Where to Begin?

How about here? This was the condo we stayed in at North Myrtle Beach. I usually prefer free-standing houses, but this condo was the nicest place! There are 20 units with ocean-front views and six bedrooms (2 down and 4 up), five bathrooms, a very large living room (as condos go) and a well-equipped kitchen with modern appliances and a huge refrigerator and stand-up freezer. Upstairs there is a common room with a pool table, and both levels have wide balconies facing the ocean. Every room has a TV with cable and there was a computer with high-speed internet. The pool was big and the hot tub sat about 10, although I once counted 13 kids in it. We also had laundry facilities in the condo, and parking for up to 3-4 cars per unit under the building, with an elevator, as well as two sets of stairs.

Naomi mentioned in her comment on the last post that nobody killed anyone on the trip. I laughed at that! With seven adults and eight children, someone was always in at least a little bit of trouble, but we managed to get along well enough to stave off any major grievances (just barely).

I was asked to bring games, so I toted Trivial Pursuit (2 versions), Scrabble, a jigsaw puzzle and a deck of cards. We played Trivial Pursuit once and I played Scrabble with five of my grandkids one morning after breakfast. Most nights, we were too tired to do much of anything except vegetate on the couches and watch movies we had rented. The long days in the sun (even under the tent the sun finds it's way to your skin), wind and surf tired everyone out, especially the children. They spent whole days running back and forth from the beach to the pool, or from the swimming areas to the surfing areas about 2 blocks away. We were constantly applying sun block to little faces, arms and backs - and it didn't do much good against the 90*+ days of unrelenting sunshine. I'm not complaining, mind you, but in all the hubbub, I forgot to apply my own sun block, so I am sporting a burn in a few places, mostly from wind.

On Wednesday it rained from noon on till the evening; the four granddaughters got treated to manicures with special designs (which promptly began to peel off). One of the boys was turning thirteen (not the one I mentioned yesterday) and he was treated to a mini-party with chocolate cake purchased at a local grocery (not bad). He got to go out for lunch and shopping with just his mom and dad; a real treat when you have six siblings.

I could go on and on, but I had better stop here before you get bored......ha.....maybe you already are! I do have a little more to tell about the trip - and some photos coming soon!