New Year's at the Beach

When it comes to vacations, I am a super planner. I start months in advance and love working out all the details. For New Year's this year, I scrapped that MO. We made a fairly last-minute decision (meaning only a week or two in advance) ;) to head to Myrtle Beach for a few days. Half the fun of a vacation is the anticipation of the fun you'll have. I missed out on that. But, the vacation itself was WONDERFUL. All of us were happy. It was a great combination of relaxing (sleeping in/video games/TV), swimming, and sight-seeing.

When we drive to the beach,

we unload the car and

head straight down to the water...

even if it's dark outside.

It was so humid that the camera's flash lit up moisture in the air.

I love that the kids are getting old enough to take them swimming...

at 10 pm. PARTY!

We stayed at Dunes Village, which we love.

It's nice, not too expensive (especially in the off season),

and they have two indoor water parks!

We had hours of fun in the pools,

lazy rivers, and water slides.

One of our days was GORGEOUS outside,

sunny and 70*.

In late December.

Perfect!

I only put my toes in the ocean,

but the kids went all in!

Our happy place!

Beautiful Whit let me take pictures 

of her dancing on the beach.

So pretty.

We did some of the touristy things in Myrtle.

The three family members who are not afraid of

heights rode the Sky Wheel.

Great views!

We also splurged on Medieval Times.

We cheered for the Red Knight.

It was a spectacular, memorable show.

We loved it.

The three members of the family who are not 

picky eaters enjoyed the food.

Caroline didn't eat a single side item, but liked the

Pepsi and the chicken.

Brandon and Whit LOVED everything,

especially getting to eat with their hands!

I liked all the sides, but couldn't handle 

eating the chicken off the bone. Ick.

Andrew is easy.

Caroline got to meet the Princess at the end.

(Our knight lost. Boo.)

We also discovered our new favorite arcade:

Fun Plaza!

It is a very old school arcade on the boardwalk.

Most of the games are only a quarter.

And they have some fun ones!

Andrew loved playing Ms. Pacman.

The girls and I loved this old school baseball game.

It's a pinball-type game.

Andrew even won an inflatable lion on it.

C found a horse to ride. :)

We also tried out one of the mirror mazes.

It was cool, but expensive.

But we'll probably only do it this once.

I couldn't believe how hard it was to tell what was

real and what was a reflection!

Aren't the color changes pretty?

We went through several times.

I felt like it was pure luck

every time I made it out!

Along with the mirror maze,

they also had a laser maze.

I felt like we were undercover agents.

So fun to try it out....

but Andrew and I were pretty bad.

I think we're too big to avoid the lasers.

On New Year's Eve,

we hung out at the hotel playing games,

with football on in the background.

Care Bear won Zooreeka.

We finished the Star Wars puzzle.

All the kids made it to midnight!

(a family first)

At midnight, we went out on our balcony and took pics.

Happy 2016!!

We had a cool view of some of the fireworks.

By the end of the week,

the temperatures had dropped enough

that we needed jackets.

Boo. hoo. 

We took a few pics on the beach before heading home.

Hooray for a new year!

And hooray for fun family vacations!