Saturday @ Myrtle Beach

This afternoon, we went to the Pirates Voyage dinner and show. The show was enjoyed by all. In the "stage" area is a big pool which must be quite deep. The pirates dived and jumped from the ships' masts into the water. There was alot of acrobatics and diving in the show. There were sea lions and dogs, mermaids, skeleton pirates and Dolly Parton sang a few songs. They gave us a ton of food - soup, a biscuit, half of a roasted chicken, one bbq rib, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and a apple turnover.

Friday @ Myrtle Beach

We spent the morning at the beach. it was very hot and not much of a breeze. Joey made a sea dragon in the sand. In the background is our hotel.

Thursday @ Myrtle Beach

Today was a beautiful day. The haze and clouds left us with beautiful clear skies and sun plus a little breeze down on the beach. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the beach. Joey made a stegasaurus out of sand. After dinner, we played mini golf at Jurassaic Golf with the dinos. A beautiful sunset.

Tuesday @ Myrtle Beach

Marie and Fred were able to join us at the beach on Tuesday. We welcomed them with a dinner of steamed crabs. We bought the crabs from a seafood market called Mr. Fish.
We went to the beach in the morning despite the sprinkling of rain. Joey and Ben played in the sand. Joey dug a big hole. The water was warm.

Minotaur Goff

Since the weather was still sort of iffy and it was not sunny or too hot we decided to play mini golf. We choose Mt. Atlanticus Minotaur Goff. This place was so cool. Some of the holes were inside, some were in a parking garage and some were up in the air in little treehouses. We all made holes-in-one. Dave made 5, Joey, Ben and I each had 2. The place used to be a department store. It had all sorts of things, mermaids, dodos, and spaceships. It was alot of fun.

Skywheel

On the way home from the aquarium, we decided to go the Skywheel. This was something that I really wanted to do. It is a ferris wheel that soars over 20 stories. You sit in an air-conditioned gondola that is all enclosed - no chance of falling out. Even though it was cloudy we could see a long way. I enjoyed it very much!

Ripley's Aquarium, Myrtle Beach

The day was cloudy and rainy on and off so we decded to visit the Ripley's Aquarium at Boardwalk at the Beach. This aquarium is very cool. They had a very interesting exhibit all about sharks which was very interactive. The best part of the aquarium is the shark reef tank. This tank goes all around you so you feel like you are underwater esp. when the sharks swim over your head. It is a very interesting sensation. The sharks are huge, too. They also have an exhibit of sea dragons. These creatures are like sea horses and are very interesting looking. Joey touched a sting ray in the Ray Bay exhibit.

Everything but the kitchen sink

We headed to Myrtle Beach, SC on Sunday morning to start our beach vacation. I am not known for packing light and this day was no exception. We are waiting to have a new kitchen counter installed when we get back from vacation and this includes a new sink which is sitting in the garage. So, we literally took everything but the kitchen sink!

Best Costume Winner

Back in the middle of June, our neighborhood had a Pet Parade. We walked our dogs around the pond. Then you could enter your dog in contests for smallest dog, biggest dog, etc. I thought TJ would win most handsome or longest hair. Ben had brushed him earlier in the day and we put his scarf on him and he looked great. One of the prizes was for best costume but no one brought their dog in a costume. Two dogs had bandanas so the judges decided to have those 2 dogs be judged for best costume. Well, TJ looks great in his bandana so he won. This meant he could not win most handsome because he had already won something. Too bad, he was definitely the most handsome! (But he doesn't have much of a costume.) Here he is with his ribbon pinned to his bandana.

Summer Swim Team 2

Here's another photo of Ben.

Summer Swim Team

In our family, summer means swim team. Swim team tends to take over over lives for about 6 weeks in the summer. Our meals and activities revolve around swim practices and meets. This is the same for many families in our area which is the neat thing about it. Hot summer evenings often mean thunderstorms and this wrecks havoc with our schedule. If it thunders, we have to clear the pool deck and wait 20 minutes. So, you have over 100 wet and sweaty bodies in a small space trying not to get struck by lightening. . This year has had its weather challenges. We had a meet rescheduled because of smoke from wild fires many miles away; the air quality was code red, so you are not supposed to be outside breathing air. The next week thunderstorms started before the meet so it was rescheduled to the next day. This week we started the meet and had to stop after 45 minutes, waited over an hour and then started and stopped again. This makes for a very long evening. but again that is summer swim team. I haven't mentioned that on a good weather night when things are going smoothly the meet lasts 4 hours. 4 hours of heat and humidity and sweating and standing on hard concrete.Oh, the joys of swim team. Here are a few photos of Joey and Ben doing their thing in the pool.