The rest of Myrtle Beach

Cade was a boogie boarding maniac. He absolutely LOVED it. Brett would go out with him and then I would go out with him and he hardly ever wanted to come in out of the ocean. He has always been a little fish and just takes to the water so naturally. It was so nice that the kids were old enough that they are good swimmers and we really didn't have to worry too much about their safety in the ocean or pools.

After riding a wave in, Cade is on his way back out to catch another wave.

Maddi enjoyed boogie boarding as well. She only did it a little bit because she didn't like the salt water in her mouth. Most of her friends were not so fond of the ocean, so the girls pretty much stayed at the pool.

I was really worried about the sand and salt and dance makeup and everything being a disaster for her eczema. It actually was really good for it and her flare ups cleared up pretty well. I guess we are going to have to make frequent trips to the ocean to keep her skin under control!

Maddi and Cade made some new friends on the beach. Most of the others dancers were dancing this day and Maddi had a day off and Cade immediately made a new friend. Problem was that they didn't speak much English. Not sure where they were from, but their parents sounded French but since I don't speak any other language other than English and very little Spanish I guess I have no clue what they were speaking.

Thursday we finally went to play putt putt golf as a family. Brett had taken Cade and a friend to another golf place earlier in the week while Maddi and I were making a t-shirt with her friends. Apparently Myrtle Beach is the mini golf capital of the U.S. Who knew? We drove by this Captain Hook golf place every time we left our hotel and Cade wanted to play it because of the pirategetting eaten by the alligator in the background of the picture.

Notice the street is right next to the golf course. Right when we got to the back of the course away from the road we heard what sounded like a terrible car accident. Then we heard more and more banging and glass shattering. We decided it couldn't have been a car wreck b/c it went on forever, more like fireworks. We went to eat at Fuddruckers right next door to the golf place and saw that it actually was a terrible accident right in front of Fuddruckers. It had actually started down the street and an Escalade full of people came down the road 90 mph and slammed into 5 or 6 cars, just one right after the other. I am so thankful that we were not right by this pirate boat b/c the kids would have seen it happening and it would have freaked them out (it'd freak me out too). There was a lady Brett talked to right outside Fuddruckers and she was telling him about it b/c she saw the car flying down the road and told her husband to move in the left lane to get out of his way. One second later they saw the first accident and the ones after that. Pretty scary.

The familia near the end of the round. Maddi got two holes in one! I got one hole in one and the girls beat the boys. Girls rule!

After putt putt and dinner we headed back to Broadway at the Beach. Cade got an "ugly doll" for Christmas and he was thrilled to find a whole rack of ugly dolls in the "It's Sugar" candy store. Both kids were able to pick out a souvenir and he almost picked an ugly doll, but he chose to go to Ridemakerz instead.

Ridemakerz is the coolest place for boys. It's owned by Build a Bear and is the same concept. You pick out your body style. Then you choose monster or regular and then you can pay extra for remote control, you pick the tires and wheels, accessories, stickers, etc. You could easily drop $100 on a car. Once they choose everything they use screwdrivers to put the body on the frame.

After you build the whole thing you "back it in the garage" where it registers your car by body style, color, rc, etc. and prints out a certificate of ownership.

Brett definitely had just as much fun as Cade making the car. We joked that if Brett wanted his own rc car to race Cade then he would have to call his friends and cancel his golf plans for Friday morning. He chose golf over the car, but I don't think it was an easy choice. Check out ridemakerz.com to see if they have a location near you. It was a really fun place and we found out we have one in the Chicago area, so we'll definitely be going back.

Maddi spent so much time at the pool and running around from pool to pool that she got blisters on the bottom of her feet. Brett carried her to the car so she could make it through her last dance on Friday. It's rough being a Diva.

Friday morning we headed back to Broadway at the Beach so Maddi could make her blue haired doll that came out Friday morning. Again, another Build a Bear owned store, and cute concept. Maddi was fixing her dolls hair in the salon chair.

There wer 8 girls that met Friday morning to get the doll together. This is Bailey B., Maddi, Lily and Emily with their dolls.

Coudn't resist the goofy tourist picture!

The whole dance company before production. Can you find Maddi?

After their production Friday night, which was the 4th of July, we headed back to the hotel for a party at the pool. There were fireworks all along the beach (even though they are illegal) and we had a good time. Then it was back to the room to pack up and load the car. We decided to leave at 5:30 am to avoid traffic heading home. Morning came early, but it was a good choice to leave then. We had smooth sailing heading home and made it all the way with 5 or 6 stops along the way in 16 hours. The kids were awesome in the car and I must admit I did pretty well myself. I was TOTALLY dreading being in the car that long, but it wasn't so bad. Once we got to Idianapolis I had it in my mind we were home, but we were still 3-4 hours out, so that was the hardest part. Myrtle Beach certainly isn't the Carribean or Mexico, but it was still LOTS of fun!