Beachin' it at Myrtle Beach

Scot and I have taken many a vacation together, just the two of us, but we have never taken a vacation as a family of 3 before. We usually go to my Grannie's family beach house at Holden Beach with the rest of my family, but with just months before Brynley gets here and we become a family of 4, I wanted to take a special trip of just the 3 of us. The destination: Myrtle Beach, SC because we wanted a beach with a little more to do than what we were used to at Holden Beach. I have grown up my entire life going to Holden, so it was really weird to be staying at another beach. I wasn't sure juat what kind of fun we had in store, but I knew we would have the time of our lives spending the next few days together. I think these pictures can speak for themselves all the fun that we had!

 We did have some cloudy weather while we were there too, so we decided to venture out to Barefoot Landing, to do some shopping. I was so happy when I found an embroidery place and found a girly diaper bag that I had monogrammed. I will have to post it in my next Baby Bump post because it's so cute! The best part of shopping to Ryder was getting to see the turtles and fish that were swimming in the lake. There were signs for watching for alligators, but we never saw any, and wondered if there even were any.

 This was one of my favorite pictures, taken after we had lunch at the pier and decided to go for a walk down the pier to see if anyone had caught any fish. Ryder is so in love with sharks and crabs right now so he was excited to get to touch a "real" shark! This is probably the closest I will ever like to get to a shark and this one wasn't even real. It ended up being a beautiful day once we got back to the hotel so we headed back out to the beach for some more surf and sand!

 One of my favorite memories was just watching all the fun in Ryders eyes that he was having. We had sliced watermelon that we brought down to the beach and Scot and Ryder got into a seed spitting contest. They were cracking each other up and I was just happy to see my two boys having so much fun.

 This was our hotel lit up at night and I thought it looked so pretty. We were able to have dinner out and then walk back beachside to our hotel which we loved, and it was just so peaceful to be out on the beach relaxed after a fun day in the sun. Ryder just liked the freedom to run and run with no boundaries and we let him! I knew all the running and laughing would be the best medicine for  a good night sleep.

 We woke up on Saturday, our last morning before having to check out. Of course this was also the prettiest morning we had while we were there, so I had to get this beautiful picture of the sun rising on the shore. Seeing this just makes my heart swell for God, in knowing that He created all of this. I had my quiet time briefly on the balcony as Scot and Ryder were inside, and I thanked God for all of his many blessings He has given me, as well as all of the ones to come. I was sad that we had to be leaving but happy that we had such a great time together, a time that I will always look back on and smile.

 Scot was happy to get out in the waves to surf awhile longer, and while he surfed, Ryder and I played and ran along the sand with his truck. The sun rising was the perfect backdrop as I sat down and just took pictures of Ryder playing on the beach, having the time of his life.

There were so many laughs and giggles shared among us all, and as we loaded up the car and drove back home, I was sad but knew that it was just what we needed as a family. I am so glad we were able to get away for a few days but it's back to the real world today and it makes me realize just how much I loved spending so much time with Ryder and how hard going back to work will be today. Happy Monday loves!