We're back from Myrtle Beach!

Don't forget to click on the picture to make them bigger - if you desire! :)

The view from our balcony was so beautiful! We saw dolphins from here every day of our visit. A totally unexpected treat. Gwen loved to sit on the balcony and get her picture taken.
Gwen and I climbed the giant sand dune (or hill, that someone made) hehe We celebrated at the top! Hoooray!

Shaun and Gwen played with lots of sand..Gwen even made sure to smuggle lots back home in her sand toy tote! Too bad we didn't have room to take enough to fill the sandbox.

Gwen with our hotel in the background. Our room was on the 5th floor of the shorter tower. A really nice place to stay!

I believe this was Gwen's favorite part of the trip. We went to broadway at the beach, and she got to ride rides! Shaun can't wait to take her to Cedar Point!!

I was nervous about this ride.. she had a BLAST though!

She still talks about the airplane ride.

We went to the biggest candy shop, it was a beautiful place.. esp. for our little sweets lover! I think the sucker is still floating around here somewhere, still as big as it is in this picture too!

Gwen checking out the statue dude at Brookgreen gardens. I really liked this statue.. he kind of reminds me of papa! :)

Gwen and momma trying to beat the waves.. we usually failed. (notice the wet pant legs..)

Gwen loved filling the watering can and watering the sand.

I love this picture of her and the tree.. she HAD to wear the converse, and she has bandages on both knees from a fall the day before.. rough and tough girl, in a pretty dress.

Gwen and I enjoying the tree!

Gwen at Brookgreen gardens.. what a beautiful day we had there. We actually spent 2 days there, since the tickets were good for a week. The first day we only saw the zoo, the 2nd day we saw the gardens. Such a peaceful place.

Entering the children's area of the gardens. Very magical.. I told Gwen to look out for fairies - but she didn't believe me! UH!

Gwen would say that she's posing like a scarecrow.

Our view from the balcony on Wednesday morning! The day we went Dolphin watching.. I was worried that the trip would be cancelled. Luckily the fog cleared up and we had a great time on the boat! I wasn't at all worried that we'd be lost at sea in shark infested waters clinging to whatever remained of the little boat we were in... sometimes my imagination runs wild! Don't tell anyone! ;) hehee

Happy family waiting for the boat ride to begin!!

Shaun was the dolphin photographer! Loo at that! So cool, who doesn't LOVE dolphins!?! We even got to see a mother and baby dolphin swimming together... missed the photo op of the baby though. Yay! Dolphins!!

This was the momma dolphin.. her baby came up just after her. Shaun missed the baby by such a small time frame.. but it's still an awesome shot!!

Gwen was getting cranky on the ride back, it was the boat's first trip out for the year, so they hadn't stocked the snack's yet.. so a nice lady on board gave her some crackers. She was overjoyed!

Thursday we went to Huntington beach state park. Captain Gwennie did great for her first time driving a ship! It was pretty cold this day.. 60 (which of course isn't cold) but the wind was brutal!! We didn't get to enjoy the park as much as we'd like because it was so chilly. We only spent a few minutes on the beach, but it was stunning! Nothing but soft sand and dunes.. loggerhead sea turtles use this area for nesting. We found out they nest between April and October.. perhaps the next animal we will hope to see in the wild!

ALLIGATOR!! We got to see them in the wild!! I can't believe they were hanging out when it was so cold.. but there they were, a bunch of the too!

Shaun and Gwen pose with Mr. Gator.

We intended to spend the evening on the beach.. but it was seriously COLD! So Gwen went swimming in the ridiculously warm bathwater pool! She got really comfortable in the water too.. when she did swimming lessons 2 months ago, she hated going on her back.. now look at that!!

A view of our room, from the door to the balcony... Gwen's head is poking out at the end. We're packing up and preparing to leave. :(

We used a cart for our many pounds of luggage! :)

We had a seriously wonderful time!! It was one of the most peaceful relaxing vacations ever! How can you NOT relax when you can listen to the ocean all day long? I'm already thinking about when we can go back... and I usually like to try new places before returning to one.. but it was just so nice there. The hotel was really cheap (50 bucks a night!), perfect location and you could do a million things if you wanted or NOT! We often chose not.. :) We walked down the beach every morning and evening, looking for shells and shark teeth! (We even found ONE!) There are lots of 'shark tooth hunters' (retirees with sticks that have spoons taped to the end of them that look and collect shark teeth - they taught us how to look for them and it was really addicting!) Gwen spent most of the trip wanting to 'go home' but now she wants to go back to Myrtle Beach! Ah, 3 year olds.. Well, there you have it.. and now I'm ready for bed!