A couple of weekends ago we took a mini vacation to Myrtle Beach. I wrote about our escapade with the ant invasion but I also wanted to share a small bit about how the vacation went. We had set up the camper in the yard to deal with the ant extermination and naturally it decided to rain. We waited Friday for the rain to let up enough so we could close down the camper. We didn’t get to leave until much before 11:00, but then the sun came out and it was a pleasant 3 hour drive to the beach. We met our oldest son there who had gone down the night before. We set up camp and prepared for the predicted rain.

My oldest was camping in a tent so we set up tarps over it to try to keep him dry. Well, the rain came and the tarps failed, so off to Walmart we went to get a bigger tarp that didn’t leak. By the time we had that set up the rain had passed for then.

The next day, my husband made his traditional eggs and bacon breakfast for us.

After breakfast, even with overcast skies, we went down to the beach. The kids played in the sand and our middle son made a sand sculpture.

Then they dug out the kites and attempted to fly them. They finally got one up and, for the first time that I can remember, I flew a kite. I really enjoyed that, fighting the cross winds to keep it up, watching it rise and fall and dart and dive. Even after the kids had become bored with it, there I was flying it for about an hour. It was so peaceful.

The kids played in the ocean until the skies darkened again and we retreated back to the campsite to make dinner. The boys found some firewood left at a vacant site and we were able to make a fire to cook hotdogs and then to enjoy S’mores. About 4 a.m. it rained again and my poor oldest son had to deal with incoming water.

In the morning, the sun came out and we tried to dry everything the best that we could. Before leaving, I had asked the kids to take a traditional picture of them on a tree by the picnic area. From the first time we camped at the beach, we had taken a picture of the kids on this one particular tree.

1998

Well, the tree was gone. I was disappointed but we took one on another tree. I am going to have this made into an 8 by 10 to go along with the others I have.

2009

(My, my, how they have grown. But they will always be my babies.)

It was a really wonderful vacation. The rain did not deter us from enjoying family time and the company of one another. To me that is the ultimate definition of a family vacation.