Myrtle Beach July 2019

We are usually gone on our road trip by this point in the summer.

But since we're leaving B in Utah, we needed to leave later than usual.

Which meant we were in NC for the Fourth of July!

I made a last-minute plan to head to Myrtle for the Fourth.

Last-minute planning to a huge tourist location on

one of the biggest travel days of the year? Not a great idea.

The only decent ocean-front hotels/condos were going for $500/night or more.

Not in our budget.

I ended up getting a hotel that was about 10 miles from the beach.

Not the usual way we vacation, but we still had fun.

The upside? There was a cook-out right next to our hotel.

Birthday shakes for B-train!

Trying to find a place to park at the beach on the Fourth

was RIDICULOUS. Poor Andrew had to drop us off and

park about a mile away and walk back to us. Lame.

It was beautiful weather for a beach day.

But it was SUPER packed,

which we are also not used to,

since we generally go during off-peak times of year.

The kids wanted to leave as soon as we got there.

We stayed for a couple of hours and then were 

ready to be done.

 After we showered, we headed back into town

to our favorite arcade, Fun Plaza.

They are starting to modernize,

with cards to swipe instead of tokens or quarters.

We were hoping to watch fireworks on the beach,

but it started raining.

We drove to Broadway on the Beach,

tried to find a not-too-crowded place to park,

and watched the fireworks from a parking lot,

under an umbrella.

I didn't take any pics.

 The next day we found...

Dave and Buster's!

A new addition to Broadway at the Beach. Yay!

We watched Toy Story 4.

So good.

And walked around a bit,

making sure we stopped at the Qwik-E-Mart.

We had dinner that night at Medieval Times.

We'd been there once before, but C was too young to remember.

We were in the Blue Knight's section this time.

Go Blue Knight!

The whole spectacle is such a unique experience!

Whitney caught one of the flowers

the Blue Knight threw into our section.

My favorite action shot of the night.

Aren't those sparks cool?

The Blue Knight was good.

And he kept winning the challenges.

The way the program works, they are looking for

a winning Knight. And OUR Knight won! Woo hoo!

the end of the evening, they choose one lucky 

girl/woman from the winning knight's section to be

"The Queen of Love and Beauty."

And they chose CAROLINE!

What????

The kids and I were super loud cheerleaders

for our Knight. I'm thinking that's why she was chosen.

So cool!

She got to keep the tiara and sash and they

even gave her this photo at the end.

Super fun.

We waited in the lobby afterward so we could

get a picture with our knight. Yes!

And with the queen.

The next day, we checked out of our hotel

and I had scheduled a dolphin cruise.

It was a little longer than we would've liked.

And we didn't get to see any dolphins.

Kind of boring.

 As part of the deal, if you don't see a dolphin on your

cruise, you can come back free of charge anytime.

I totally want to try again.

Andrew's not so sure he's up for it.

I wish I would've decided to do this sooner so I could've planned ahead and gotten us a more convenient hotel. But I'm so glad we had a little weekend together with just the five of us. In just a few weeks our whole family dynamic will be different. I cherish these times.