The McElwain Family

Ripley's Aquarium

I had read good reviews of the Ripley's Aquarium and had to check it out. It was fabulous! It wasn't very big, but there were some beautiful displays. They have an area where you walk through a tube surrounded by sea life. It was breathtaking! The kids were able to pet the stingrays and horshoe crabs. I highly recommend it to anybody who goes to Myrtle Beach. It was a nice change from the beach-although crowded, it was fun! Check out some of these cool pictures that I captured.

A baby seahorse...awwww!

Logan as a baby joey. Not a marine animal, I know!

This sting ray looks like it is going to fly away.

An amazing sea nettle

An octopus....Jonathan said it "sucked"- ha! ha!

Emma and Nana in the tube.

A shark swimming over our heads.

Logan and Emma in the tube.

Miniature Golfing

The kids were so excited to go miniature golfing. They checked out all of the different courses from the road and voted on the ones that they would like to play. We finally agreed on the Dinosaur Adventure. We went one afternoon and played 4 holes when a storm let loose. It rained and hailed and the wind blew! Luckily we were able to get a raincheck, so we sadly left and came back a few days later to finish our game. It was a lot of fun (even though Jonathan beat me!). The kids had a great time and decided to try a 36 hole course called Mt. Atlanticus! The girls golfed the first 18 and decided that was enough in the blazing sun. We sat in the air condition while the boys golfed another 18 holes. They all had a lot of fun. Looks like we'll be mini golfing again when we head to Rehoboth!

Logan with a giant frog at Mt. Atlanticus.

Myrtle Beach

We spent a week at Myrtle Beach. It was the first time we had been there. We love going to Rehoboth and Dewey every year, but we thought it would be fun to try something different. So, the five of us, along with my mom, headed out last Wednesday for the 7 hour trip. The kids did fine - what a hike it was! We stopped in North Carolina for some yummy bbq and of course we stopped at South of the Border. We finally made it to the hotel around 5:00. When we arrived it was like the Griswalds were there! We drove into the parking garage...forgetting about the car topper!! Thankfully, we just fit and we only scraped in one spot...OMG...we looked like such the tourists! Anyways, we had a very nice two bedroom suite - it was a time share that a friend of mine had sold to me. We were all the way up on the twelfth floor! Anyways, once we unpacked and settled in, we grabbed some delicious pizza at a local pizza shop.
There are so many things to do in Myrtle Beach...so we spent a lot of time on the beach...but we also did a lot of other things. We swam in the pool, went to the Ripley's Aquarium, ate dinner at Medieval Times, went miniature golfing-twice, ate some more, shopping, and ate a lot more!

Acting like total tourists!

We had ice cream at the Sugar Shack one evening. We couldn't resist a name like that!

Logan...our little beach bum!

Owen loved the water! He was really into boogie boarding this year- it was hard to get him out of the water.

Emma and I made her name out of sea shells-we found some great ones.

We loved having the pool...we went night swimming a couple of times-which the kids loved! Those swimming lessons came in handy.

We ate dinner at Margaritaville, which was great fun. A man on stilts walked around and made balloon animals for the kids. Emma and Logan got dogs and Owen got a parrot that would actually sit on his shoulder.

Nana and the kids outside of the Ripley's Aquarium.

Owen still loves to dig giant holes in the sand.

Logan can be so sweet....and so mean! He is such a stinker!

A beautiful sunset from our balcony.

Emma and Nana

Emma...didn't realize her goggles were on upside down!

Even Logan got into boogie boarding by the end of the week.

Our little Skeletor...he is so skinny!

South of the Border

We made a stop at South of the Border on our way to Myrtle Beach. What a hoot! The kids loved all of the cheesy animals and we even rode the elevator up to the top of the sombrero. It was good fun!

Jonathan's clever idea...Emma wearing the big sombrero!