off to the beach

My friend Melissa called me on Friday morning and asked if we had any plans for the weekend. She said they had a friend who's beach house was empty this weekend and invited us to go with them. I was so excited! We packed up the kids and headed out of town. Sadly the dads had to work so they couldn't come. After driving what seemed like forever we got to Surfside beach (near Myrtle) Friday evening. It was a great little house in a neighborhood about 1/2 mile from the beach. So, everyone had golf carts and cruised around going to and from the pool, park, and beach. The girls had never been in a golf cart so that was another whole adventure in itself. We played at the beach in the mornings and then came home during the heat of the day. Then we would go to the pool in the afternoons. The girls all played so nicely. We had a ton of fun but having 5 kids (two 4 year olds, two 5 year olds and a 7 year old) and 2 moms at the beach is a lot of work. I guess it was the first vacation I've really been on without Daniel and extended family. We were pretty stressed out while at the beach because it was so crowded. It took a while for the kids to understand that they couldn't just get up out of the water and start running because usually they were down the beach in a different place. They'd just start running straight back and realize they had no idea where they were. We had to keep our eyes on all 5 kids at all times which was challenging as you can imagine. Once we got a system going it became easier. For example, swimming and surfing in the ocean became like an amusement park ride. The girls would put in where I was standing, ride the waves to where Melissa was standing then get out and run back to me. Not much time for relaxing on the beach!

Anna, Alexis, Arianna, Ellen, Micaiah, and Melissa getting ready to go for a stroll on the beach the first night we were there.
Alexis and Arianna taking a break from boogie boarding.
Anna, Ellen and Micaiah catch a wave.
MerEllen and MerArianna Checking out the ducks that walked around the neighborhood and slept by the house. They lived in the pond across the street. We fed the ducks once and attempted to get near some geese one time but were chased away by a big mother goose.
Out to eat at the Conch Cafe. It was right on the beach in front of our little village. We never had to get in the car. Everything was just a golf cart ride away.:)