~ HOME AGAIN ~

We are home from Myrtle Beach, S.C., and after being away (again) for a week it is so sweet to be in our home! We enjoyed our stay and met up with some relatives and enjoyed the beach, the pool and each others company! Mia in the lobby!

Waiting to check in,

"A" checks out the Hard R*ck Park pamphlet!

Little "E" rearranges the candles ?!

Once in our room, Mia unpacks her dolly, pocketbook and camera!

Mia has proved to be a wonderful traveler:

pulling her own suitcase and smiling throughout our trip!

The boys!

We ate at Pier 14 our first night - it was windy, but beautiful.

We were out on the deck watching the waves and seaguls!

Mommy & Mia!

The boys shared a pull-out "bed" - it went well;

however, "E" is a flippy-floppy sleeper!

We were thrilled with our suite ~ we had the bedroom

with Mia in the crib and the boys had an ajoining oval room

surrounded by windows - and a view of the beach!

The next day (before the cousins arrived) we took the kids to the new Hard R*ck Park, it just opened July 28th and "A" was extremely excited to see the sites! We enjoyed most of our time there, it was unbearably hot and most of the rides were still rather "new" and had many problems! The Led Zepplin ride wasn't open for a few hours and then they kept saying it would be open in 30 minutes, then another 20 minutes and so on. Daddy and Anthony did get on and loved it!! It was thrilling and quiet the rollercoaster!

Daddy takes his girl on the merry-go-round!

"Woof!"

Run away puppy!

All harnessed up!

careful Ant!

If it wasn't for this water "area". . .

we would have melted!

The kids had a ball. . .

and cooled off . . .

"ahhhh"

Mia is enjoying ice cream more and more!

Daddy & Anthony in front of the Led Z ride!

The next day, Tuesday we met up with the kids cousins, Leandra (5yrs) & Kayla (3yrs) ~ this would be the first time Mia met the girls!

Kayla was thrilled to meet "baby Mia"

Leandra admired her new cousin!

"I missed you Eddie!"

The cousins stayed at a great hotel on the beach - it had a fun kids pool and they all enjoyed floating and playing together!

Eddie & Leandra are 6 weeks apart in age!

Coolin' off!

We went to a great tourist area in Myrtle Beach called Broadway at the Be*ch; it has restaurants and shops and mini golf all surrounded a pretty lake! We all walked around, shopped and the kids found a fun little park too!

Leandra, Anthony & Daddy

Miriam, Phillip and Kayla

Eddie sits with U. Roy, Annie, U.Phil and A. Joan

Mia runs around the park (with her pocketbook!)

We stop for ice cream afterwards - yum!

Yeah, we're wild & crazy!

There was also a Ripley's Believe it or Not Aquarium there; which the boys could not wait to explore ~ there was a pirate exhibit; which was new and very interesting!

We met our cousins at the beach ~ it was a gorgeous day and the beach was just beautiful. Mia's first experience at the beach last month was not "perfect", but I hoped she would enjoy it a bit more than last time (I even brought along her white dress in hopes of a photo op) ~ she loved the water and waves and had a ball with daddy and her brothers and cousins. . . then, she wanted her water shoes off and then she was very thrown off by the sand! She wanted all the sand off her feet and hands and sat in the chair. . . annoyed at the world!!

Having fun!

When she finally rose from the chair she wanted

"bye-bye" and at this same time poor "E" ran to me with

a cut on the bottom of his foot! No photo opportunity here!

We all met up for our last dinner after the beach. We got a huge table and laughed and talked while it stormed outside.

The cousins

"A" just adores his sister!

On our last day we went to the Nasc*r Park and the boys had a blast driving the race cars! It was another hot day, but a fun last day in Myrtle Beach!

Motorcycle Mama!

Anthony pulling his car in

Eddie had to ride with daddy!

We had an uneventful flight home Friday night and slept in our own beds - "ahhh, was that nice". We love to travel, but there is always a story! My favorite from this trip is being patted down and "wanded" by security as all three of my children looked on - it was chaos as all of our belongings were on the "belt" and everyones shoes were off. Daddy didn't realized what was going on and calls for me "can you give me a little help over here!" ~ "Sorry honey, I'm being frisked down by security right now!!!!!"

The Traveling Circus (as we affectionately call ourselves ) is home!!