Myrtle Beach Pandemic Vacation - Day 4

Day 4 of our September 2020 Myrtle Beach Vacation looked a lot like the previous days! Slow mornings, lots of relaxing, and spending the day swimming and sitting on the beach. We are beach people, so those long days on the oceanfront suit us perfectly!

We have always gone to Myrtle Beach in August, so we are used to the hot Summer days. This was a rapidly planned vacation during the off season. We couldn't pass up an end of September trip for the ridiculously cheap price of $1200 for the week!

While we were at the beach, we were able to celebrate the first day of Fall. It was different being there when the weather was cooler, but we still enjoyed ourselves. It was warm during the day, and cool at night, so there were lots of hoodies involved! We all thought it was cool that we experienced two seasons on our beach vacation!

Myrtle Beach Pandemic Vacation - Day 3

 

Day 3 of our Myrtle Beach "Pandemic" Vacation was a relaxing one! Life is always GO GO GO for us at home, so we try to take it easy on vacation. In September, we took advantage of all the restrictions still in place, and just did our own thing at the beach. It ended up being one of our best beach vacations!

It was perfect, because we started each day slowly, spent our afternoons at the pool and the beach, ate dinner together as a family, took walks on the beach, and enjoyed late night swims. Although a few days were a bit more adventurous, day 3 was all about relaxing and just enjoying being at the beach. It truly is our happy place! 

I'm not quite sure what this month's vacation to the beach is going to be like, but we will definitely be adopting a few of those lazy days strategies. Slow mornings were new to us on this vacation, and we all agreed that it was exactly what we needed. Recapping this last trip from September is making us feel so excited for our upcoming family vacation!

Myrtle Beach Pandemic Vacation - Day 2

Our first full day at the Myrtle Beach was perfectly relaxing! We were just so thrilled to be back at our happy place, despite all the restrictions due to the pandemic. We weren't quite sure this trip was going to happen, and we were so grateful we were able to pull it together with just one month of planning!

Life is so busy with 5 kids, so when we go to the beach, we keep things low-key. We focus on simply relaxing, and spending uninterrupted time together as a family. We all love the beach, so just being there is enough for us!

Our trip involves slow mornings, hours spent at the beach and the pool, family dinners with the balcony doors open, evening strolls on the boardwalk, night walks on the beach, shell collecting, late night swims, sunrises, and relaxing on the balcony overlooking the beach. We try to plan one or two small outings or dinners, but we mostly love our beach days. Someday - someday - we will move there, or at least get a timeshare!

Traveling During a Pandemic: Our Family Road Trip to Myrtle Beach

2020 was a year unlike any other. There was so much we couldn't do during the pandemic, including going on our usual Summer vacation to the beach. It turned out that we just needed to rethink our travel plans!

Like so many other families, we were being careful, and avoiding travel, especially to hotspots. As Summer neared an end, we decided we would look for a condo at a beach, since Fall isn't a peak time for beach travel. We knew we were going to have to wear masks, and we knew the weather was going to be cooler, but we just wanted to get away after the craziness of the year. 

We ended up finding a big condo in Myrtle Beach, for an INCREDIBLE deal, at the end of September. We immediately booked it, then invited my dad to join us. We had never taken anyone on our family vacation, and we had never gone during the school year, so we were excited to try something different! It ended up being a great vacation full of fun memories. We are officially less than a month away from our 2021 beach vacation, so I figured I would do a quick recap of our pandemic vacation before I start packing for our next trip!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Happy Monday! Can you believe we're already almost two weeks into July? Every year, time goes by more quickly! It has been a while since I shared a few of my favorite things, so I figured it was time to jump back in!

We are over one month into summer break, and thoroughly enjoying a more relaxed routine. Don't get me wrong - my kids still want driven everywhere, Liam had a week of summer school, Lily has tumbling, and Liam is taking swim lessons. BUT...we are staying up late and sleeping in most days, which is awesome after 9 months of really early wakeups, and constantly being on the go. Summer is DEFINITELY one of my favorite things!

Over the past few weeks, I discovered a few items to add to my rapidly growing list of favorite things. From apps to travel blankets to everything in between, I've got it covered! Here's what made my Love List in June...

