VACATION!!!!

Let me start out this weblog with a few random thoughts to mix it up.

1)We got a slip in the mail telling us we had a package at the post office. On the note was written that postal worker was unable to bring it to our door because stairs posed a hazard. I asked Hill to ask the post office when they designated stairs as a risk that prohibited them delivering a package. She wouldn't do that. Isn't that insane that the postal worker would not walk up one flight of stairs? I was blown away.

2)After Hill and I nearly overdosed on sugar on our trip to South Carolina, we decided to take a month vacation from sugar. We are 4 days in and it is going pretty well. Wish us luck.

3)Our friends and neighbors just gave us a wireless router and it has changed our lives. I no longer have to sit on the floor with the computer on a chair right next to the tv because that is how far the cable will reach. My bum is much happier.

And now on to the vacation. We had a great time. Jeff and Jenni Bowman invited us to join them in Myrtle Beach for a week of rest and relaxation. We had a great time and created some great memories. We hope you enjoy the tale. We were nervous about Claire's first major roadtrip. With 400 miles of driving we knew it could get ugly. But,... Claire was a champ. She did great.

Saturday...

We found the best barbeque restaurant in North Carolina. It brought big smiles to everyones face. We wish there was one here in Charlottesville and we wish we could have eaten there again (story to come). We love NC style barbecue with the vinegar base.

Sunday... (no pictures)

We woke up sunday morning and got ready for church. We were running a few minutes late, but the church didn't see too far away. We drove to where the church should be and there was nothing. No sign of anthing that could have been a church. We asked the man at the gas station across the street if he knew what had happened to the church. He said that it had been moved to a new place that was about 25 minutes away. We looked it up in the phonebook and saw the address matched. After driving for another forty minutes we found nothing except... Kingdom Hall. Hosed again by the Witnesses. We then gave up hope and headed back to the condo. Driving home for another 30 minutes, Hill looks over and sure enough, sees the church. Turns out that Highway 17 splits. We took the wrong side. So, we roll into the church just in time for priesthood/relief society after having driven approximately 60 miles and almost two hours. Talking to the members we then found out that the address in the phone book was an old address for the missionaries. Priesthood and Relief Society were great.

Monday...


We made it to the beach and Claire had a pretty good time. Once we let her play on the beach, she of course...ate the sand.

She did great for about an hour or so and then she didn't do so great. Between eating sand, sunscreen in her hair, and all the seagulls, Claire wanted to go home. We did because we always do what Claire wants.
Claire is so stinkin' cute these days. She has a couple great new phrases.... Gia, Haia, and my favorite, Dada. These little piggys went to the ocean. She was not happy.

Listen Jeff and Jenni, this is a family beach. These two were seriously champs when it came to putting up with Claire and her needs. We hope we didn't scare them away from having kids.

Cool hat Claire. 50 Cents at wal-mart huh? Good deal.

Tuesday... Just relaxed

Mom, my diaper rash is flaring up.

I love my sweet little family.

Wednesday...

We continued south about 100 miles south of Myrtle Beach for a day in Charleston. Charleston was a very cool town.
See this bridge... 1/2 Billion dollars to build. Opened in 2005. Very cool. Very expensive.

We took a boat ride out to Fort Sumpter where the first shots of the Civil war were fired.
On April 14, 1861 Major Anderson of the Union Army surrendered Fort Sumpter to the Confederacy.

On April 14, 1865 the confederate army surrendered Fort Sumpter back to the Union in a big ceremony. President Abraham Lincoln was invited.

He turned down the invitation. He had tickets to Ford Theatre that night. Crazy huh.

You may not be able to see this picture well, but I thought it was a pretty cool shot of the city of Charleston. They had alot of very cool houses in the historic downtown that were fun to look at. The crew was running out of steam by that time, but I do regret not getting out for some cools pictures.

The flags over Fort Sumpter. If you look closely, you can see mama and Claire.

Thursday... The Aquarium

The aquarium in Myrtle Beach was awesome. It was the antithesis of the aquarium in Virginia Beach. There were some great fish.
Claire finds out that she has just been put down in front of the pirrhanas (spelling?)

Cool Jellyfish Claire.

If you remember the picture from Virginia Beach Aquarium, there was a picture of Hill pretending to touch the stingrays. This time I can attest to the fact that she did touch the rays.

This is some seriously breath holding.

Those were some funky crabs.

The fish aquariums were awesome. The shark tunnel was amazing. We had such a great time.

Friday... The disappointment of the trip.

We had decided to that thursday would be the aquarium and friday would be the nascar drive park. We checked the weather the week before we came and all the days looked great. The forcast changed and we didn't look it up. Torrential downpore. All day. Nascar park closed. Dad was bummed. He took full blame. But, mom and dad made up for it. Thanks to Jeff and Jenni who decided to babysit for us. We had a nice, quiet dinner out at Bonefish Grill. The shrimp, mahi mahi, and strawberry shortcake were just awesome. We got home and it turns out that Claire didn't stop crying the whole time. We felt bad... but not too bad.

Saturday...

Dad knew he had to do something big if he wanted to get this group home in one piece. He decided to go big with his hair. Unfortunately his hair failed him. He made a bad judgement call. He passed up Smithfields Barbeque in favor of trying out Ralph's (supposedly the best barbeque in NC. We'll never choose Ralph's again. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Smithfield's. Mama wasn't happy. She was tired of staring Claire in the face and dad made a bad choice. Mama eventually forgave him.

We made it HOME!! No matter how fun a trip is, it is always great to be home. We couldn't decide who had better hair.