Post-Beach Celebrations!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

 When we returned from the beach we got to celebrate Father's Day!  Daddy got a new custom airplane sign, a jar of Reese's Pieces that said "I love you to pieces", a special daddy key chain and a new Tommy Bahama shirt to take to Hawaii this fall.  Grandpa got an iTunes gift card, headphones and a jar of cashews that said "Nuts about you Grandpa."



We also had the chance to celebrate Grandma Heintz's birthday a little early. Grandma got a new iPad mini (which she got at the beach), a new charm for her Pandora bracelet and a new shirt.  I think she enjoyed all her gifts. 

For lunch, I took Daddy, Emily, Grandma and Grandpa to Panera before Grandma and Grandpa hit the road for home.  A very nice weekend to a wonderful week.

Highlights from Myrtle Beach - Dinner Cruise

June 8-15, 2013

This year we added a little something new to our many adventures - a dinner cruise down the inter-coastal waterway on the Barefoot Princess riverboat!

 

The ride started with a tour past some beautiful homes including several owned by some famous people, like the head football coach of the University of South Carolina.  We found a nice shady spot right in the front of the boat to watch the view.  While we were riding, the captain of the boat even let Emily drive for a while.




Emily drives the boat!

 

After a nice cruise down the river, we headed downstairs in the boat for dinner.  There was a nice buffet of salad, bread, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and BBQ chicken breasts.  For dessert there was vanilla pudding too.  It was not the fanciest meal or event but the weather was great, the ride was nice and dinner was fun.  Even Emily had a good time.

 

Highlights from Myrtle Beach - Broadway at the Beach

June 8-15, 2013

Broadway at the Beach has become a part of our annual Myrtle Beach tradition.  And of course my favorite thing on this blog is to see how much Emily has grown by comparing our first slide picture to this year's slide picture.  Wow!  My baby girl has grown!  In fact, next year she might just be too big for the slide!

 

Of course, we also hit the rides - Emily's favorite part of our tradition.  This year we also hit up a new place for dinner - Landry's.  It was really good.  It was on the water like Key West Grill and the food was really good.   Of course we kit Key West Grill too, just on another night.  We had to make time to visit twice.

 

Something else new this year!  Emily fed a duck swimming in one of the fountains  It ate right out of her hand so clearly she was not the first child to feed a duck at Broadway at the Beach. Still, it was fun.

Highlights from Myrtle Beach - The Playground

June 8-15, 2013

Emily loves the playground at Ocean Watch almost as much as she loves the pool and beach!  Frequently, the playground temporarily derailed our arrivals to other activities at the resort.  We had to stop at the playground everyday (sometimes more than once) on the way to the beach, the pool, and even the activity center.

It's funny because the first year we brought her I was terrified because the play structure was so big and she seemed so little.  But, watching  her this year, she has clearly grown into it!  There is nothing on this playground she can't do...and she did it all!!
  

Highlights from Myrtle Beach - Activities!

June -15, 2013

One of the things we had more time to do this year was take part in some of the activities the resort had for the kids.  One morning, they had a class where kids could come and hear a story and then make a pirate or mermaid puppet.  Turned out that they read Dora's Pirate Adventure (one of Emily's favorites).  When the story was over, Emily made a beautiful mermaid.  She was quite proud of it.

Mermaid!

Build a Beach Buddy - "Giraffey"

A couple of days later they offered "Build a Beach Buddy" so we went and checked that out too.  It was a lot like Build A Bear except they had a lot of stuffed friends that were not bears. Emily immediately chose a giraffe and a pink t-shirt.  She stuffed him with great care and then affectionately named him "Giraffey."










Emily and Grandma paid one final visit to the activity room the day before we left to color some pictures and watch Monster's Inc. while Mommy, Daddy and Grandpa hit the outlets.  The activities room was definitely a good addition to our vacation activities this year.

Coloring and watching Monster's Inc.

Highlights from Myrtle Beach - The Pool

June 8-15, 2013

Emily's favorite part of our trip every year is the pool.  This child LOVES water.  If we let her she would swim from sun-up to sun-down everyday.

