~Myrtle Beach: Day 4~

For several of the family members, the day started early. It’s become a family tradition {at least for dad and Sara} to pick one day each week and head to the pier for an all-day fishing trip. They start at the donut shop with coffee and a donut, and then make their way to the local pier to grab bait, poles, and a spot on the deck. This year, Alex joined them as well. Between the 3 of them, I believe the count was more than 50 fish this trip! Unfortunately, there were no keepers, so it’s a good thing we were not relying on them for dinner that night.

Duh-na. Duh-na. Duh-na. No, it’s not Jaws, but there are sharks in that water. And that water, my friends, is just below the pier where they fish, which happens to be just over a mile from the house we stay in. Should be alarming right? I don’t tend to get scared about it – in fact, I think it’s kind of cool. But, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not one of those silly swimmers who hangs out down by the pier either. I tend to stick to the beach by our house, which is private…I assume the sharks know that so they stay in the “public waters.” Ha!

While they were at the pier fishing, the rest of us spent the day as usual – slept in, drank coffee, enjoyed breakfast, lathered up with sunscreen, and then hit the beach. And how could I head out to the beach without my favorite little niece? I couldn't....we spent some quality time together with each other...and the toothbrush before heading out!

As I've mentioned already, we do a lot of relaxing and spending quality time together as a family during this week at the beach. Here is the proof!

If I had to tell you one thing that flutters my tummy, it's daddies playing with their daughters. And you know what really gets to me? When that daddy is my big brother and that daughter is his precious little girl! Oh man....the tummy and heart are rapidly pitter pattering, even as I look at these pictures and type out these words. As each day goes by, Avery loves the sand and the water even more. Today, Josh took her out into the deeper parts of the water and she really liked it…those infant survival swim lessons paid off!

Tonight was the DeGroot dinner night. It can be tough to come up with something that is not only easy to make, but is satisfying to such a large group of folks. We all have different tastes, so I was nervous this may not turn out! But, everyone thoroughly enjoyed our chicken croussant dinner! Whew....

Since the fishers headed back down to the pier to make the most of their 24 hour fishing license, a few of us joined in and walked around. The end of the pier has live music, which is typically pretty fun. Now that we are all adults it doesn’t seem as exciting as when we were kids and “weren’t allowed at the end of the pier.” After we watched a bunch of folks reel in fish, a few of us headed into the arcade for some ice cream, ski ball, and an exciting hand at the quarters machine. We weren’t so lucky this time, but one other night I hit the slot just right and more than doubled my money. Immediately after that turn, I walked away!