A Vacation from Vacation

OK,
I am giving you fair warning, this post contains photos of all of us with no make up, in pajamas and swimsuits (ahhhh!), consider yourself warned!
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We're back!!! We are home from a WONDERFUL 10 day vacation to the beautiful beaches of Cherry Grove, South Carolina. Tristan was an amazing traveler, he didn't throw a single fit on the plane and even talked a bunch and played the whole time. He adapted quickly to our family in North Carolina, and clearly they loved him! We arrived in North Carolina on Saturday the 21st of June and left late morning on the 22nd and drove 4 and a half hours to Cherry Grove South Carolina where we spent an amazing 7 days at Xanadu II Condo. Our condo is on the 6th floor looking out into the ocean. Tristan LOVED the ocean and the sand and of course he loved the pool. It was such a joy to spend time with my dad's side of the family (my aunt and grandma) who we don't see nearly enough. John and I were able to have a date night where I TOTALLY kicked his butt at putt putt golf, I mean I totally kicked his butt!! :o) We were able to get up at 5:45am and see the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean, something I have always wanted to do. I even managed to lose 3 pounds on vacation, pretty good eh?!?! Anyway, I am going to post a ton of photos of us and our family and highlights of our amazing vacation!! John took the rest of the week off and we are currently taking our vacation from our vacation, which includes building shelving in the garage, some molding around the bathroom mirror and a new screen door....oh and a heck of a lot of weed pulling!


Above is our nightly Rummy game, man I suck at Rummy, consequently we all decided to pick our nose in the photo, I am so proud. The second photos is of my aunt Markie (on the left) and my mom. They look a lot a like, the weird part is my aunt Markie is actually my dad's sister! Honestly, people are constantly mistaking them for twins, people that know my aunt personally have had conversations with my mom thinking it was my aunt.


So on one of our last nights John and I were going to our bedroom and we looked over at the couch and my mom was lying there with a pile of People Magazines on her lap. One happened to be cover down and on the back cover laying up against her stomach was a girl in a bra and underwear, it was pretty funny. The photo on the right is my dad and Tristan in their "matching shirts"


Above is dinner and our card game



Tristan jumping into the pool over and over again, and then sleeping for a very, very long time!!!




So the coolest part about the above photos is that for 14 years we have gone to this condo each year and my grandma has never gone onto the beach, she has breathing trouble and her legs aren't all that stable, she is 88 years old. This year my dad and aunt rented her an ATV wheelchair, it was made to go in the sand, we were able to take her onto the beach 2 times for about 1 hour each time and she had so much fun, even got out of her wheelchair to feel the sand and water. What a great memory.




So on our date night, John and I went to dinner and putt-putt golfing, we then got up the next morning to see the sunrise. It was amazing. Breathtaking really. John's amazing photos of the sunrise hardly do it justice. Consequently, when I am on vacation, I never want to get up at 5:45am again.


We took Tris and went to the Ripley's Aquarium and saw a ton of animals, the coolest of which is called a "saw shark", it was pretty cool (see above)


So also on our date night we went through this "Mirror Maze" which is just what it sounds like, a maze full of mirrors, they make you wear plastic gloves and all so you don't get your finger prints on the mirrors, which I thought was stupid until I got in there and walked into at least 4 mirrors thinking I was in another place. It was super cool and really bazaar, a couple of times i was seeing John's reflection when he was like 5 turns away from me and I thought he was right in front of me. it was soooo cool!


Ok at the risk of being crass, I am going to say it anyway. On our date night we went to Joe's Crab Shack. Have you ever heard of "Better than Sex Cake"? Well let me tell you this place should have called their bucket of crabs "Better than Sex Crabs", the crab was AMAZING





There was always cool random (and sometimes creepy) things washing up on shore. Here are a few photos. The last 2 photos are from the sunset, which you could see set behind the bay just around the corner from where we saw the sunrise, pretty cool!


John and Tris made a ton of sandcastles and buried me in the sand, I'm still finding sand.... The second photos is Tris and my dad, like Papi, like grandson!


Seriously, this is not a drunk picture. My mom had broccoli in her mouth and I just look stupid!


My husband (the pregnant man above) has an amazing ability to stick his stomach out farther than anyone I have ever seen. it's actually gross. I have no idea what the second photo is about.


This was our 2nd night there we all went to an outdoor mall called Barefoot Landing and ate lunch at this place called Wild Wings, they actually had 50 different types of chicken wings.



The first photo is a picture of our condo from the beach, the last 2 are of John and Tris surfing.


We had a layover in Dallas/Ft. Worth and then our plane got delayed so we rode the Train around the airport for over an hour. The train is automatic, no one drives it, so we told Tris if he sat on his knees at the front he could drive it.