Friday, April 2, 2010

Busy Week....Vacation Recap and a give a way!

Hi, everyone...wow, you take a week off of work, then you come back, you have to work twice as hard to catch up, and fix the report errors that others made in your abscence. I have been one busy woman!!! Sorry it took so long for me to get this post up...

So, when I left off a couple weeks ago, we were leaving to go out of town...to SC to visit my family. We were taking the two younger boys, hubby and myself..driving...in our little Saturn Ion...I got off of work that Friday at around 4:30..I had not packed a thing...by the time I got home, packed and hubby loaded up the car...then me making him unload it so I could reorganize our baggage(he had stuff piled in the back seat between the two boys-I knew this wasn't going to work, as they would be too cramped), so I did some reconstructive packing and we were on our way, finally...at 6:30 p.m...



Aaron was ready..DS was charged, so he was a happy camper...and was pretty much the entire trip.
(Please ignore the ugly pink/white dirty looking cooler next to Aaron..that is hubby's work cooler, he works in a machine shop..so, um...it's kind of gross)








Max was thrilled to get going....it was his first big car trip that he could remember and he was very excited...he was prepared with his own personal dvd player and five new movies...a new coloring book and box of crayons. Oh, it may look like Max doesn't have his seat belt on but he does, he just has the strap tucked behind his back.

I on the other hand...well, let's just say I was faking the excitement for their sake. I was so dreading the drive...15 hours, in a car is a long long way.





I was already exhausted..and the thought of the drive was leaving me a little anxious..what with hubbys sleep apnea/narcolepsy...his driving me makes me very nervous. I can't relax/read or anything...as I have to always be on alert for his driving patterns and any sign that he may be falling asleep.

As I said, 6:30 p.m. was our departure time. We had only drove to the next town over, about 20 miles and the boys/hubby were already ready to stop for dinner. I hate that...but, it was dinner time..so, I figured get it out of the way, then maybe we could start putting the miles behind us.
After dinner, we were on our way around 7:15 p.m...One hour into our trip and the boys were already fighting..Lord Help Me, I kept on praying...

Eventually darkness settled in and the boys fell asleep. We were counting on that...as it finally made the trip a little more peaceful. Hubby was actually doing a great job driving and we would switch every hour to two hours...with frequent stops at gas stations for coffee. We had planned on stopping around midnight or 1 a.m. and getting a hotel room, but we discussed it, decided that as long as the kids were sleeping ok and we could keep the coffee pumping through our viens...we would just keep driving. We did fine, up until around 5 a.m...and we had to pull into a rest area just before getting to Atlanta and take an hour nap...that helped and we got to SC around 8 a.m...I was driving at that point and stupid me...I took the wrong exit to my Mom's...I exited off 16 exit's too soon...so we ended up on the back side of Anderson County...we had to back track, finally ended up at the school where I went to college, then got caught up in a 5 k race held by the University...we ended up arriving at my Mom's around 9:15 a.m. that Saturday morning...710 miles and an hour later then we should have been...oh, well. Mom was thrilled to see us and the boys were thrilled to finally arrive. Of course, they were not that tired at all, as they had slept all night in the car. After a shower and a pot of coffee...I didn't feel too bad. I actually ended up going for a 3 mile run later that evening. Then, we made a trip to the grocery store and I made dinner for the family.

Sunday, we went to the local flea market...The Anderson Jockey Lot... http://jockeylot.com/
We ended up walking around that place for several hours. It's kind of neat to see all the different vendors and what they have to offer. They have a lot of replica handbags/clothing and bootlegged dvds..which amazes me that they get away with selling that stuff and not getting busted for it. But, oh well...we didn't buy much...some boiled peanuts..yum, yum...I love me some good southern boiled salted peanuts...they were awesome and we bought Max a toy and some cotton candy.
After our little flea market excursion, we came home and got Mom and headed back to Anderson to Skin Thrasher hot dogshttp://www.skinshotdogs.com/...I am not a hot dog person, as they are not very healthy at all...and I never eat them, except when I go home to visit my Mom..the chili Skin uses on his hot dogs is phenomenal and I can't resist it....I had two..sigh..yes, they were delicious, but I did feel extremely guilty for eating them.
Afterwards we went to Kohl's to shop for hubby some new shirts and I ended up buying my Mom a pair of ear rings for her to wear to church. I never get to buy her anything, so I enjoy treating her when I come to visit.
The rest of that evening was spent relaxing and watching t.v.

The temps were not too bad while we were down there...the days were sunny and the temp was around 65 or so. Not too shabby. On Monday, we took Mom to Greenville to Haywood Mall and then we went to a fabulous restaurant...Copper River Grill...http://www.copperrivergrill.com/
The food was amazing...I had a grilled tuna salad that was beyond amazing...and our server was gorgeous and very funny and very good, which made the experience even more enjoyable. Mom was kind of out of place, she doesn't go out to restaurants very often, so I tried to encourage her to just relax and enjoy herself, order what ever she wanted. She is not in very good health, so our little shopping day out was a little too much for her, so after dinner we headed back home and she went to bed. I was a little disappointed that I had been home for 3 days and still had not seen my brother. He is having a hard time right now, very unhappy with his job and his marraige..has pretty much hit rock bottom and is very depressed and all he wants to do when he is not working is sleep...so, after realizing that I was going to miss another day of not seeing him, I got dressed and went to my Aunt's fitness center with the plans to run a 5 miles on her treadmill, but, she had other plans and made me join in her aerobics class....I have never done aerobics before, but I caught on pretty quick and by the time the hour was over..I was a sweaty beast and could tell I had gotten in a very good work out. Afterwards, I came home, Mom was up and we all sat down and watched the premier of Dancing With The Stars..that is another post entirely of and to it's own...seriously, Pam Anderson and Kate Gosselien???? What the heck?

