun for the girls in our lives. We had Anna and Molly stay the night on June 12 to help let Andrew recover and Pam have a much needed break. The girls had a wonderful time playing together. We played out back in the sprinkler and the mud.


I was worried about how 3 girls would get along, but they did great. If two were playing one would go off and find a toy to play with. But several times they played games where each one had a part and then they'd rotate, like princes, evil queen and prince. I was making lunch and one girl would come out and say "I'm the prince, I'm waiting for the evil queen to cast the spell. Oh gotta go." Then another girl would come out and say "I'm the prince." It was very cute.

And that wraps up the pre-vacation summer.