Vacatoin Day 8: Mirror Mirror

We spent the morning in the lazy river and on the beach. It's amazing what long naps the boys are taking, it's like they're exhausted when they get in from the morning... Logan has been consistently taking 3.5 hour naps since we've been here, and Cole is pushing 3 consistently.

Of course, I say consistently but we've only been here in Myrtle Beach for 4 days now. It seems much, much longer than that. There is so much to do here! It simply boggles the mind. I wish that we could come back for this when our kids are older, it would be so much more fulfilling. As it is we are still packing in every adventure we can, but when you have to be home by around 8 and when there's a 3 hour block taken out for naps, you're kind of limited to what you can do.

The real adventure came this afternoon. After naps we headed out to Angelo's Steak and Pasta for a pasta buffet (once again, provided by Jason's House). It was good, but man, the kids were cranked up! I felt bad for the 2 couples sitting behind us and there were a few times where I was a tad embarrassed. Angelo's is a slightly upscale restaurant. Even Ava was getting in on the action, adding in periodic squeals and yells.

With dinner down we headed to the strip! Street performers and little hole-in-the-wall shops and people crammed cheek-by-jowl. There were a lot of people there.

Parking proved to be a challenge and boy, did I get lead like a lamb to the slaughter into this one. I was following the parking signs and made a "wrong" turn down a little alley. There, at the end, stood the gnarliest and most grizzled old coot I think I've ever seen wearing a yellow shirt and jeans and waving me on into a parking lot. I'm sure his name was something like Hank (pardon to all the Hanks out there). A little hand painted sign proclaimed "All day parking" for a two row dirt lot. I stopped and asked him how much, to which he pointed and said "He'll tell you."

He was pointing to his counter-part. Where Hank was rail-thin, this other guy, who we'll call Bubba (pardon to all Bubbas out there) was overly portly, wearing a sweat-soaked grey shirt and shorts. Now, in all of this, I didn't notice the hook that they had put in my mouth. I meekly rolled our van into the slot that Bubba was standing next to, rolled down my window and asked "How much?"

Bubba, looking all the world like a man who is being reasonable and even kind, replied "Ten dollars." If the man had been within biting distance I just might have bit him! Ten freaking dollars?!?! But, alas, I had taken the bait, our van was parked and my wife (bless her heart) thought it was OK to be taken advantage of in this manner. I think she said something like, "We don't have to pay for the Mirror Maze, we can afford to get ripped off this time."

Resigning all dignity and manhood, I pulled my children out of the car, made my payment to Bubba, waved to Hank, and walked on to the evenings entertainment.

That entertainment was Ripley's Mirror Maze! The picture today is from that same spot. Now, imagine with me: A dark room, cold as ice (and blessedly wonderful after the 90+ degree heat outside), 3D glasses and lots of neon light strips and mirrors. The room was layed out in a large group of triangles. A mirror (or glass) could be placed in a slot in the floor but the slot was there regardless. You would think that walking around in a bunch of mirrors would be easy, I mean, don't walk into yourself, right?

Man, you couldn't be more wrong! Since the mirrors aren't dead-on facing you, you're often getting an image of the corridor to the side of you. At one point I almost walked into a mirror thinking Dalynn was in front of me, only to hear her at the last instant behind me to the right. What's worse, some of the slots are filled with just glass! Every time you had to step through one of the triangle sides you have this sensation like you're about to walk headlong into a sliding glass door.

Cole thought it was the coolest thing ever. Logan, on the other hand, got about half-way through and started signing, "All done!" frantically. It was really completely disorienting and I imagine that for a 2 year old, with a more literal sense of the world, that's a very disturbing thing. Logan was ecstatic to get to the end and didn't want to go back in whereas Cole and I went back through 2 more times. It got easier the more you did it. You developed a sense of the space around you, it was quite strange.

After that, we moseyed on over to the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. Did you know that Ripley's got its start as a clearing house for freak shows? I found that out tonight. As did Cole. Do you know what kind of imagination Cole has? At one point we stepped on a pressure plate and a mummy coffin flew open and made a whooshing sound like a big-rig's brakes releasing. Cole bolted! He headed back the way we had come and I had to chase him down in the room we had been in last and drag him physically back through the mummy room. When we hit the same pressure plate again he started screaming.

Do you know what my precious wife did? She laughed. Hysterically. For a long time.

We hustled through that museum after that, only stopping in a room that spun on it's horizontal axis. It left you with the impression that you, and not the room, were spinning. Cole didn't appreciate that very much. I had to carry both Cole and Logan through the rest of the museum after that.

Now, Ripleys ain't run by a bunch of dummies, and I got a true sense of that tonight. The exit through the aquarium (also a Ripley's establishment) was through the gift shop. Did I mention that we didn't make it out without purchasing these awful guns that light up and make lots of noises (see the attached picture)? Well this freak show museum exited through an arcade. Do you know how hard it is to get a couple of toddlers out of an arcade without spending any money? It's impossible! So, we played ski ball and the like and someone donated us all of their tickets. We got the boys the typical junk that arcades are known for and headed home.

All in all, a very good day!

Vacatoin Days 6 and 7

First, today. We had a great day. This morning we went to Ripley's Aquarium (of "Ripley's Believe it or Not" fame). It was really, really cool and the boys had a blast. They have an aquarium tunnel that takes you on a moving walkway through a shark tank, which is just way too cool. Cole got a little frightened part way through but was all right by the time we left it.

