Friday August 4th

Spent the morning getting the suburban cleaned, ready and packed. Cleaned up the house so when Mandy got home from work she did not want to spend the time doing that and we could leave. She made it home around 4:30 and after, saying all our goodbyes, we were off by 5:30.
Traffic was not too bad and we made it to Greensboro by 7pm for dinner at the Krispy Kreme. The kids love the fact that you can actually watch the doughnuts being made and could have spent the entire evening there watching them fry, flip and glaze. We were soon back on the road and everyone was having a sugar rush.


As we headed down 220, we saw a van moving on the side of the road and it looked like their kids were having the same high and the parents had them running in the grass in front of their van. They were laughing and looked like they were having a good time. We continued on and followed a few others who looked like they were heading to the beach because of the great time they were making. We had decided to come down a night earlier so Mandy could shop and make use of the tax free days and in fear of having to cut her trip short having to return to Roanoke for an annual inspection. We arrived at the hotel(Microtel near 501 outlets) around 11pm,
checked in and attempted to go to sleep. But knowing we were only miles from the beach made that task very difficult and prolonged those sweet dreams of the beach(Chapy) sun and fun(kids) and tax free deals at the Outlets(Mandy).

Wynding Down

Our house this year located about 2.5 miles south of the Garden City Pier called Wynding Down. Here is the view from S. Waccamaw
The pool here was large enough for the seventeen of us to use just not at the same time but the kids loved it. With walk in steps on one side and a ladder on the other side. This was the hot spot when we came up from the beach.

Here we have a small kitchen/bar area right next to the pool located in the shade of the house. It was nice to be able to keep drinks for the kids without having to go upstairs or getting the floors wet.

The first floor living room with it's 52 inch big screen TV.
The first floor dining room
The first floor kitchen complete with stove, oven, microwave, fridge and dishwasher.
The second floor dining room with seating for 10 at the table and 6 at the bar, which is a good thing with 17 in the house.(Amy held Olivia when eating) Second floor living room with 42 inch plasma, a separate wet bar in the corner. Second floor kitchen fully equipped and three times as large as the first floor kitchen.

The house had 4 bedrooms on the first floor 2 Kings and 2 Queens all with their own private baths. Their were two bedrooms on the second floor each with 2 Queens and private baths. This house is second row but has nice views from the second floor balcony. A short walk to public access seemed closer than some of the other ocean front condos we have stayed in. The only complaint we had with house was ? ? ? Maybe a elevator of live in maid everything was just perfect.

Saturday August 5th

We woke up this morning and had a laugh at our kids expense which then woke them up and then they had us get ready for breakfast. The hotel had a continental breakfast and I think half of the incoming vacationers were here waiting to make waffles. We ended up having breakfast on the couch and that was not an easy task with two kids who sometimes have a dificult time at a table. We took Mandy over to the outlets
and were going to head back to the pool after finding some shoes for back to school but had some trouble locating just the right pair. So we hung around and wandered through the outlets and every now and then we would meet up with Mandy and take the next round of bags to the car to lighten her load. We tried to run up to a flea market just up 501 behind Dick’s pawn shop but found out that they had moved the vendors down to the Myrtle Beach flea market on 17. We fought the incoming beach traffic and made it back to the outlets for another load of bags. We convinced Mandy that it was time to head to the beach house because everyone else in our group was going to be there and we had had a 12 hour head start. It turns out that we made it down to the house and no one was there except a cleaning crew, not just an ordinary cleaning crew but a carpet cleaning crew. It turns out the people that had the house last week had a tendency to spill things, its not that they were destructive just sloppy. We headed back to get our keys and they said go through the house and make a note of anything broken. When we made it back to the house everyone had arrived and were in the pool, the cleaning crew was still there but they were almost done.

Then we got the news that the carpet was going to be damp for at least 24 hours and we needed to were shoe covers when walking on the carpets. We unloaded the cars and filled up the house. We had to drag the starving kids out of the pool and got them ready for dinner. Tonight’s choice was River City Café next to the Surfside pier.


We were there just after 6pm and had a 20 minute wait for a table. We started off with the largest onion rings in Myrtle Beach, the kids had chicken fingers(the usual) Mandy had a grilled onion cheeseburger and I had a California burger with onion rings.

