Spying on the Spaugh's: July 2009

Prepare yourself, for The Longest Post Ever. I took 274 pictures this past week and I had a difficult time only picking out the good ones for this post. If you are in a hurry, just come back later. If you have a few minutes, stand up and stretch, take a deep breath and read on....

Last Saturday we (me, Brandon, Maddy, Betty, Richard, Karen, James, Chevy, David, Crystal, Lindsay, Kyle, Stacey and Bailey) began our week long vacation at a house called Sandity on Murrell's Inlet (for pics refer to an older post, titled, "Can't Wait for July!").

Kyle, Stacey and Bailey spent the night at our house the night before we left so we could wake up early and get everything loaded onto the trailer and get an early start. That is just what we did. We stopped and had breakfast along the way and for the most part the kids did really well. It was about a 5 hour drive between breakfast, gas and a pit stop at Bass Pro Shops. Maddy starting squealing like a cat during the last hour and Bailey asked how much longer we had just about three hundred times, but considering the hours spent in the car and all the excitement leading up to getting there, I thought that was pretty good. Here are the girls watching a movie in the car...It's slightly obvious by the look on their faces that they are ready to get out of the car.

Once we finally arrived, we were all very happy with the house and the location. It was in a gated community in a culdesac - which was perfect for the kids riding bikes and throwing ball - we didn't even have to cross a street to get the beach. The pool area was everything we hoped it would be. Other than the bunk bed room, I don't think we could have found a more perfect place. And even that worked out well in the end when Kaye popped in for a visit.

Here are several pictures taken over the last week... You will start to notice a pattern; go to the beach, go to the pool, hang out outside, go to dinner and get in the hot tub. We tried never to stray from this strict itinerary.

This was the view from the beach...

The hot tub was our evening ritual...

We took two of these wagons and loaded them up each morning to make the short stroll to the beach a little easier. Maddy loved her little seat next to the cooler.

Miss Maddy didn't know what to make of the sand at first...

Brandon tried building a sand castle with her but she wasn't too into it.

At one point, she tried to put her mouth over the fountain! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy for that one and she didn't try it a second time.

More watermelon....

Maddy kept kissing her Daddy's head every time he put her on his shoulders!

We found this hula skirt and matching bikini at Target and just had to get it. She tried it on and we got her to hula dance. Then, when it was time to go to the beach she refused to take it off so she wore it pretty much the entire day. Karen took her for a walk down the beach and people kept stopping them and saying how cute it was!

She loved hiding in this cabinet, too...

She wouldn't even take it off for nap time!

This was right before Granny Kaye had to head home and it was so sad! Both Kaye and Bailey were just bawling their eyes out and for a really long time -like 30 minutes. I'm not sure why since it would only be about 5 days until they would see one another again, I guess it's just the bond between a granddaughter and grandmother. Whatever it was, it was touching!

Here are some group photos...

Back at the house for our "swim meet," we spent this one particular afternoon racing each other...

Maddy spent the entire week begging for sips of soda and then chugging as much as she could. David even taught her to say "ahhhh" after a chug.

Later that night, Maddy was getting ready to go out for dinner....

Brandon and I at Creek Ratz for his birthday dinner with Kyle, Stacey and Bailey.

Maddy chugging more soda...

She's a multi tasker!

This is my favorite picture of her...

She just adores he cousin Chevy!

During the swim meet earlier that day, Lindsay raced Brandon and they bet that the loser would sing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes" at dinner, right before the meal. I have to give her props, she stood up like a champ and sung LOUD, clapped her hands and stomped her feet. The rest of us yelled, "yeeee haaawwww" in all the right spots.

On Thursday we figured out if we walked a little ways there were some tide pools that were about 2 feet deep and were perfect for the kids to play in. Too bad we didn't discover this until the week was about over.