A Dino-mite Jurassic Quest Drive Thru

When we found out the Jurassic Quest Drive Thru was in Pittsburgh, we knew we had to go! Our 2 year old, Coen, LOVES dinosaurs, and we had a feeling our older kids would enjoy it, too. So last Thursday, we piled into our SUV, and made the 45 minute drive to the Jurassic Quest location.

Jurassic Quest has over 100 animatronic, life size dinosaurs to experience. They do have an indoor event, where you can get up close and personal with the dinosaurs, which I know my kids would have loved. This time, however, it was a drive thru. 

Although I think the indoor event would have been a bit more interactive, the drive thru was still a fun experience. We drove through the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic periods, learning about each dinosaur or prehistoric creature along the way via the digital audio tour. Coen was mesmerized by all the 'saurs that he loves so much, and Liam was grinning the entire time. It was definitely a fun adventure my family will always remember!

Family Fun & STEAM in Pittsburgh at MuseumLab

This post is brought to you by The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

When I was a child, my dad used to take me to The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. I LOVED visiting a museum that felt like it was built just for me! Years after I grew up, I visited my favorite museum with my first baby. I vividly remember the excitement I felt when I took him there for the first time. It was as if I was sharing a piece of my history with him. There have been four more first visits since then, but it never gets old!

My first baby is nearly 15 years old, my last baby is 6 months old, and we have a tween, an 8 year old, and a 6 year old, who has a developmental delay, in between. We have kids in every stage of development, and it's difficult to find a place to visit that they all enjoy. Thanks to a great new addition to The Children's Museum, it's now a perfect spot for my entire family!

In April of this year, The Children's Museum added MuseumLab, which is located next door. It was created to grow along with families, and is specifically geared toward kids over the age of 10 and adults, but is great for multi-age families like mine. It is a STEAM-lover's dream spot, and inspires kids to use their minds and be creative while having a LOT of fun! 

Our Five Ring Circus Takes On The Water Steps

On Friday, we headed back into Pittsburgh for another afternoon of fun! We originally planned to visit the Carnegie Museum or Carnegie Science Center, but it was such a beautiful day, that we wanted to spend it outdoors. Grant has never been able to join us at The Water Steps at the North Shore Riverfront Park, so we decided that would be a great family outing for the day!

The Water Steps look like a beautiful piece of natural art, but it's actually a popular spot in the Summer. It's like a huge, interactive fountain! This multi-tier wading spot is a combination of waterfalls cascading over the rocks, and shallow wading pools on each level. Kids can cool down by wading through the water, and even adults and dogs, who are walking or biking along the Riverfront trail, take advantage of this fun, free spot!

I always tell people that the Water Steps are a hidden gem in Pittsburgh. My kids can easily spend hours playing on them, and they are always so excited when I tell them we will be spending the day there. This time, we were so excited to have Grant with us on our mini Pittsburgh staycation!

Our Five Ring Circus Explores The National Aviary

Last week, during Grant's birthday week, our family enjoyed a mini staycation. Grant took three days off, and we decided to take advantage of all the fun things Pittsburgh has to offer! One of the things on our agenda was to visit The National Aviary!

I think the last time we visited The National Aviary was when Dylan was the same age as Coen! Our family has a lot going on with a teenager, tween, (almost) 8 year old, a child who has Down syndrome, and a new baby, but it doesn't stop us from going places and having fun. We just learned to avoid jam-packed itineraries, and stick with short trips. It keeps everyone happy, and we're able to (mostly) avoide meltdowns! The Aviary is one of Pittsburgh's gems, and it's perfect for a short family visit!

The National Aviary houses 500+ birds of many different species from around the world. The live exhibits are beautiful, and there is an abundance of information to explore. They also have fun shows to see, and a variety of bird feedings. Grant and I decided we could easily spend an entire day visiting the Aviary on our own, but there was still plenty for our kids to see and do! We had a fun afternoon getting up close and personal with over 150 unique species of birds!

Myrtle Beach Family Vacation - Reminiscing About The Last Day

It has been almost one full year since our last family vacation. If you have been following along for a while, you already know it was a big one. While we were in Myrtle Beach, we found out we were expecting baby #5! And the rest is history...

