Liam's 5th Birthday & A Road Trip to Myrtle Beach

On August 18th, our sweet Liam turned 5 year old! It just so happened to be the start of our family vacation, too, so we celebrated Liam's 5th Birthday with an 11 hour road trip to Myrtle Beach. It may not have been our usual birthday celebration, but we filled his day with our favorite birthday traditions!

Even though we spent 11 hours in the car, Liam didn't seem to mind one bit. He's a perfect traveler, and always does great on road trips. He didn't complain once, and the reward was spending the rest of his day in Myrtle Beach!

It's so hard to believe our beautiful boy is already 5 years old! I swear, he was just born. Time is a thief! The arrival of Liam's 5th Birthday was bittersweet, but it was definitely a memorable one...

Just as we do for every birthday, we filled Liam's room with balloons, and sat out a special birthday outfit for him to wear.  The only difference was that this year, we had to wake him up at 3 AM for our big trip! We had to leave all the birthday balloons behind, but I made sure to pack some extras to inflate when we arrived at our hotel!

Dylan and I had pulled an all nighter packing our SUV for the trip, while everybody else slept, so we were exhausted. Dylan fell asleep shortly after we left, but surprisingly, I lasted for hours. Eventually, we stopped at a rest stop for a quick stretch and bathroom break. It was still dark outside, so I switched places with Dylan so he could keep Grant company, and I could get a few hours of sleep. All was good until I woke up with a headache and car sickness!

By that point, it was early morning, and everybody but Lily was awake. The excitement had kept her up all night, and she crashed just before we got in the car to leave.  She actually slept through most of the trip, which was probably a good thing!

After another rest stop, we checked tradition #2 off of our list: A Donut Birthday Breakfast with the birthday song! Just on the go, instead of at home!

The rest of our trip was fairly uneventful! Lots of napping, lots of mountains, then a boring drive through South Carolina. It was an 11 hour road trip, but it really wasn't too bad!

It was a bit stressful getting the car unloaded once we arrived, but that part of our vacation is always chaotic! We had arrived earlier than expected, but thankfully, they allowed us to check in early. Once we had everything unloaded, and we were settled into our suite, we were finally able to enjoy the gorgeous view!

This was the first in many years that we vacationed somewhere other than Virginia Beach. I wasn't sure how it would go, but our hotel was brand new - as in, it had just opened two weeks earlier - and it was beautiful! The view was more tropical, which I love. I hadn't been to Myrtle Beach in nearly 20 years, and this was Grant's (and the kids) first time there. Thankfully, they all loved it!

While Dylan and Lexie started unpacking, Grant and I put Lily and Liam back in the car, and drove the short distance to the nearest grocery store to stock up for the week. Once we got back to the hotel, we had to unload everything again, and wheel it up to our suite in our beach cart. We were so relieved when everything was unpacked, and we could sit down to eat dinner!

By the time we finished dinner, it was already getting dark, and we missed our chance to go down to wade in the ocean for a few minutes. The kids always like to run down to say say hello to the ocean. Instead, we checked out our hotel's awesome outdoor waterpark, which was right on the boardwalk. 

I think this year, they were okay with not going on the beach right away! We could still hear and see the ocean from the waterpark, and they were having so much fun in the pool, hot tubs, lazy river, splash pad, and water slides! (I had a mom fail, and left my camera in the suite, so my two cell phone pictures will have to do for now. Stay tuned for real pictures in another upcoming recap!)

We stayed at the waterpark until it closed at 11 PM, then headed up to our suite, to finish Liam's birthday celebration! There were a few small presents to open and cupcakes to eat! What's a birthday without cake and presents?!?

After the festivities were over, Liam put on his new birthday pajamas, and curled up in bed with his iPad. Our kids fell asleep quickly, and Grant and I were able to escape to the balcony for a few minutes of relaxation, before falling into bed, completely exhausted, but happy!

We were thrilled to finally be at the beach, and excited about a full week of fun ahead of us. Even more so, we were so happy that Liam had a wonderful and memorable 5th Birthday! He is the sweetest boy, and always lives life to the fullest! Here's to a healthy, happy year as a 5 year old!