Myrtle Beach

The dynamic duo!

On the pier!
The four cousins on Zach's last day.
Looking at the sharks! Yikes! We were swimming not far from here.
Grown ups can be silly too!

We just got back from Myrtle Beach yesterday. Lowell, Donna, Darrick, Julie and Zachary all came too! We had a great time playing, visiting, swimming, sunning, relaxing, eating...not necessarily in that order. Zachary is such a sweetie-pie. Actually I am glad he can't read yet because he told me that he really doesn't like people to call him "sweetie-pie". :-) He prefers Z-man or just Zachary. LOL He was so hyper the first day we were there, I was a little worried. I wondered if it had just been too long since I had been around a five- year- old boy. Once he settled in, he and Allie paired up and were inseparable. It was too cute! Allie was thrilled to have someone there to play with her. Jake and Kyle will play with her occasionally but Zach was all about Allie. Whatever Allie ate for dinner, he at for dinner, etc. They had to ride in the same cars, sit next to each other at dinner, and they did a great job sharing their Pampa too! Zach had to leave a couple days before we did. We all got some good hugs and had to say good bye until next time, which might not be until next summer. :-(

Besides seeing family we had some great times. We went to the beach, the Ripley's Aquarium, Broadway at the Beach, water park, and some souvenir shopping. It was a very nice time away from the busyness of everyday life. I am still taking classes all summer and had to miss a week. Of course we planned this long before I knew what my classes would be like and these were two classes that were hard to miss. I did write three papers while we were gone. Lowell and I decided to take the plunge and build a house. It's not a dream house but pretty close! :-) It should be a house we can live in for at least the next 10 years. Making the decision to stay in Iowa was bittersweet. We'd love to be back closer to family and friends that are so dear to us, but Iowa is a great place to raise a family. We enjoy so much about living here that it makes it much easier to accept. Now I am just going through all the fun, fun, stuff of trying to sell a house and pick things for the new house. Good problem to have though, huh?