Our Beach Trip To Murrells Inlet

We decided to take advantage of my maternity leave to schedule a summer trip to the beach. Ian's mother has a place in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, so we packed up the car and headed there. It is about four hours from our home, so not the furthest away, but long enough to have us a little leery about how Camille would do. I'm happy to say she was straight up AWESOME, but I did hop in the backseat with her about 2.5 hours in to give her a bottle and snuggle with her a bit. It was fun sitting back there because I was also right there with Drake, and that dawg loooves car rides.

We arrived around 5:30, so we just relaxed that first evening, spent some time in the pool, and cooked on the grill. 

Our second day, Ian and I got Camille readied for an afternoon with her Mimi -- she was quite excited to spend lots of time with her granddaughter, and it was really nice to escape to Huntington Beach for about an hour and a half with just Ian. We packed some snacks in a cooler and had a nice time hanging out just the two of us.

That evening, we all went to the Marshwalk of Murrells Inlet, which is such a fun area. A long walkway connects lots of restaurants, so you can just pop in from spot to spot and enjoy appetizers or a cool drink.

Dinner that evening was at Bubba's Love Shak -- probably my favorite spot of all on the Marshwalk. We all shared several appetizers as our dinner, and I'm still dreaming about their bacon-wrapped shrimp and hot pimiento cheese.

Monday, Ian went golfing and did some work around the house for his mom. She and I took Camille out to do a little bit of shopping, where I bought her some of the cutest clothes at a consignment store. We also stopped in to Carolina Girls, where Camille's Mimi treated her to some adorable appliqued bloomers for football season. 

Once we got back to the house, Camille got suited up for her first toe-dip in Mimi's pool. Our pediatrician approved us to dip her toes in this saltwater pool, but she'll have to wait until next summer for her real pool experience. It was funny watching her face -- Ian's mom took these pictures for us.

That evening, Ian and I had our first date night out! We went back to the Marshwalk area and had dinner at Wicked Tuna and then walked down to the Dead Dog Saloon to listen to some live music.

Tuesday was another beach day for Ian and me while Mimi watched Camille. We were truly so lucky to be able to escape each day for a little couple time ... Mimi also loved the time with Camille and I made sure she had a big bottle on hand each time just in case Little Miss got a little fussy.

That time, we went to Garden City where we hung out on the beach for about an hour, and then hit up the tacky beach stores (where I almost, ALMOST talked Ian into us getting matching temporary henna tattoos). And our favorite -- the arcade! We love to challenge each other in Skee Ball and I also played Ms. Pac-Man, my mom's favorite.

To the redemption center we went, armed with all of our tickets, and we were able to afford one green army man figurine and two banana Laffy Taffys.

That afternoon was the big World Cup match with the US. I went to college with the US team's captain, so watching the matches was just that much more enjoyable. We all got dressed in our red, white and blue and headed back to Bubba's to watch the match.

The US didn't win that match, but watching it was still a lot of fun. Later that night, we grilled fish back at the house and had fish tacos on the screened porch.

Our last full day at the beach, Thursday, was spent relaxing, and Ian helped rewire the stereo down by the pool for his mom. Also, Ian spotted earlier in the week a shooting range not too far from the house, so he and I went there for about an hour. Shooting is definitely more of his thing than mine, but I actually had a really fun time, and it was a hoot competing against each other to see who could come closest to the target. 

By the way -- it was me. ;)