The Zhao Family

2014 Spring Break! - Myrtle Beach Day 1

This year we keep trying to plan where we want to go for Spring Break. We thought of going to Florida again by Abbey don't want to drive that long distance and drink those Monster Drinks, which causes a lot of harm to the body, and with the cold weather or rainy weather even down to Florida, we postponed the planning all the way until to Sunday. Finally that evening we decided to leave for Myrtle Beach.

We ate a simple dinner and off we went leaving the house around 8pm and arriving at the Sheraton at 4am. Although they slept in the car for several hours, getting up at 4am to check in the hotel didn't seem to be a problem with them.

Next morning we ate a hearty breakfast and first time eating grits!

FF ordered her kids 'smiley' waffle.

And off the the beach we went! Although the water wasn't that warm, it did not stop them from getting into the water.

For trying to get a decent photo of them together, I had to come up with some clever idea for them sit together and actually look at me. So I told them to throw sand at me. Well it worked so well that one of them, not sure which one threw a big ball of sand right into the camera! That plan backfired. Good thing I was using SS's point and shoot camera and not my expensive camera, just for occasions like this. It took many delicate washes on the camera lens and a dryer to get it working again but it did work again. Anyways, we weren't on the beach for more than an hour and it started raining.

So we went back to the hotel pool and spent nearly four hours in their indoor heated pool!

After a quick dinner and the sun came back out, we went back to the boardwalk and strolled around.

FF's stomach didn't feel well and didn't want to get in the water. The whole time I was holding her and when I put her down, this was her reaction.

The boys, on the other hand, loved walking on the water!

SS like to pick up seashells as you can see him with a great smile.

We finally convinced FF to join the boys to talk on the beach...

This is our iconic photo for the whole trip! They were very cooperative!

SS finally get to use his money to buy whatever he wanted and so he chose to get a mango smoothie with his allowance money. And he's proud of it! He even loaned money to his brother to buy a mango smoothie too!

After we left the beach, we to Broadway on the beach. It took us a little to figure out where it is but when we did get there, it was a really cool place!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!! FF found her 'knight in shining armor'..hahaha

We went to a place called "MagiQuest" where it a real 'role playing' adventure place. Since FF was too young to get in, she grabbed a bunch of things for me to take photos of her.

Inside was really cool, but since the boys had quests to complete on a limited time, they didn't want to stop for me to take photos of them. So FF helped me out to take photos of some of the places.

The boys get to keep their wands that they played inside the area as a souvenir. Since FF couldn't get to play nor keep a wand, the staff there gave her jewels(fake) that she was playing while she waited for her brothers to finish their 90 minute quest.

Doing things around the house...while Winter refuses to leave us

This Winter has been long, to say the least. And cold too.Not sure what is going on with this weather system, we would have warm days in the 60s and the next day it would snow, even as last as early April. So for most of things we do, we can only do around the home or that we can't take cabin fever anymore, we had to go outside to do something.

Clayton has really fruitioned into somewhat of an artist. He can actually imagine things out and build with whatever materials at hand. Here he built the DC Temple with Jenga blocks.

FF chimes on it and wants to be part of it. Not yet of course, she's still in the exploring and destroying stage in her life. So this didn't last long.

We had steak one night, she wanted to help. The steak was that big and she ate a lot of it.

We're getting the kids to help out as much as they can so they have the responsibility to know that they need to do work in the house too.

Our typical night before going to bed. They're actually pretty cooperative when doing these kinds of things. And they listen to the dentist and must brush two minutes, with the help of the timer.

Their biggest toy : me. Sometimes I think I get them too hyped up before bedtime but then again, what other time do we get to have fun like this?

Brennan has mastered cooking eggs so occasionally be would help out cooking breakfast for the family while the adults are still in bed.

Clayton is learning to use a knife, so we start off something simple like cutting strawberries. FF is too young so he just reads and not distract her siblings.

And the end result is an incredible breakfast for everyone!

So Brennan is advancing into making sushi with mom and of course the other two has way too much to photobomb the occasion.

Not sure where he gets his imagination but he surely can come up with lots of ideas and thoughts. "Home is the Place of Rainbows" That's an awesome quote.

Here's he trying to be an architect.

I don't think I remember taking him to the Washington Monument but I guess I have since he's drawing the entire area. He even knows where to cut off the words for the flag, the spot lights. Such attention to details.

So he's been taking drawing class and he absolutely love the class. Although he's the only boy in class and does not speak Mandarin, the teacher loves him. This is one of his masterpieces. It only took him about two hours, with only about 30% of the teacher helping him, he drew this entire Tiger from a photo. Incredible!