Next we headed over to Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate Logan's 2nd birthday. It was the perfect place to take Logan. He loves drums and guitars and they were in serious evidence there. He kept wanting to play the drums that they have hanging on the walls and he kept asking me to play the guitars they have there. They also brought him up in front of everyone and announced it was his birthday and had the whole restaurant scream "Happy Birthday!" to him. He loved every minute.

We came home for an extended nap and then headed out to the indoor water area at the hotel next door to us. Cole loved the lazy river (which I have been hyping for a while) and Logan even went so far as to swim in the lazy river without me holding on to him (both boys have swimmies they swim with). It was a fun afternoon. Then, pizza, a little play, and bed.

So, let's talk about yesterday, which was traumatic and almost a vacation killer. Let me set the stage.

Our hotel is called "Holiday Sands". I don't know if it is associated with Holiday Inn, but that is the impression I received. We called about our room and the amenities and were told our room was a 2 bedroom with a kitchenette. We were also told that there were numerous pools and a lazy river on premises.

Now, the last hotel I stayed in was a Holiday Inn, and it was new and nice. Dalynn has also recently traveled and she had a similar experience. All of this is to say that we were expecting a new and modern building and room.

What we now have is a 30 year old building. This, in and of itself, is not a problem. It did lead to some disappointment on our part, though. I'm simply being transparent in order to set the stage and I am not at all ungrateful for what Jason's House has given us. What almost killed our vacation was the condition of the first room we were shown.

It was filthy. There was hair all over the bathroom floor, it smelled of smoke and someone had been shaking and exploding soda cans on the ceiling. The balcony smelled like an ashtray and the carpet was in pitiful condition.

We called the front desk as well as Jason's House and someone was sent up to clean, but it was too little, too late. Jason's House was told that there were no other rooms available and that we would have to make due. We decided to leave and head back to Wilmington. I was going to make a couple trips down to Myrtle Beach with the boys to do some of the attractions but we were going to cut our vacation short.

Thank the Lord for the foresight and kindheartedness of Jason's House. They had put together a bag of toys for the boys. I put the bag on the floor and told them to go at it and Dalynn and I talked. We decided to take everyone down to the front desk and see what the management could do.

Management came up with another room which we found acceptable. Thus, did we stay.

Now, the layout of the room has lead to some comedy on the part of Dalynn and I. The entire suite is two rooms with a kitchenette and bathroom splitting them. There are no doors! There are only accordion sliders. We have put the boys in the larger of the two rooms and Ava in the smaller, in hopes that one waking up and fussing will not wake everyone.

This has lead to the quite comical situation that when the kids are asleep Dalynn and I stand in the bathroom with the door shut to talk. We spent 45 minutes there this afternoon during nap time! It really is something to behold.

In light of that our days are starting and ending with the kids' sleep schedule. So, it's early nights and early mornings.

Seems that my typing is bothering both boys, so I'm going to call it a night.

Vacation Day 4: Fishin'

Cole and Logan really had a good time all day. We spent the morning with Ma' Fuller. Ma Fuller's house is not, how do you say, kid friendly? She has tons of little extremely breakable nick-knacks and keeping toddler hands off of them can be a disturbingly mind-assaulting task. I came prepared and herded the boys out into the back yard with some balls. We eventually ended up on the side porch and rolled/tossed the balls back and forth. It was actually a pleasant time, despite my misgivings of how I was going to entertain them. Thank God for toys!

From there we went to Boomie's for some fishin'! We took a quick detour down to Wrightsville beach to visit a Wings and Trolly Stop, then we piled out onto the pier to the very end on the floating dock. I was videoing with one hand and attempting to keep all of my children on the dock with the other . There were a ton of boats in the water towing skiers and this made the dock bob. All told the boys were bouncing around like a bunch of druken' sailors.




The expedition started slowly, but after a bit the boys both showed hot hands, bringing in numerous fish! Cole brought in a "rare" fish called something like a "Papanou". Other than that it was all pinfish (the type of fish Cole is reeling in in the video).

Upon commencement of melt-downs we headed home and the boys slept til about 4, which is way later than they normally do. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the pool and then we went on to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant.

All in all, it was a great day!

On the Road

Today we left for our week and a half family vacation. This will be the first real family vacation we've ever taken. I'm quite excited and am ready to kick my feet up a little bit and do what relaxing I can with 3 children under the age of 4.

On the right you'll see a picture of what the back of our van looked like before we left. If you can believe it we had the middle of the van completely full, too! As one friend asked, "Was there room for the kids?" Yes, on the roof. Some full coverage face masks and they were good to go. Cole wouldn't have abided bugs in the teeth...

We headed south towards the Port City! We had a stop-off in Washington, NC to see Grammy for about an hour, and then we headed on down to Wilmington, NC to spend several days with Granddaddy Gary and Gradma Ira.

The really cool part of our trip comes Sunday, though (not that half a week spent on the beach of Wilmington isn't cool). We have been blessed with a trip by an organization and ministry called Jason's House. Jason's House is in the business of giving week long trips to Myrtle Beach to the families of children with cancer.

We're being put up in a Holiday Sands on the beach with a ton of amenities. We'll be given a stack of coupons for food and attractions as well as some cash to even things out. We're being put up for a week. To say we're stoked is an understatement.

I'll be keeping you updated throughout our