Thanksgiving at the beach

Ade has her last day at Kiddie Academy, which she celebrated by asking me to bring in some snowman cookies we baked together the night before. Then after sharing them with her friends, she asked me to sing Rudolph with her for her class. So, Ade and I serenaded her class. Yea. Then we went to visit Goddard again for their little Thanksgiving party, and Ade sat right down and talked to her new friends. It was a great visit, and we were excited for her to start there full-time after the break!

We then had a lovely, simple family Thanksgiving at home! Knowing we were leaving for Myrtle Beach the next day, we did some portion control, and limited the menu (hard to do when we all wanted to cook!). Check out Ade the Olive Thief, the two old ladies working over the hot stove, and the two snickerdoodles:


Then we had a fabulous car ride to Myrtle Beach, with Ade being an angel and watching Christmas DVDs the whole way there. We went straight to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa's Wonderland while we waited for our hotel to be ready at Breakers. There we acquired a stuffed Rudolph whose nose lights up, which Ade carried with her everywhere the whole trip, showing essentially everyone - every stranger in the elevator, in line at breakfast, while shopping, you get the idea. Ade ran right up to Santa and let him know she wants a stuffed Ponyo for Christmas. Check out this perfect picture!


After we settled into our room, we had a yummy dinner at Margaritaville - Havanas and Bananas! - and Ade got a cool balloon flower from a guy on stilts. Then we headed over to MagicQuest where Adelaide selected a pink wand, and when asked her preferred Magi name, she answered without hesitation, "Master Toptops" and chose to join the Shadow clan. Once inside she had an insatiable curiosity for investigating the dungeon and the dragon therein. In the gift shop, we met a giant Baby Lemur! On our way back to the car, she got some hugs from a dino and a polar bear. It was a perfect first day!



The fun didn't end there, but got even better the next day. Daddy got us some Starbucks, and then we ate breakfast in the hotel. We went down to the beach for a quick walk, and some people were luckily feeding the birds bread. We went to go watch, and they gave Ade some to throw. She had an absolute blast!


We went out to do a little shopping at Broadway at the Beach, lunch at Landry's and then over to what Ade was waiting for - the rides!!! RIDES!!! First we went on the little ferris wheel, and she got her first taste of the fun. This part of the trip, I think, we will be a memory I treasure forever. She had so much fun, and it was clear to me that she really is growing up so fast. There was an airplane ride that she was tall enough to go on by herself, and after repeatedly telling her that no mommy and daddies are allowed on, and her repeatedly telling me she wanted to go anyhow, we let her walk onto a ride without us! As Ryan said, it was an odd parenting moment. We were nervous to let out tiny baby be buckled into a ride without us, and we were proud to watch her happily fly her plane following the instructions perfectly. In fact, on her second ride, while the other kids were staying the course up high or down low, Ade was flying high, low, bumps, dips, serious mad skillz! Then she went on the cars with daddy that whip around the corner, and she laughed like it was the best moment of her life. Joy, joy, joy.


While finishing our shopping, we encountered some ducks in a fountain. Again thanks to the kindness of strangers, they gave Ade some goldfish crackers to feed the ducks who ate them out of her hand, to her delight.

We took a break back at the hotel, and headed the big highlight - Dixie Stampede! Ade enjoyed the preshow juggler immensely with his dangerous stunts of balancing a ladder on his chin and juggling fire. The horse show with the Christmas theme was a hit, as far as Adelaide was concerned.

On our last morning, we took one last quick walk at the beach where it was considerably colder than the day before, and fed the birds again. After another great drive home, I was just so thrilled with how the weekend turned out.




Since then, Ade has flourished at Goddard. The first day she came home exploding with things to tell us. In fact, I had to use Google Translator on my phone to interpret the new Spanish words she had learned that day! She insisted we make ice cubes at home, since they learned about water, snow, and ice that day.

We are so happy with our decision. Peace of mind. Phew!