Making Waves

An original take on an old adage about lemonade:

"When life hands you a hurricane, make waves!"

That's right . . . leave it to us to have a beach vacation planned for Ocean City, Maryland as Hurricane Irene blew up the coast forcing the first mandatory evacuation in 26 years.

But, what originally began like another national lampoons-Heath honeymoon-esque (if you have to ask ... don't) vacation gone wrong, turned into one of my favorite vacations I can remember.

That's right--we made waves--by canceling our reservations in Ocean City and rescheduling (thanks to Justin's brilliance) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The only negative was that the drive was more than twice as long (9 hours) with a 15-month-old . . . but, turns out, Jax travels well!

And--the 5 days we spent there were nothing short of perfect!

Since Myrtle Beach only got a little wind and rain from Hurricane Irene, everything was still up-&-running ... and, because a lot of vacationers freaked out and fled the scene, the beach was surprisingly uncrowded.  It was truly amazing to see the beach for the first time through Jackson's eyes.  He loved everything about it, too!  He was not one ounce afraid of the ocean--he thoroughly enjoyed digging in the sand and chasing the birds--and he was wild about the crazy dancing/singing/yelling inside the restaurants at Broadway at the Beach.  Speaking of Broadway at the Beach, throughout the week, Jax developed his own fan club.  You see, he is quite the little entertainer and would stop on the boardwalk and dance around.  Several times, he had a crowd around him clapping and cheering for his dance moves.  It was just his style.  He also rode the carousel, the kiddie pirate ship, and the 20-story-high "Sky Wheel."  Jax got a big kick out of the "Sky Wheel;" Ne-Ne, on the other hand, did not.  And, turns out, his Uncle Steve was up visiting his Aunt Sue, and we even enjoyed a meal with them while we were in town.  It was a great time.

Here or there.

Near or far.

Hurricane Irene couldn't stop us . . . we were making waves.

And leaving our footprints in the sand.