Myrtle Beach ~ Day 2

On day two of our trip, I made a really healthy/pretty breakfast.  Afterwards, we packed up our coolers and headed to the Apache Pier.  It's less than 1/4 of a mile from our condo, if you drive.  If you walk, using the beach, it's a good 7-10 minutes. We drove. Darren, Ty, and Jax were excited to put their new fishing poles to good use. We came prepared with bait too!

I was really proud of Jax.  He sat there very patiently, waiting to catch something.  He also added weights to his pole or at least tried all on his own.

 This photo blessed my heart - watching my hubby and son working together.

It was a scorcher of a day! 101 degrees is what my van's temperature gauge said, but it felt like 110.

 We made our little diva a comfy, shaded spot underneath the fishing benches.  

When the heat was beginning to be a bit too much, we left the bigger boys on the pier, while I camped out on the beach with the twins. I took advantage of the pretty scenery, of the pier, and made them pause for a few, quick photos before swimming.

You can tell which photos I captured with my iPhone and which ones I captured with my camera.  It's so hard pulling out a big camera on the beach.  I was terrified of dropping it in the sand and I felt like the atmosphere was filled with so much sunscreen that it was ruining my camera's lens.

A sweet trio of teenagers were taking selfies in the same spot.  I offered to take their photo together and they offered to take ours.  Too bad I look awful! LOL!

My long lens captured Darren on the pier, from below. I promise Ty was there, but I don't know why I could never see his face.

The twins played so nicely together.

Darren kept trying to look out and find us, but he was having a hard time. We could see him so clearly.  LOL!

There's TY!

LOVE THIS SHOT!! I was standing on the sand and they were sitting on the pier. 

Feet hanging off.

LOVE THIS SHOT!!!! Silhouette.  

Her favorite symbol...PEACE!

These two started getting into a sand fight.  They thought it was fun and funny, but I DID NOT! 

The ocean underneath the deck.

My little guido.

When your big brother has made you watch the movie JAWS one too many times and you go swimming and you think a "shark bit [you]!"  In the end, I think she stepped on a seashell.  Worst case scenario, a crab pinched her foot.  Haha.

After the hot day on the beach, I spray painted three, fresh pineapples red, white, and blue!! I wanted our condo to be a little festive for the fourth of July. 

And oh... we also stopped off at the pool, to "rinse".  There,  Jax tested out his remote control water boat.  This thing is so fast and amazing. We bought him this toy for his birthday.  I always try to even things out, so one twin doesn't feel slighted.  Lilah got a Mermaid Tail plus matching swimsuit and Jax got a remote control water boat: BOTH WATER ITEMS.

We spent a good 2 hours just relaxing in the air conditioning.  Then, we got dressed and read to go to our kids' favorite place... The Ultimate California Pizza and Games.  It's definitely a tradition of ours.  It was the ONLY day/night we saw any sign of rain.  It only rained as we were leaving the condo and stopped long before we left the restaurant, but it caused an inability to capture my cuties.

Iphone = poor quality.

We won over 4,000 tickets.  SCORE!!!!!!!!

While Ty and Darren walked the dogs, I seized the opportunity to snap some photos of my twinges, with a REAL camera.

Day #2 was fantastic!!

From Cookie Cakes to Beach Cupcakes! Huh?

For the twins' birthday,  I ordered two cookie cakes a good week in advance!!! Cookie cakes were something we've never gotten for the twins before. I thought going to the beach and having a new form of birthday cake would be so memorable. I really didn't want the expense of two cookie cakes, nor did I want so much COOKIE cake left over because I was afraid I would be tempted to eat it. Haha. BUT, I ordered two because I have always desired to treat these twins as individuals, when it comes to their birthdays, since their 5th birthday.  I mean, we celebrate THEM, as twins, but I want each of them to feel special as individuals too. When I arrived to The Cookie Store to pick their cookie cakes up, I was so disappointed. Lilah's cookie cake was supposed to be decorated with ballet slippers in pink and white trim and Jax's was supposed to be a baseball, decorated in red and white trim.  Each cake reflected something they are currently into.  They both were supposed to say Happy Birthday and their name!  The cakes just were not well decorated: loads of frosting flaws, Lilah's didn't say "Happy Birthday", it just said "Lilah" on it.  I felt TERRIBLE, but I declined paying for them.  With less than two hours to spare, before leaving for our beach trip, and still LOADS of things to accomplish, I was forced to come up with another idea on the fly! I guess I tend to work well under pressure. 

I zoomed, zoomed to Bubblecake. HALF WAY across town from where The Cookie Store is located.  

I snagged 4 "Tiffany" styled cupcakes.  I figured this cupcake's frosting represented the ocean color the best.

I packed the cupcakes, airhead extremes, baby blue pearl sprinkles, birthday cake flavored teddy grahams, and miniature cocktail umbrellas  (ALL WHICH I HAD, can you BELIEVE IT?) to make some BEACH cupcakes with.  

I was so "HAPPY" to be able to come up with the idea and necessary items this quickly.  It pays to have a bakers cabinet and a gift closet.  

On the morning of the twins' birthday, I woke up very early.  I opened the box of cupcakes, removed the flower candy that the Tiffany cupcakes came with, and began sprinkling a few blue pearls onto the cupcakes.  Looking back...I should have eliminated this step.  I wasn't trying to make a bath tub scene, I was trying to make a beach scene  

Then, I inserted the cocktail umbrellas at a slant.  

Initially, I inserted the teddy graham directly into the frosting water. I didn't like the way that looked!

Instead, I laid out a strip of airhead xtreme sour strips to represent a beach towel. Looking back, I should crushed some of the teddy grahams into crumbs to represent sand and sprinkle it under the sour strips towel.  Hind sight is always 20/20.

I placed the teddy grahams onto the towel to look like they were sunbathing.

One was laying on a beach towel and one was sitting on a beach chair.  

Because I was limited with baking supplies, time, and I was working in a bathroom (haha), I just used a standing teddy graham to prop up the strip of candy acting as a reclining chair.  

This idea, to me, turned out so much better for WHERE we would be celebrating the twins' special day!

We sang "Happy Birthday" and then I was labeled "mother of the year" after letting my kids eat cake for breakfast.