Where In The World Is Kristin Bolling?

Have you ever seen that week long segment on the Today Show where they send one of their hosts to different countries and you have to figure out, based on some clues or background sceneries, where they are? I feel like I am the host in question.  Over the last 3.5 weeks, I have traveled to (3) different cities for (3) different National competitions/games.  It was a ton of fun.  It was extremely expensive. And if I am honest, it was slightly exhausting.  Haha. It would have been nice for these events to be spread out over the course of the Summer, but I had zero control over the when! 

The first event we had to attend was Tyson's Basketball Nationals in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On the bright side, we typically go to the Beach the week of July 4th anyway, so we just vacationed and "nationaled" at the same time. It was truly no biggie because his team ONLY had ONE GAME per day.

Unfortunately, we had to take (2) cars to Myrtle Beach.  We left July 3rd in separate cars and then on July 9th we departed Myrtle Beach: Darren went home with the dogs to Roanoke and I took all three kids to Virginia Beach.  I hadn't been to Virginia Beach in 15+ years.  

Anyway, enjoy a photo dump and small description of our trip and the results of Ty's nationals.  I am so far beyond on blogging, but I will never NOT blog.  This blog is sincerely for my children/grandchildren and my poor memories when I am old and grey, so it acts as a electronic photo album or scrapbook. I am glad that you visit us here and enjoy reading/viewing/ OR stalking (insert eye roll here) and as always I appreciate your understanding that life with 3 is just insane and this blog is clearly not first priority anymore.

Our first FULL day at the beach was July 4th.  I came prepared with some red, white, and blue surprises for everyone, dogs included.  

I even baked on vacation, which I rarely do, but there is just something about those colors.  They get me all excited to do all things red, white, and blue.  

My hope was to squeeze these cute blue gummy bread in to the sour gummy round and make it look like they were in an inner tube float.

Sadly, I came prepared with red, white, and blue snacks/drinks/paper goods/dog treats and so much more, but I forgot to look for Lilah's bathing suit from last year OR buy her a new one.  So half of us were in american flag swimsuits/colors and the other half of us were not.  

 Either way, we enjoyed our time at the pool and beach.

 I rarely get featured in our family posts, so I really cherish these photos.  

Yes. Maybe it's weird to you, but we are a family that kisses on the lips. 

Later that evening, Darren treated us to our a scrumptious dinner at Villa Romano's.  You can use the search box, on our blog's home page, to see our previous visits there.  We have just made it a tradition by going back each year.  We especially love "Mr. Mike", the accordion player. It's insane to see the SMALL, but gradual changes that take place over the years by revisiting our times spent at this restaurant.  

 GAH! A family photo.  What are the chances?  

The cutest daddy-daughter combo ever!

 There he is, Mr. Mike.

We interrupt this beach trip and bring you a basketball game.  I didn't take too many photos. These games were pretty big losses. Ones I didn't want to remember 😂. So I deiced to watch and not capture. Everyone who knows me, knows how much I love watching my boys play the game of basketball.

One of my goals on this vacation, was to gain the state of South Carolina.  While sitting at one of Ty's games, a male coach inquired about the stripes on my hands and eventually turned a parent onto making a purchase. Score! I was so excited.  

And there you have it... just like that, I have made a mark in South Carolina.  Leah Biller is her name.  She is a real estate agent in Charleston, South Carolina.  I feel like we talk weekly now.  Haha.  She's so sweet.  

Speaking of product... look who can't travel without his SeneGence LipBalm!

We always bring our fur babies with us to the beach.  I love that we can do that because I always miss being away from them.  See that sweet girl in the background? I have learned that extreme heat causes migraines. It's ODD if she naps, but napping is pretty much the only way her headaches disappear.  

Some of the other things we did on this trip for fun: built forts on our deck, until a man who we refer to as "Shoulders" rang our door bell and told us that we were violating the rules and we had to take our drying towels down.  It's a condo association rule.  I think it eliminates the scenery looking trashy. Shoulders is just hard core and doesn't let you get away with ANYTHING.

 We did loads of "laying out" and "getting suntans".

Which provided for some good conversations, especially with this one.  He has started asking me deep questions about my childhood, which I am grateful for.  It opens his eyes to how blessed he is and it helps me, in a weird way, almost heal from some of the pains.  

 My [heart] found me a heart-shaped sea shell.  

 I even got into a bathing suit. 

 Sported a hat that was my mantra for the week.

All of that suntanning resulted in a GORGEOUS skin glow, but only from Jax and Darren.  Check out the stark contrast.  

 We shopped! The photo below was taken at one of my favorite stores: World Market.

 We ate out TONS.  YUM! Another favorite restaurant of ours is the Brazilian steakhouse called Rioz.  That's where the below photo was captured.

See me pointing to our kids? We were desperate for some alone time, so we stuck our kids in the corner of the restaurant and snuck away to the bar for an adult beverage.

TOP GOLF (This was my healthy, cauliflower pizza from there).

Lilah had her first french kiss.  LOL!

 Captured fun photo opportunities and made time for iced coffees.

Laundry.  Because I wasn't going to wait 12 days to come home and do it.

 Relaxing. Isn't that what vacation is for?

We did loads of walking, mostly because we always made sure to walk the dogs and tire their butts out.  I came across this because cross on one of our walks. 

I will be dumping some photos below of our trip as well. It takes a good 20 minutes to get them all uploaded and hashtaged.  Sigh... SEE! This is a pure joy to look back on, but takes some time to organized my thoughts and upload photos/videos.  I hope to be back at one post a day from here on out as life "slows down".

In the end, just like Ty's coach always says, "You can talk something from a loss and you can take something from a win!" There is LOTS of competition out there. It's good for our local teams to experience a national event and see that their talent may not be the best and it should give them AMO to work to be the best. Nothing lost. Everything gained.