This year she could swim better and touch the bottom in more of the pool.  So that definitely helped a lot because we could give her a lot more freedom in the water.  She also did a lot better taking on the water slide on her own.

Fun activities at the pool this year included a pool party where Emily went up on "stage" and danced with the hosts, pool games including a relay race, a rubber duck race down the water slide, a visit from the shark from Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and, best of all, a dive-in movie and night swim! 

There is no question that Emily made the most of her pool time!

 



Dive In Movie Night - Brave!

Highlights from Myrtle Beach - The Beach

June 8-15, 2013

We spent our annual week in Myrtle Beach at Marriott's OceanWatch Villas June 8-15, 2013.  We went during the DTCWV Annual Meeting so I got a little sun and a little CLE too.  We got to bring Grandma and Grandpa Heintz again this year too.

This year, rather than go through each day of our trip, I decided to post by activity instead.  Each day we spent a fair bit of time on the beach and/or in the pool, but we stayed long enough this year that we had the chance to enjoy a few more things too.

SI will begin our adventures at the beach.  Emily definitely still loves the beach.  This year she was more into collecting sea shells than anything else.  Last year she liked making sand castles, but this year not so much.  I think we only made castles one time.   She also liked going into the ocean a little more this year too.

One afternoon, we had the chance to go to the beach for some beach games with the other kids of parents at my conference.   It was pretty fun.  They had a contest for largest sand pile (which we should have won),  hula hoop contest (see below), a relay race and more.  At the end, all the kids got big suckers.  It was definitely fun.

Magic Castle

Saturday, May 25, 2013

We had such a big time at Kings Island that I completely forgot that we also made our first visit to Magic Castle while we were in Dayton.  It is a lot like Chuck E Cheese in that there are games and little rides for the kids along with a play place and ways to win tickets to exchange for valuable prizes.



Enjoying the play place

After some time playing in the play place, Emily hit the games and rides with full force!  She liked the ones where you could win tickets.  Shocking, I know.  She also liked the games that had the claw where you could win prizes (like balls and candy) from the machine. 

Emily rides Dino from the Flintstones!

Really, we all enjoyed Magic Castle - even Grandma & Grandpa! 

Grandpa plays Let's Make a Deal!

Grandma wins big at ski ball!

After a few more games and rides and play time, we sat down to lunch (pizza, hot dogs and french fries) and then it was time to choose prizes.  Emily picked a crown, glitter baton and a wand.  And she even had some tickets left over.  She definitely made the most of her time at Magic Castle...and left looking like a princess for sure!



Kings Island!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Poor Daniel was on call the entire Memorial Day weekend, so Emily and I head to Dayton to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  The weather was absolutely fabulous on Sunday (sunny and barely 70 degrees) so we decided take Emily on her first trip to Kings Island!

First encounter with Snoopy!

We spent basically all day in "Snoopy Land."  That is where all the kids rides and games were.  Emily seemed to like all the rides, but definitely was more into the thrill rides - log floom (her favorite) Woodstock Express (formerly the "Beastie") and Surf Dog.



Log Floom!



Beetle Bugs - Look Ma!  No Hands!

Woodstock Express!



Roller coaster fun!

But she definitely did not pass up the small rides.  She rode the carousel, Snoopy's trains, the little cars, the swings, the little helicopters and more!

Fun on the carousel



Waiting to ride the Snoopy train!

The Kings Island Miami Valley Railroad

While we were waiting in line for another ride, Grandpa won Emily a Lalaloopsy doll on one of the basketball games (boy were we surprised).  We took a little break in the afternoon for lunch by the fountains.  Then after lunch we went to one of the Snoopy Shows and Emily got to be one of the stars of the show!  She loved it!

Emily and Lalaloopsy!

Lunch - LaRosa's Pizza!

Emily stars alongside Charlie Brown!

We wrapped up our spectacular day by letting Emily choose a souvenir...ok 2 souvenirs.  She chose a stuffed Snoopy with Woodstock and this pink parasol that she admired all day long on one of those little food/toy carts.  Even a week later, she still has it set up in her room.  A FABULOUS trip and a great day!  Hope to go again in the fall...hopefully next time with Daddy too!

Picture perfect end to a picture perfect day!