My final Myrtle Beach family vacation recap got lost in my drafts folder during those 9 very long months of morning sickness, and those exhausting early days with a newborn. Because I tend to be very particular about some things, I can't just leave it hanging around in there. I have to finish my recap, or else it will bug me until I do!

Right now seemed like a good time to recap, and I found myself reminiscing as I finished writing this post. Sadly, we're not going to the beach this year, and it's my happy place. I'm very bummed (my husband and kids are, too), but traveling that far this year was going to be very tough. It's a combination of adulting, and having a new baby who DESPISES the car.

Every so often I want to say let's just do it, then I imagine being tethered by a breastfed baby who likes to eat all the time, while my 5 year old runs in the opposite direction toward danger, and I change my mind. Plus, 8-12 hours each way of Coen screaming would be rough. But I want to - I really want to - and if we didn't have to get a new SUV or pay for some home repairs, I would go anyway. So I'm just going to look through all of these pictures when I feel a longing for the beach, and count down the time until we can go back. (But not too fast, because my kids need to slow their grow!)

Here's what we did on the last day of our Myrtle Beach vacation, and on our trip home...

How My Family Scared Off A Police Officer

Every family has a funny story to tell. It's the kind of story that gets told over and over again. It's the kind of story that will never be forgotten. It is so good that it quickly becomes THE family story. Our family story involves a pregnant mama, a car full of kids, and one completely overwhelmed police officer. 

As I was going through the list of blog posts that I still have to publish (the list is SO long), I realized that I hadn't shared this story yet! Actually, in the midst of a tough pregnancy and the exhausting days with a newborn, we didn't even share it with many people. But those who heard it laughed right along with us!  It's certainly a moment Grant, Dylan, Lexie, Lily, Liam, and I will never forget!

Let me set the scene: picture an overwhelmed husband, a sick wife, a newly discovered surprise pregnancy, a car jam-packed full of kids and luggage, and 611 miles to drive home...

Travel Trays for Kids + 10 Mess-Free On The Go Items

*I received the Nuby cups for an honest review.

With five kids, we log in a lot of travel time in the car! Although we only go on a few road trips each year, we spend hours in the car each week driving our kids to school and activities. Like most older kids, Dylan and Lexie are glued to their phone and iPod, but our little ones get bored. Keeping a well stocked travel tray in our SUV helps us avoid hearing the dreaded "I'm bored!!!" while we're driving or waiting during sports and activities!

I've always kept my car stocked with road trip activities and snacks, but I had to pack a separate bag that we could take out of the car when we arrived at our destination. We ended up with so much stuff in our car. Then I won a travel tray from Kenley Kids in a giveaway, and it was truly a game changer! I honestly wish I had taken the plunge, and bought one sooner!

Not only does a travel tray hold all of our on the go essentials, but it also stores easily in the car, opens up into a convenient lap desk for on the go play, and can be carried like a bag to and from the car! It also has elastic pockets and zipper pouches to store cups, snacks, and toys, a convenient protective holder for a tablet, and a removable storage wall. It is the best car seat accessory for kids of all ages, and my young crew loves it!

Hopefully I convinced you to make your life as a parent a bit easier, and buy one (or two or three) for your kids. But what should you put IN the travel tray? Here are 10 Mess-Free On The Go Items for kids...

Family Pictures On The Beach & The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk

Our 6th day at Myrtle Beach was busy and fun! I take our family pictures every year on the beach, and it has become our tradition. We usually wait until the last day for our mini photo session, and end up scrambling to get them done, so we decided to move it up a day this year. It was a great decision! The session was still rushed as the light was fading, because I didn't realize how far of a walk down the boardwalk it was to our chosen spot, but I love how they turned out!

It was so hard to narrow down the 500+ pictures I took on day six, but I managed (somewhat). Now I know which pictures I want to print out for the Family Beach Pictures Gallery Wall that I have planned. (Yet another project to add to my mile-long to do list!)

Although most of the pictures are from our family photoshoot, I also wanted to share a few fun moments from our day at the pool and on the boardwalk!