Tuesday morning, I got up and went for a 5 mile run...it was glorious. A little cool and windy..but, it was comforting to run through my old town, up to my High school and around the community. http://www.sciway.net/city/williamston.html...I ran it in exactly 50 minutes (there were a lot of hills)....hubby and I went over to my Mom's best friends house to use her computer to balance out our checking account. We were good to go there, so hubby suggested we leave that afternoon and drive to the coast to Charleston and take the kids to the beach. He had gotten a recommendation from some guy at the Guess Store at the mall we went to on Monday, that Folley Beach was the place to go. Mom wasn't feeling well (she has diabetes, lung issues and is on oxygen and heart problems) so she did not want to go with us. We loaded up the kids and hit the road that afternoon around 1 pm....the drive to Charleston was not bad at all..took us about 5 hours and the kids were well behaved. We arrived at Folley Beach, parked in front of the only Hotel we could see on the beach, there were a lot of private condos and headed down to the beach.
Max was overwhelmed and so happy to finally see the ocean. He immediately chucked his shoes off and ran through the sand down to the water. Aaron was happy to be there as well and started collecting sea shells....
Here is a shot of me and the boys, by the pier, with our feet in the water. It was cold....




Here are more pictures of the boys frolicking around on the beach...


After our little jaunt on the beach, we went to the Holiday Inn right there on the beach to check on rooms and cost..we needed a suite, with seperate bed rooms, due to hubbys snoring...and they didn't have that, plus a regular room was $176 a night...way more then we wanted to spend. We got in the car and drove up and down the beach front, all we could find were condos. We were totally exasperated and we did not want to have to stay in land in Charleston. The boys were upset, as we had promised them a hotel on the beach...needless to say, we were very disappointed in Folley Beach. At this point, we regretted not going to Myrtle Beach....we pulled out the atlas, took a look and saw it was a 94 mile drive from Charleston, up the coast to Myrtle Beach..so we decided to go for it. The boys were not too happy with driving further, but we assured them it would be well worth it. A little over two hours later, we were at Myrtle Beach and found a 2 bedroom condo/hotel, right on the beach for $120 a night that was without a doubt, awesome!!!
We ended up staying at Paradise Resort http://www.paradiseresortmb.com/

It had ocean front view and was beautiful!
The place was nothing short of amazing. One bed room was ocean front, with a balcony..it had a queen size bed and it's own large bathroom...it also had a living room/dining room area, plus a kitchen and a washer dryer...there was a seperate bedroom down the hall for the boys, with two double beds....
After checking into our room....we ventured out to get some dinner. We ended up down the street from our hotel, at Damon's, Which was right on the beach as well....http://www.ribsribsribs.com/....Here are some shots of us waiting for our dinner.


They were both so happy, and Max kept telling us, Thank you Mommy and Daddy for bringing me here...this is the best place ever...I want to live here, I love you and on and on .....it was so flipping cute.
Max snagged the camera and was able to snap a rare photo of Keith and I together...


Our dinner though..was just o.k...our waitress was a little slow and the bar tender screwed up Keith's drink..I mean seriously...it is the beach..what bar tender doesn't know how to make a Hurricane or a Rum Runner?

After dinner, we went to the local Piggly Wiggly (the boys thought the name was hilarious) and stocked up on a few snacks/groceries for our room...plus a big ol' bottle of wine for Mama here.....fixings to make breakfast the next morning.

Once back at the hotel, the hubby and I took the boys downstairs to the pool/lazy river and although it was supposed to have closed at 11 pm, it was still open. We managed to hot tub it up/swim for a half hour before security came through and kicked us out..they were nice about it...we just played dumb, like we didn't know it was closed....
We ended our night, relaxing on the bed, with the door open to the balcony, listening to the sounds of the ocean, and sipping some wine.
Perfect end to our evening...

I know I have bored you long enough...so part 2 will be posted a little later today, or this weekend, with a giveaway post provided by the lovely people at Myblogspark.com.

Stay tuned.

3 comments:

Sicilian said...

It sounds like you had a great time on the beach. I am so glad you got to see your mamma.
The boys are really growing up. Of course you look great because of your exercise routine.
Your job is like mine. Only you can do your stuff so you end up coming back to just more work that you can't work OT to finish.
Oh well it gets done, but not very fast.
Ciao

Dixiechick said...

Hi, Sicilian..yes, we did...and seeing Mom, well..I really need to see her..I feel so much better now to have been able to spend some time with her..it is hard, as you know...Yes, the boys are getting so big..it's like I blink and they are several years older...thanks again for your compliments.
My job is hell..not sure if your's is still in that catagory?
Again, thanks for taking the time to stick with me and my blog..I have lost a lot of readers, but I know I can always count on you to read my boring post. LOL..Have a Good Week!

Krystal Westendorf said...

Hi there... first time reader. I actually found your blog when I was doing a Google search for Skin Thrasher's Hot Dogs! My family is also from Anderson and also Belton, South Carolina and I was pleased to see another gal who could appreciate the area and was missing it - living north of the Mason/Dixon line - like myself! :)