We’re still here in Myrtle Beach! We arrived on October 24, 2018 with our three year old grandson. You can read about his trip by clicking here. What a treat it was for all of us to have him here. This blog post is supposed to be “Myrtle Beach Through the Eyes of a Three Year Old” – and it will be in part. We have written so many posts about Myrtle Beach, we will add a list of all the posts from the 10 times we have been here since we started RVing five years and four months ago, but who is counting? 😏

Believe it or not, as of the date of this post (12/12/2018) we have been here in total 207 days, nearly seven months since September 2013. The only place we’ve spent more time is in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The reason we started this journey was to be with our grandsons (and their parents) – and that’s where they live!

We have absolutely loved our travels. We can’t believe some of the places we have been, the amazing people we have met, the miles we have hiked and the sights we have seen. Have you figured out where this is going? First of all, we are still in GREAT health. We have had a few minor set backs, but we think this lifestyle has forced us to stay active and healthy! We want to keep active and healthy! But secondly, and most importantly, after our grandson went back home, we both realized how ideal it is here for him and his older brother – we had him here for 10 days. He loved it as much. And our daughter was a beach baby so needless to say, she is ecstatic! Our son in law is probably relieved as he has tried to prepare our daughter that one day, we would return to Florida.

Needless to say, we have decided to settle down. We are selling our motor home and are buying a house. BUT, we do not plan to stop traveling – we will just choose a different way to keep our travel adventures going. More details to come once all these things are solidified.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of our grandson enjoying Myrtle Beach. We’ll start with a few more of his trip here:

So now we are on our site. Bryce was so happy to be here, but we weren’t sure he understood or remembered what the “Beach” part of Myrtle Beach really meant. He’s only three years old. He did spend three weeks with us on the beaches at the Gulf of Mexico last January. And the family took a beach vacation two years ago. He entertained himself while we set up. I didn’t take any pictures – knowing I just wanted to take him to the beach! It’s a gorgeous day outside. So let’s see if he remembers what a beach is. So I finally said, “Let’s go check out the beach!” I do know it’s low tide, so it should be perfect…..

So everyday it was nice, we repeated these scenes. He just LOVED it! If you are a “camper” you know about 90% of those camping have a dog….so Bryce met every puppy – as he calls them.

And then there was Halloween!  Pirateland booked up for this weekend. They held a “trunk or Treat” for the children. What a blessing and he had so much fun – and for a few days after, he said he wanted to go trick or treating again!

Bryce is a great napper! Everyday, he slept three hours or so. Some days, 2 1/2 some days, 4 hours. He really plays hard! And he does sleep from 7:30 pm to 5:30 am….Good thing we are adaptable and could handle this early rising….So all that to say, we did have the challenges of getting him on the beach during low tides and occasionally it was just too cold and/or windy to be on the beach. So what to do? Have you ever heard of Savannah’s Playground? It is AMAZING!!!! From the website:

….This playground is one-of-a-kind and beloved by visitors and locals alike. The $3 million,  multi-acre park features all ADA-approved playground equipment designed so that children of all abilities have the opportunity to play and interact socially with one another. There is a music park, interactive playground, early childhood playground, school-age playground, picnic area, challenge ropes, ziplining and more, and all of it is free and open to the public.

Free and open to any one, the playground is named after Savannah Thompson, a Myrtle Beach native with Williams Syndrome who is actively involved in the Grand Strand community and serves as a bright reminder of the power of a positive attitude. While only the first phase of the park has been completed, you wouldn’t know it as there is so much to do. A water play area and paddle boats are part of the final plan….

Bryce took to this playground like he took to the beach! He is a typical boy and loves to jump in puddles. We watched Peppa Pig with him – they are taught to not jump in puddles unless you have on your boots. He was prepared to jump in puddles!

Last year, Bill and I discovered Market Commons as a place for us to walk on the days the tides were high or the horses had taken over the beach. When we walked around here, we often said how much fun we know our grandsons would have in the playground….and finally, we had our youngest here! And we were right, he LOVED it! And we began our thoughts about settling down here….

The third favorite thing for Bryce while he was here was watching construction vehicles. Myrtle Beach constantly has something under construction. We were so grateful when they finally put in an Aldi’s here. So now next to it, they are putting in a tire store – and they were breaking ground, laying pipes, etc.  We spent 30 minutes watching the first time we went. It was actually OK as we had time to kill. He struck up a conversation with one crew that was digging out and laying pipes on one corner. They were so kind to him! The next time we went, we were in a bit of a time crunch. I needed to grab a few groceries, we had to take them home for Bill (he is the chef in our household) and then we were going to the play ground. He could play for 1 1/2 hours then nap time. He didn’t want to do that, he preferred to watch construction!

Before daylight savings time ended, and after he napped until 4 pm, we took him out for a sunset walk. 

Back to construction, here at Pirateland, they are remodeling the bath houses. They also use a tractor (he loves tractors) to pull RVs in and out of various sites. That occurs on a regular basis during peak times – like weekends and for Halloween weekend. Imagine his excitement as he shouts out “tractor!” whenever he’d see one!

Oh how sad, it was finally time to go home. Once in week two, he said he wanted to go home. We began to panic, how could we get him home quickly? So I checked with the airlines. Heart break – while they call it the Myrtle Beach International Airport, it’s really small and not with many different airlines. Thankfully, he changed the subject a little later and never mentioned it again until the actual day of our departure. And then on the way to meet his mom, three hours north, he said it several times, “I want to go home – to my house.”

It’s a six hour drive. We thought that would be bit much for him in the car – he did great in the motor home (we drove five hours and then took a break). So we stayed in a hotel in Smithfield, NC. And then it made the trip easier for our daughter. She just drove down one hour and we went on another hour.

We have written so many blog posts about Myrtle Beach! I’ve created a new category for just those posts. And if you go through them, you might figure out why we have decided to make this our new home! So we will close with two Christmas photos. We drove up to Virginia for a very sad occasion to attend the memorial service of this beautiful friend, written about here, but we tried to keep our focus on two of God’s blessings to us, our grandsons. But the GREATEST blessing of all, was “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son….” (John 3:16)

Jesus is the reason for the season!