Living the Beach Life

I made it my goal to complete our Myrtle Beach Family Vacation Recap within 3 months of our trip ending. I had to be reasonable, considering I'm currently growing a tiny human who is incredibly worth it, but making me so sick every single day! I wasn't able to mention it before breaking the news, but we actually figured out we were expecting shortly after we arrived in Myrtle Beach. I'll save THAT story for another day!

We're quickly moving toward that 3 month mark, but I'm so close to finishing! Only three more days to go after this one. I just need to make my way through 1,000 more pictures. For now, I'm keeping this throwback thursday post short and sweet today...

The Perfect Toys for Holiday Travel

This post is sponsored by Mouse Loves Pig. 

Halloween seems to be the official start of the Holiday season! We go straight from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to the New Year, and the time we spend traveling increases so much. Keeping our younger kids happily occupied while traveling is so important!

On our last road trip, we took along screen-free travel toys from Mouse Loves Pig, and they were an instant hit! With four (soon to be five!!!) kids in the car, space is limited. But the sweet, handmade playsets that we received folded up so small that I could easily fit two of them in my purse!

Not only are are these playsets perfect for travel, but the small shop is impressive, too! Ruth, the owner, put so much thought into these toys, and has such a big heart. Toys from Mouse Loves Pig are designed for quiet, open-ended play, made from organic materials, and beautifully handmade by ladies in a workhome based in Nicaragua. These toys quickly made my list of must haves, for so many reasons...

Myrtle Beach Family Vacation

It happens every year. Summer lasts well into October, and I find myself wishing for Fall to arrive. Once it does, it hits with full force. We don't have transitional weather in Pittsburgh anymore. We go straight from 80+ degree weather to 50 degree weather overnight! Now I find myself wishing we were back in Myrtle Beach, enjoying family time and gorgeous beach weather!

If you've been following along, I already posted a recap of our road trip to the beach on Liam's 5th Birthday, and our second day in Myrtle Beach, along with our favorite tips for vacationing at the beach with kids! If not, I included those links at the bottom of the post. I'm determined to finish the complete recap by Thanksgiving, unlike last year's vacation, which took an entire year to finish. Going through thousands of vacation photos is a daunting task!

Here's what we did on day 3 and day 4 of our Myrtle Beach Family Vacation...

Down For Adventure in Myrtle Beach (+ TIPS)

Every Summer, we go on a family vacation to the beach. We always go to Virginia Beach, but this year, we decided to switch things up a bit and try a different place! So on Liam's birthday in late August, we packed our SUV to capacity, piled in, and headed to Myrtle Beach for a week of family fun!

I already recapped Liam's birthday, and our road trip to the beach. We decided after just a few hours of being there that we loved Myrtle Beach just as much, if not more than, Virginia Beach. Our first full day was so lovely, that I can't help but wish we were back in paradise right now!

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...

It's Almost Fall Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, my friends! The official start of Fall is just over two weeks away, but it doesn't feel much like it right now. We had temperatures over 90 degrees most days this week, and I just might be wishing away Summer for the first time ever! I am ready to decorate, embrace the upcoming holiday season, and put on some cozy clothes!

Although I can't fully get in the Fall spirit just yet, I've been sneaking in a few favorites, both old and new, over the past few days. I might still be wearing Summer clothes, but it sure is starting to look and smell like Fall in my home! It has been a few weeks since I last shared a Friday Favorites, so I figured I would share a few of my Fall Favorites today!

Virginia Beach: The Final Recap

It's hard to believe the final Virginia Beach recap I'm posting took place almost a year ago to date. I didn't intend for that to happen, but life got in the way of blogging about vacation. I wanted to finish it before this year's vacation, and I hope to be more timely with that recap!

Speaking of this year's vacation, as this post goes live, we will be preparing for our trip to the beach! We're leaving very early Saturday morning, which also happens to be Liam's 5th Birthday. Spending 12+ hours in the car isn't exactly the best way to spend a birthday, but he will be spending the evening of his birthday on the beach! (Hopefully that will make up for it.) We're all looking forward to spending a fun, relaxing week together at the beach!

For now, let's go back to almost exactly one year ago today...it was day seven of our Virginia Beach vacation, and it was Liam's 4th Birthday...