Myrtle Beach: Drown the Devil

For as long as I can remember the Roenicks have had a tradition unlike any I've ever seen at the beach and it is fantastic. Drown the devel takes place at a time when the tide is coming in and you line up in your chair of choice evenly. The onlookers from the beach asking questions are hilarious and enjoy watching until the end as much as I do. Idid not participate this year as I wanted to take a lot of pictures! As the tide comes in people are knocked out of their chairs and the last man standing wins. This year a toilet seat decorated with drown the devil champ was given and will be passed on in the future. Congrats to Andy the big winner!

There are more people to my right but I couldn't get a good shot b/c the waves were knocking me over. couldn't go much deeper!
early on and you can see not much water even up to the waist yet
30 minutes or so in they are starting to get pelted

and soon after that the drowing begins

some learned to dive down and let the waves go over them-pretty smart

our own crowd of game losers cheering the others on-now chest deep in water

after about 45 minutes they are neck deep

2 left

and the winner is crowned

Myrtle Beach Carnival

There was a great little carnival for smaller children about 2 miles down from our condo. It was right on the beach and we all had something for everyone. We definitely had some good laughs and a first here as well! the ice cream was a final hit for the kids.

Jackpot-Thomas the Train ride
J and Mia on the carousel. She has Mia with her non stop you'll see from the photos

Poppy and Ethan fishing to win a prize

The duck pond was so cute and both kids won little plush turtles

I went to Myrtle wanting to come home with thing-we found it the second night and the kid's got their caricature done. the girl was awesome doing it in about 15 minutes and giving them lollipops to keep them sitting!

ring toss-impossible! the only game we didn't win a prize on

Poppy playing with the prize after fishing game-rock on Wayne

The girls hit the tea cups and yes we actually made them spin

Jillian doing her first ride by herself. She was so sweet and all smiles

Myrtle Beach-on the beach

There are a ton of Myrtle Beach photos, so I thought I would start with the day we arrived and shots on the beach throughout the week. Ethan did not love the beach itself, but preferred the pool, condo and other activities, so not a whole lot of photos of him at the ocean. Jillian loved it all and we managed to get a litte time out there building sandcastles, swimming and searching for shells and sharks teeth!

the night we got there they were so anxious to see the beach-running to get there!
first touch of the nice cool water

why did I think they wouldn't need bathing suits-so much for just walking on the beach at 7 pm arrival night!

mud-the best

J and cousin Charlie were not afraid of anything

next morning in her shades

E and J did love their little chairs

building sand castles

building a little city

cheese

by the end of the week E cried if we even talked about the beach. got him down there though as he napped one day

J and her Mia

with Grandma Roenick

Happy Birthday Alex

Last weekend we went to Bounce U to celebrate Alex's 6th Birthday. The kids jumped and played until they were exhausted-Jillian wore us out with many climbs up the stairs to the big slides. We had a terrific time with all the other parents and kids! Happy Birthday Alex!

Ethan and Alex hanging out after a ton of pizza and cake!
bounce a holics!

Myrtle Beach Vacation Preview

I'm sure that this is not what you expected, but there are MANY things to do while visiting Myrtle Beach, SC! I still have several photos to go through and hope to finish tomorrow, but to tell you one tale-we went to the TIGERS Preservation Station where they specialize in preserving the Golden TabbyTiger and other species as well. We did not have time to do the whole tour and see the 50 cats, multiple apes, wolf, etc...but we did a short hands on experience that was incredible. We saw several of the big cats, adolescent cubs and then got to pet the cutest monkey and hold the little tiger cub below. They brought out a baby when they saw Jillian! She loved the whole thing and will tell you she pet them! Ethan wasn't thrilled, but dealt with it. I will never forget the experience with them.

She was so sweet to hold

Jillian gave her a quick hug and even laid her head on the tiger's back. too sweet!

Miss Sarah Visit: Part 2

Sarah told us about a great place in Lakeland called Backyard Adventures so we met up again. They had serveral bounce houses, 25 cent games where you win tickets and redeem for prizes, you can bring snacks and lunch and spend all day for $6 a kid. I highly recommend for mommies looking for a good break from the summer heat and rain! The kids had such a great time and have already asked to go back for more.

The NEMO bounce house seemed to be their favorite-she is so cute following him everywhere
Our neighbor and friend Marissa came and J spent most of her time sliding
The Sesame Street bounce house was another hit-I place for 5 and under only, which was nice

Mom and Jillian slide beside Sarah and Emily

sliding by herself after a few with us

Jayden and marissa are both so good with the younger kids and became friends quickly

Aiden bowling

E pounding gophers or groundhogs

J couldn't be left out

riding bikes

Miss Sarah Visit: Part 1

You may remember Ethan's favorite Gymboree teacher of all time-Miss Sarah! Well, about 6 months ago she went on early maternity leave and has now decided to stay at home with her 2 little ones. Needless to say we miss her dearly and have started play dates with Sarah and her kids as they only live about 35 minutes from us! Our first trip was to the 2 Fishhawk pools on a very hot, sunny day. The boys both LOVE trains and get along beautifully!

Ethan with Aiden (5 yrs), their neighbor Jayden and baby Emily (4 mos)

Only Miss Sarah could Ethan in his first pair of water wings-he would never try anything of the sort with us!
testing them out-look at his fingers-he is so focused. It lasted all of 4 minutes and he took them off!

love this shot of A and J

Jillian laughing at mommy blowing bubbles

both kids fighting for mom to hold them