Top 10 Myrtle Beach Memories - #10 and #9

Being from Texas, our beach experience primarily resides along the gulf coast. This go-round, however, we decided to roll the dice on the east coast. We needed a short drive, and Noni and Pop Pop needed a place with easy airport accessibility. We landed on Myrtle Beach, SC. People warned us to be prepared because it wouldn't be as picturesque as Destin or Gulf Shores. While the sand wasn't the soft white we've enjoyed in beach visits past, it definitely delivered a great beach experience that was perfect for our family with two active boys.

I hadn't heard much about Myrtle other than the abundance of golf courses it offered and that there were a number of family-friendly attractions if you decided to venture off of the beach. Our little crew was mostly satisfied sticking with sand and surf, but we did have a couple of small "first" excursions with the boys: a first movie theater experience and a first round of miniature golf.

In hopes of narrowing down the 1,000+ pictures I brought home with me, I'm going to attempt to highlight my "Top 10 Myrtle Beach Memories," starting with the "firsts."

#10 - Taking the boys to see Planes at the theater.

I really wish I had better pictures, but between the ticket taker being overly concerned about the boys touching the display, their lack of enthusiasm in being photographed, and movie-goers trying to pass by, it just wasn't happening.

I especially wish I had some pics of them sitting in their movie theater booster seats eating their "gourmet kiddie combos" of kettle corn, fruit chews and cherry slushes. They both finished off almost their entire combos themselves. Amazing they were able to make it the whole way through the movie after all of that sugar. But they did. And they loved it. And they especially loved the trip to Walmart afterwards to pick out their own Planes characters thanks to the generosity of Noni and Pop Pop. ;-)

#9 - Miniature golf at Lost Treasure Golf.

Let me just say that it is a crying shame that this was the boys' first miniature golf experience. Why, you ask? Miniature golf in Myrtle Beach is like getting a BMW at 16 – it's hard to go up from there. I mean, to start the course, we boarded a small "mine train" to ride to the top and then played our way down. It was AWESOME! In all my years, I've never seen anything like it. If you want to open a mini golf course in MB, and you think you're going to put in a Putt-Putt Golf and Games like I was used to growing up, you'd better think again. These places will flat out do you in. There were at least a dozen cool miniature golf courses – and that's just along the main highway there. Just to give some perspective, this is where the Miniature Pro Golfers come to play their championships. Who knew there was even such a thing?!

Anyway, Alex was only partially interested, but Roo kept putting his little pink (his favorite color) ball all the way down to the hole. And when the club got to be too much, he just took off his crocs and used his feet to kick it in, just like he would have done if it was a soccer ball. Have I mentioned how much he loves his "HAAS-soc BAWL"?

Alex kept thinking there would be a trophy waiting for him at the end. I'm not sure how he came up with this notion, but he was sorely disappointed when that didn't happen. Sorely disappointed. Enter a teachable moment where Noni tried to tell him the importance of working hard and practicing and how even then, we may not always win a trophy. I suspect that lesson will need to be replayed a few more times throughout the years. ;-)