Myrtle Beach is our first trip as just a family of three! It was very nice to get to go with just the three of us for the first time. Our trip was from 4/8/22 - 4/16/22. Kayla did excellent with our long drive. She mostly just watched her tablet and hung out. I got a mobile hot spot from the library that allowed us to have internet in the car. It was GREAT for our vacation! I was able to work from home in the car on our drive down and our drive home to save vacation days, and Kayla was able to stream her shows with no problem. Such a great invention! On the way down, we actually stopped for the night in Greensboro at the Hyatt so that we could get to Myrtle Beach early the next day.
We stayed at the Myrtle Beach Resort near Surfside in Myrtle Beach. We were only steps away from the beach, which made quick runs down to it and back to our room really easy to do. Here we are hanging out on the beach before our room was ready. As you can see, the weather in April wasn't perfect. We had a few nice days which we were there, but over all it was still a little bit cold while we were there. Our initial plan for our trip was to pretty much stay at the resort and hang out by the pool, but our pool wasn't heated... so that plan was pretty much thrown out the window.
Here we are sitting on our balcony after we got our suitcases unpacked and our groceries put away. It was nice to be able to drive, because we were able to bring a lot of things with us.
For dinner we went to Crabby Mike's all you can eat sea food buffet. They had an amazing crab leg assortment! They had a guy standing there, steaming them and they gave you a big pile of freshly steamed crab legs whenever you wanted them.
Kayla later that night with her baby on the balcony.
Our second day, the weather wasn't great. It was a high of 60 but it was super windy (especially being right off the ocean). So we decided it would be the perfect day to check out the Ripley's Aquarium.
First we went to check out the penguin area.
My little penguin!
Family picture! Probably one of my favorite ones of the trip.
Daddy and Kayla.
Kayla was so much fun! She loved getting to go into the little bubble areas and see the fish upclose.
Here we are watching the mermaid show. The tank was a little bit smaller here, so there was only one mermaid, unlike the one in Gatlinburg that had two.
Family picture! Kayla does not seem pleased... she was mid-eating a snack.
Mommy and Kayla looking at the fish.
Having so much fun together waiting for the penguin parade to start.
There they go!!! Penguin Parade!
Penguins walked right by us.
Kayla was very interested in seeing them, and she was bouncing up and down. We kept having to tell her that she couldn't run out to pet them.
Mesmerized.
It was so fun to go inside the penguin area!! Kayla was SUPER excited that there was a penguin right next to us. This might be my favorite picture of the trip.
Too busy looking at the penguins to look at the camera.
Family picture while we were waiting for the penguin trainers to come out to feed them.
Feeding time!
We had a good time at the aquarium. We actually spent a good couple of hours there. But this Ripley's aquarium wasn't as nice as the one in Gatlinburg (which is rated the #1 in the country). You can definitely tell the one in Gatlinburg is a bit nicer, but for Kayla's age this was still a nice day for us.
That night we went to eat at what is going to become our "Spot" in Myrtle Beach. It's called Bubba's Fishshack. The food is super good and really decently priced. I absolutely loved their crab cakes!! They were delicious! We also got some popcorn shrimp and grouper bite appetizers which were really good too. We really enjoyed eating at Bubba's, but their parking lot and overall restaurant is pretty small... so I would recommend going for an earlier dinner if you want to eat there.
The next day, we went to Broadway on the Beach. Cody found a place called Dinoland which seemed like it might be a fun thing to try for the day. They had a few dinosaur animatronics in the beginning and then a simple ball pit/play area. This place was fun Kayla, but I wouldn't think it'd be fun for older kids. Definitely a touristy/money trap type of place.
But... with a two year old... all things are fun! Especially when there's a ballpit and some slides!
Kayla enjoyed playing around in here, and I'd say we spent a good hour or two here. She got in free so I think with our coupon that it only cost us like $25.
We had fun playing on the little dinosaurs.
Mommy and Kayla fun! I love hopping right in to play with her. I know that I'm her playmate!
Here she was kind of doing the digging area... it was pretty lame... just a sand pit that had "bones" in it to find.
She was not feeling these dinosaur animatronics. We were trying to get her ride this one, but she pretty much noped out of it. We had to pretty much race through all the other ones throughout the place too.
