Fall at the BEACH!

Our little family of four just returned from our fall getaway. Toby and I have been taking a fall vacation every year since we got married. We love going to the beach in the fall; less crowds, cheaper rates and the weather is cooler. This is the last fall we can take a vacation since someone is starting kindergarten next year (sniff, sniff). We jumped at the chance to get away one last time.

Oh, how I love our fall vacations :) This year we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC. The last time we went there our girlies looked like this and this...

My, what a difference a couple of years makes. This vacation was awesome. We swam, beached, ate and played all to our little hearts' content. I just can't even explain how much I loved this vacation. I'll just show you instead ;)

We started each day on the beach. The girls loved to look for shells and we saw a few washed up jellyfish and they thought that was pretty cool haha. They like the beach but their true love is the pool! I made us start on the beach everyday because once they got their toes in the pool there was no dragging them away. Pool rats for sure!

Our resort had several indoor/outdoor pools, lazy rivers and an indoor waterpark. Hmm, wonder why the girls loved it so much ;) It was so much fun! The water in the outdoor pools was a little chilly at times but if the sun was out that's where we swam (my rule hehe). It was so nice to be able to swim indoors too (and heated), especially on the windy day. We just loved this place. Leighton was obsessed with going down the water slides. She also proudly sported her Reds baseball hat all week. Her Poppy would be proud :)

We ate at Landry's at Broadway at the Beach and had a deal with the girls that if they ate good we would ride some rides after dinner. Deal fulfilled! Gracen was tall enough to ride alone (36 inch limit) but I felt better if she rode with an adult...so I volunteered my loving hubby. How hilarious (and giant) does he look in that tiny race car lol. The girls LOVED the rides. We bought $20 worth of tickets and that got them on all the rides once and they rode the cars twice. Quite a deal in my opinion!

This was BY FAR the most relaxing and easy beach trip we have ever taken with the girls. We didn't have to lug chairs or umbrellas or tons of beach necessities. We just took the basics and it was amazing! Each girl could carry their own life jacket and towel and Toby and I carried extra towels and our backpack full of snacks, water and sunscreen. It was awesome! We usually go to the beach 2-3 times a year and we have traveled with the girls at all ages and this was the best age we have ever traveled with. Ages 2 & 4 are awesome travel ages! LOVED it.

The girls loved going down the water slides. I was so proud of Leighton for going down all of them alone. She was obsessed! Gracen was tall enough for all but one but prefered going down with her favorite DADA. I think he had to ride for an hour straight one day haha. Our brave little baby did go down the big slide alone and a fellow vacationer called her the "most adventurous baby ever" lol. She is a wild one my Gracen.

One night we took the girls over to the boardwalk in the heart of Myrtle Beach. It was Jersey Shore-esque and a little rough for my liking but the wild women LOVED it. I mean they acted like they were at Disneyworld when they were playing in the run down arcade. What is it about kids, games and winning tickets? You would have thought they won the lottery. Whatever puts a smile on their faces I guess. Poor Tobe spent over $10 trying to win that teeny tiny Spiderman ball. Finally I tried to just buy it but they didn't have it in the prize center. Boo! Sweet Leighton used her tickets to get two of everything so she and Gracen could have the same (twizzler, heart gumby, ball and oriental fan). Sweet big sister!

Wednesday morning Toby woke up extra early to go play golf so the girls and I had a girls day. We beached and swam and when Daddy got back we headed to the outlet mall for a little shopping :) Of course, Leighton spent a good hour going down the big water slides :)

Leighton asked me very seriously before heading out to shop if she could, "pease wear my fiderman tshirt instead of a dress." I mean, I HAD to say yes. She was so polite about it ;)

The weather was gorgeous Thursday and we spent the whole morning at the beach & pool. The girls were turning into true water bugs!

Gracen ended up taking a three hour nap that day so when she finally woke up we all went back down for some more pool time. I love this picture of Gracen!

The girls were such good sports about going with the flow and spending time at the beach and not just the pool. We tried to explain how the beach is special because we don't have one back home. Gracen is SO messy in the sand. She rolls around in it and gets wet and then rolls some more. It is ridiculous! But, she definitely enjoyed herself. We started calling her Sandman :) I just love the beach. There is nothing as peaceful and calming as looking out at the ocean.

We spent a lot of afternoons eating lunch at the resort's poolside bar & grill. Their hamburgers were SO good. I think we ate 4 on our trip haha. Seriously good! The girls also had their first virgin strawberry daiquiri. They loved them! We loved eating here because Leighton could swim while we waited on our food and the food was seriously good! Win! Win!

We only ate out twice the whole trip which is really different for us. We usually eat out every night on vacations but our resort had so much stuff for us to do and the girls were having so much fun, it felt wrong (or disastrous) to take them away from the fun and ask them to sit at a nice restaurant and eat and behave. We decided to eat at the Flying Fish at Barefoot Landing for our second dinner out. It was so yummy. we had a table that overlooked the water and the girls loved looking out and trying to spot alligators :)

After dinner we walked around the shops a little. We had to get a photo in front of Candy Mike's (my Dad's name). Leighton thought this was hilarious that her Poppy had a candy store at the beach. Toby took the girls to get blue cotton candy ice cream at Maggie Moos. They said it was delicious! I could care less about ice cream (unless I am pregnant haha) so I ran to get the girls some beach tshirts while they ate.

We really had such a wonderful vacation. It was a great send off to our summer and a welcome to all our fall festivities we have on our schedule. Love these little girls and all the joy they bring to our life! We are truly blessed!