Vacation - Day 4

Drew and Mikayla stand on our balcony and look out! We had the rule that they could not be out on the balcony without either Craig or myself. They were aware of this rule and they knew the danger involved so they followed it.

Since it was so nice at the ocean first thing Monday morning, we decided to do the same thing on Tuesday morning. Tuesday, again, proved to us that first thing in the morning is the best time to be at the ocean - it wasn't crowded, the water was calm (well for the ocean anyway), and the tide was going out so there was plenty of sandy shore on which to play. We looked for shells/sharks' teeth again, had fun building a sand castle with Drew (he started one again), and even went out to splash in the waves. Mikayla went out with me and Drew went with Craig (they went farther out than we did), and Mikayla wouldn't let go of my hands. It was quite funny when a wave came in and knocked us both down. I thought she would be upset, but she was too busy laughing at me to be upset.

A view of our hotel from the ocean - I'm glad we were no higher than fourth floor! It was nice!

Drew and Mikayla could not get enough of the sandy, salty water. They are our "fishies"!

They also couldn't enough of playing in the sand - we all worked hard making a sand castle together. Such fun family memories were made!

After playing a good while in the ocean, we headed back to the pool at our building. The sun was partly blocked by our building until early afternoon and it provided a nice shade (just for Craig). Part of the pool was in the sun though, for those of us who wanted a little sun. We all stayed at the pool for a long time with Craig taking Mikayla up to the room to rest a little after lunch time. Drew and I stayed at the pool until it started to storm later that afternoon. We were heading out for a seafood dinner that night anyway, so it was the perfect opportunity to get up to the room and shower and change. Mikayla jumps into the deep end - without her float I might add... while Drew works to perfect his dive.
We headed out to Murrels Inlet for dinner - we were looking for a seafood buffet restaurant where we ate once with Drew when he was a baby. They had a lady dressed as a mermaid and we wanted Mikayla to experience that. We never did find that restaurant, but we found another wonderful one instead - one that we will be sure to frequent on our trips to the beach!!

You read that right - Creek Ratz. I have to say we passed this up and instead dined at Admiral's Flagship. This may very well be a wonderful restaurant - I just couldn't bring myself to eat at any place with RAT in the name.

After dinner, we took Drew and Mikayla to play putt-putt.

They were very excited and couldn't wait to get started!

Drew poses after getting a hole in one on this hole. That's our little golfer!

Mikayla never got a hole in one, but she was oh so close several times - I'm talking about within an inch of the hole. I love this picture of her in front of one of the waterfalls.

I like this picture because you can sort of tell how high up we were - we chose to play the "castles" part of this course. There was even a "pink palace" that Mikayla loved!

After playing putt-putt we went back to the hotel and went down to the pools again. We started in the outdoor pool, but the breeze that was blowing was so cold that we moved into the indoor pool. Mikayla even enjoyed the hot tub for a couple of minutes!
Drew swims in the pool!

After leaving the pool, Drew, Mikayla, and I went back up to the room to get Craig so we could walk on the beach one last time. We were leaving on Wednesday, so we walked down for one last stroll Tuesday night.

It was so much fun watching Drew and Mikayla run in the sand. They were having a lot of fun until the fireworks started, and Mikayla decided she was ready to go. She grabbed Craig's hand and said "let's go to the room, dada". I got one last picture of them in front of the dunes!