The bill with tip was only $38 and Courtney our server was very nice. After dinner we made the mistake of joining the masses at Kroger and 1and half hours later we made it home to unload our groceries for the week. The kids wanted to get back into the pool but there was some lightning back inland and we didn’t want to risk the chance of a strike. The kids played some video games and the adults sat around and talked until it was time to put the kids to bed. Soon it was bed for everyone and the first day was done.

Sunday August 6th

Woke up early this morning and sat outside on the front porch to watch the sun come up but unfortunately there were too many clouds to catch a good view. I headed out and went up to Hudson Flea market but they do not open all the vendors until 9am.
They had a nice little church service for those who did arrive early. When I got back to the house almost everyone had climbed up and out of their beds. The ladies wanted to take advantage of the last tax free shopping day and went up to the Tanger outlets on 17. My lovely wife(who did not get enough things yesterday) decided to go and drive separately because she just wanted to check a few things and then come back so she could get some sun. All the dads had the daunting tasks of taking the 8 kids under 9 to the beach and convince them to stay in one general area.
After a couple of hours we were convinced by the ladies they would be on their way back and we could all have lunch and then swim in the pool. After we had lunch still no ladies so we decided to call and see how close they were. But, to our surprise, they were still shopping and one was even on a small tour of northern South Carolina on Rt’s 31, 22, 90 and soon 501(but that is another story) After all the moms made it home we sat out by the pool for a while longer before making some dinner. Tonight we stayed in and grilled steaks and scallops, fixed a salad, a potato casserole, some garlic bread and apple pie for dessert.


Some kids had hotdogs and others had shrimp but no one went away hungry. Here is Sloan the oldest 9 and Olivia the youngest 1
David and Sarah
Hunter loves those hot dogs. The kids just had to get back into the pool before the wrinkles on their skin went away. We pulled them from the pool around 930pm convinced they would crash as soon as they cleaned up but NO not tonight! They just wanted to have more fun because their vacation was almost over.(2 days down 5 to go) After calming them all down and sneaking a couple off to bed at a time by 11, they were all in bed.

Monday August 7th

Woke up this morning missing the sunrise by 20 minutes but sat out on the deck watching all those crazy joggers going up and down S. Waccamaw. Had some breakfast and headed out for the beach. Set up camp and then down to the ocean to catch some waves(Me the BIG surfer). Little Olivia had a make shift pool at the beach, I took our umbrellas and put them in a triangle and dug a small hole place a 5x7 tarp over the hole and let the kids bring buckets of water up to fill the pool. The kids tried to catch some fish and David caught some toy sharks.
Sloan brings another bucket of water to fill up the make shift pool. Around 2pm headed back to the house and had a small lunch and swam in the pool until it was time to get ready. Tonight we had call ahead seating for Margaritaville at 430, and when we got there they gave me a little scare as I was checking in and they had no record of us on their sheet. All I could think of was I have 17 people out here excited about dinner and now we would have to wait a couple of hours like the masses. They did some searching and realized that they had a copy of Sunday night’s list and when they found the right day there we were. It ended up being only about a 1 hour wait. I came outside to confirm with everyone that we were good to go and we could either shop in this section or head over to and wait in the outdoor bar area. The kids found a food dispenser to feed the fish and the ducks. Just then I saw a strange man watching my wife and then look at me like he was busted but then we recognized each other. It was none other than the infamous Ron (Ichiban). While his family was inside having dinner at Margaritaville,
he and I talked for most of our wait and then Phyllis, his daughter, son-in-law and their kids came outside. It was like seeing an old college buddy, catching up and scheduling a golf outing later in the week. Soon our Margaritaville buzzer was going off and when we came inside we were taken upstairs to our table. This picture was taken by a 3 year old while we were waiting for our dinners. Before ordering, the “Hurricane Party Alert” came up on the TVs and the kids rushed over to watch the hurricane do its thing.
The upstairs section is a lot calmer than eating downstairs but when you have a very large group this section will accommodate. The food was really good tonight and we had several order the Cheeseburger in Paradise, I had the beer battered fish and chips and
Mandy had the grilled salmon with the Mango Salsa.

