Upon hearing that we were moving to Colorado, I manipulated Jon last December into promising me that the moment "beach weather" hit North Carolina in the spring, he'd let me visit the beach every single weekend until we left. I know what you're thinking!! But I feel no shame... Beach Weekend #1 took place this Saturday, and if I'm lucky, this post will be just one of many, come June 15th, 2015. Let the Salt Life begin!
Our weekends are so jam-packed with this and that these next few weeks, that I knew come hell or high water, this weekend was destined for the beach. So despite the 50% chance of rain throughout the day, we loaded the kiddos up Saturday morning and headed south down the highway to Myrtle Beach. And unfortunately, gray skies and showers followed us almost every mile south we drove, and by the time we got off the last freeway exit, it was POURING!! So we settled for an impromptu picnic in the car and crossed our fingers that for the rest of the afternoon it would clear up!
Not wanting to waste a minute of our beach day, we decided to flip-flop plans and do our shopping at the outlet malls first, and the beach second. Thank goodness for these little play areas so Leah could get some wiggles out!
And it was a good thing we kept the faith because sure enough, just as we were finishing up our shopping spree for summer clothes at Old Navy, Mr. Sunshine decided to peek his little head out from behind all those rain clouds! Hooray!
We booked it right over to the beach in order to soak up as much sun and sand as we could! It had been rainy and yucky all week as a matter of fact, so we were pretty glad we'd chanced it and hadn't had to resort to Plan B (which was checking out the gators at Alligator Adventures). We've adopted the Lone Wolf's motto: that you can't wait on the weather! Lucy is my true beach baby. She could spend as much time as me hanging out on the beach, and we call her our little mermaid.
Wee-Wee's was also thrilled to be playing in the ocean! She loved every single bit of it-- from the sand, to the cold water, to the beach toys we'd brought. She had a heck of a time!
Little Dude liked it too! I'm glad my kids are so far cooperating on this prospective month-and-a-half of beach trips, ha, ha! Maybe we'll be so sick of the beach we won't miss it so much... Doubtful.
I absolutely LOVE this picture of Leah staring off into the ocean. I may just have to frame it. It was a rare moment of peace and quiet for this busy little two-year old.
Sometimes Myrtle Beach is really hazy from all the humidity and the sky isn't very clear, but today due to the rain, it was a gorgeous mix of all different shades of blue and gray. I just remember back to that first summer we lived in North Carolina, and how lonely and homesick for friends and family we felt. I think the beach became our respite as a way to get out of Pinehurst, and it gave me something to look forward to on the weekends. Ever since then I've been totally addicted.
We finished the day off with dinner at the brand new Mellow Mushroom (ironically the one here in Southern Pines closed this winter). It was such a treat to have our favorite pizza and pretzels again before we leave! And each of my little kiddos was so well-behaved, it was one of those rare dinners out that even Jon and I got to enjoy!
I've come to love that drive home through South Carolina, especially since we get to drive about half of it into the setting sun. I bought this little "Salt Life" vinyl and put it on my car as a way to remind myself of all the good times we had at "da beach" (as little Zach-O used to say)-- thanks to living in the Carolinas!