We ate lunch at Sweet Carolina Barbeque. It was really good food and they gave you good portions. We enjoyed eating there and had left overs for later on.
After Kayla's nap, we went out to the beach for a little while and played a little bit.
Don't let her fool you in this picture... she was scared of the water and would run away whenever the waves came in. We couldn't get her to go by the water for anything... This was the closest she came, because she was chasing after a small bird.
Daddy and his girl.
On the way back to the resort, we stopped on the bridge and TURTLES!!! Turtles started coming out of the wood work!!! I guess people stand up on the bridge and feed them, because they saw us and more and more kept popping up and swimming over as fast as they could. We counted over 20 turtles at one point!
There was a little beach bar at our resort that we hung out at. I guess Krista usually stays about a mile away from where our resort was, and I guess they regularly attend this karaoke bar.
I ordered a frozen alcoholic strawberry drink, and Kayla saw it and wanted it! She was literally begging me for it and when I said no she looked at me like I was the meanest mommy ever, and kept saying "Mommy pleeeeaaaasssseee??" It about broke my heart I felt so bad... so I went ahead and ordered her a strawberry smoothie so that she had her own drink. She was very happy by this!
Dancing at the karaoke bar with daddy! This girl can HANG! She is a little night owl and we let her take a little bit of a longer/later nap so that she could come out with us a little later.
The next day the weather was finally starting to get a little bit warmer, so we checked out the playground at our resort. It was okay... but definitely nothing to write home about.
Kayla played there for a little bit.
Next we tried to find a pool to go to. The water was really cold in the outside pools, especially the big one by the water. Also the kiddie area that has a splash area and lazy river were under construction while we were there so we couldn't go in it. So we were scouting and checking out a possible area to come to the next day. We found that this small indoor pool seemed to be a little warmer than the rest.
Afterwards, we went to the beach for a little while. Our resort had these beach chairs and umbrellas out there for resort guests. It was nice that they had it, but we didn't end up using it a whole lot.
Deb bought Kayla a little Minnie Mouse sand castle set for Christmas this year. So she had Minnie's bow and a flower to play with.
Here she is getting ready to make something with her bow.
Our favorite game though, was hiding our feet in the sand. We'd say "Oh no! My feet are gone! Help me find them!" And then Kayla would dig, dig, dig, in the sand to try to find them. It was so darn cute. After playing on the beach we went to the fresh seafood stand in Murrell's Inlet and Cody got us some crab cakes that were huge ($6 a piece), some fresh Carolina shrimp and some hushpuppies. We made us dinner that night, and it was very yummy.
After dinner, we went to the Crazy Mason milkshake bar! They all kinds of ice creams, but of course Cody and I both got the same Reese one. This place was actually inside a bowling alley, so it was pretty neat. They had trivia and music going on too.
Mmmm!!!! So good!
I asked the workers if I could have a small cup so that I could share with my baby... And she sees it and dives her face right into it.... Haha! I guess that small cup was for mommy!!! We ended up just sharing it together out of the big cup.
Daddy actually got the milkshake version! Mmmm!!
Happy girl taking her ice cream bites. After ice cream we walked around the Market Commons area. It's a similar type of place to Crocker Park. We had fun running/chasing each other around the area.
The next day we went to Savannah's Playground, and it was INCREDIBLE!!!!! It is a $3 million dollar playground that was made for a little girl in the area that was in a wheelchair. She asked the mayor to make a place that all kids could have fun and play, and it was taken to heart... and this place was developed. Pictures just don't do it justice because it had so many different sections and play areas. All of which, were modified so that all kids could play on it. It was a great place for Kayla to get to play.
They also have a new bigger kids area with a ropes section and mini-zipline.
They also had several smaller areas for young kids too.
They had lots of interactive areas throughout the playground to play with. And everything was upkept very nice.
Here's another part of one of the play areas.
Kayla the explorer!
But of course, with the different sections and parts... Kayla had a favorite section. She loved the enclosed slide.
Mommy helping her climb up the big ladder. She would climb up from all different ways and directions... but she always made her way back down on her slide.
It was worth the climb up the ladder to get to this section... But then we were back off to find her slide.