After dinner the girl on stilts came around and made all the kids balloon animals, swords and hats. Sloan and Daniel celebrated thier birthdays this week, she made a birthday hat and then tied them together that made Daniel uncomfortablle and Sloan happy. Then they brought out cake and ice cream for the three birthday guests in the party. We headed downstairs to check out the gift shop and then we were off to see some more Broadway. Margaritaville's outside eating located on the ship, the bar and waiting ares under the light house. Then to my surprise the girls got henna tattoos on their backs,
so they had to do some walking with their shirts up so it would not rub off. Don't tell anybody I showed you these pictures I was told what happens at the beach stays at the beach. We did some more sightseeing and came across We R Sweets and the kids wanted a Icee and some others wanted ice cream next door. We headed back to the house to have a birthday party for Daniel. The kids had some cake and ice cream followed by the high just before bed. After that wore off we all went to bed just after midnight.

Tuesday August 8th

Another great morning and I figured out that if you need to go to the 544 Walmart go around 8am no crowds and no lines. Stopped by Krispy Kreme on the way home to get a dozen and headed back to the house. A few were up when I got back eating breakfast and had a glazed as their breakfast “dessert” Today some went to the pool and we went down to the beach and were surprised how few people were actually on the beach. You want to talk about having a beach to yourself. The kids were able to ride some good waves and Mandy and I soaked up some sun adding to our glowing skin. We headed back to the house and pool before eating a lite lunch. We planned on going to Miyabi’s for dinner. When we called to make some reservations they said they only had a spot at 430pm which was great and exactly what we wanted. After getting everyone ready we loaded up and the train headed to Murrel’s Inlet looking for our place and after taking a lap and a quick stop at the information office we arrived just a couple minutes late. If you like a Japanese steak house this is a great one to try. We eat at one in Roanoke at least 2-3 times a month and this one has some things that are better than the one back home but the soup and salad are the low spots. We had the beginner sushi platter(watch that Wasabi) followed by steak, shrimp, chicken and scallops. Walker with another attempt at chop sticks. I am not sure what I was looking at other than my lovely wife, she is thinking hurry up my food is going to get cold.
Our great friends and this week our roommates (L-R) Daniel, Amy, Little Olivia, Dee and Big Hunter.
More great friends and roommates this week Sarah's hands, Jennifer, David and Matt.Just across the hallway and friends forever Dylan, Darrell, Tina and Ben A.K.A "Thunder"

Thunder waiting for the fire!
Little O smiles for Uncle Chapy

Some great entertainment and awesome food
The most fire I have seen in 3 months.
Sloan's smile tells us she loves Japanese!
We also celebrated another birthday here and they brought out an arrangement with a cupcake and then had the birthday girl, who tried to give the wrong name, get up. The chef stopped everyone in our section from eating while she danced as they sang to her.
All seventeen of us and we couldn't be happier of stuffed!!

There was so much food left over that we had to take home 3 take home boxes. They then took a picture for the occasion and that concluded a great meal (and show) for the night.

As we headed outside we could see that a storm was getting ready to get us. We stopped by a beach store to look around and see some “live sharks”



We headed up to the Costal grand Mall to look around and rest of the group headed back to the beach house. Costal Grand Mall lives up to it’s name well. In the middle of one section was a mechanical bull that the kids wanted to try.

See Walker try to get on he started to have some difficulty so the lady running the ride had to give a small lift.

She worked with him and continued to speed up until. . .

. . he fell flat on his face. I told him that I would have showed him how to do it but did not want to hurt myself. Good thing.
Sloan got on next and was laughing and having a great time also, she fell off as well bu that picture did not turn maybe because I was laughing so much.

This place is huge but unfortunately not much for the male shopper unless you hit Sears and Dick’s Sporting goods.

When we came back outside it was still sprinkling and we decided to head home. After arriving at the house and changing into some comfortable clothes we gave the birthday girl her gifts.


We put the kids in their beds and started to watch Napoleon Dynamite. A few made it to the end the rest will just have to hear us talk about it tomorrow.