She wanted to go on it again and again. It was nice to have daddy with us at the park, because one of us could be up top and the other could be at the bottom.
Walking over to our slide.
Sliding down "her" slide. This is without a doubt the most incredible playground we have ever been to! We really enjoyed our time here, and will definitely come back next time we go to Myrtle Beach.
After the park we went to Toffino's for lunch. We got pizza and yummy pastries.
This girl looooves her pizza!! She gobbled it right up. She turns her pizza upside to eat it.
Our pastry selection. My eclair was really good.
Cody and Kayla enjoyed their treats too.
After her nap, we took this little munchkin to the pool! All the big outdoor pools were a little too cold for us, so we had to look for an indoor one.
We did have fun in this little indoor pool! We played and had a nice time with each other. Kayla was either with me or daddy and then we'd try to catch the other parent. It was a fun little time.
We were going to go to Bubba's again tonight for dinner, but when we got there, there was no parking and there was a long wait. So we decided to head over to Murrell's Inlet and find a place to eat there. We ended up going to the Dead Dog Saloon. We got to sit outside right on the inlet and they had live music playing. It was a really nice atmosphere but the food was kind of pricey/not that great. Not sure that we'd go back, but it was a nice night out.
Next day was a beach day! Cody and I normally are not beach people and get bored being there pretty easily, but we had a great time with Kayla! She was definitely entertaining and fun to play with on the beach.
Here's our setup for the day. We were going to setup a little shade tent, but we were told that they would make us take it down so luckily Cody didn't go through the effort of putting it up. Above is our little beach blanket that I bought on Amazon for our trip. So glad that we had this because I loved sitting on it.
Look at this goof with her glasses upside down on her belly.
At first Kayla had no interest in walking up/down the beach, but we convinced her to search for shells... and the hunt was on! She was very into finding different shells and putting them in her little bucket.
Here's our days worth of work collecting shells! It was so nice being steps away from the beach to our room. Because after being out here for a few hours, we took a break, had lunch, let Kayla nap and just left our set up on the beach.
When we went back out, Kelsie came over to join us. Her grandma lives in the Myrtle Beach area and Keslie came to spend some time with her over her spring break. So since we were there at the same time we couldn't pass up getting to hang out for a little bit. Kayla LOVED her Kelsie!
We had fun playing with bubbles. That woman in the corner on the picture didn't like it though because the bubbles kept going over by her. Whoopsie!
Kayla had been afraid of the water all trip, but went right in with Keslie! Later on she actually put her feet in too.
So cute!! Kayla loved getting to see her big cousin. I was so happy that she took to Keslie so well. After we hung out on the beach for a while, we met up with Gaboo, Charlie, and Kelly to have a drink at the tiki bar at our resort. It was a nice day and we were excited to get to hang out with them. We are hoping to come back to Myrtle Beach at the same time that the Newmans are all going to be there.
Ahhh back to our spot! We loved Bubba's for dinner!
We got ice cream at a local stand nearby our resort. I liked the cake batter cookie dough ice cream.
Our last day we went back to Savannah's Playground. It was so amazing that we had to come back more than once.
Of everything to do, swinging is still Kayla's favorite. She especially liked getting pushed by daddy and kept saying "Shoo Mommy." Mommy's chop liver compared to daddy.
We are creatures of habit... when we find something we like, we stick with it... so back to Toffino's for a pizza lunch.
Kayla thoroughly approved.
Watching her eat the pizza was hilarious. It was definitely a mood, she was in heaven.
Later that night, Cody cooked up some food we had leftover and his friend, Bo, came over to hang out. We all hung out on our balcony for a while, and then they went to the tiki bar together to get a drink.
Overall, I would say that our trip to Myrtle Beach was a lot of fun. We didn't do a whole awful lot during the trip, but it was nice to have a calm relaxing pace for a change. It also worked well with Kayla. I do think that we'll be back to Myrtle Beach, and probably even the Myrtle Beach Resort. We really enjoyed being right on the beach... that was key for us. We'd just like to go next time when it's a little warmer out so that we can enjoy the pool more. If we'd have been able to swim every day, it would have been perfect. But it was a nice family trip and we all enjoyed ourselves.
