We left the rain of the Smokeys and drove east into more non-stop rain. The drive was long but uneventful. Weeks ago when I was having daydreams of this trip, I saw myself sitting on Myrtle beach from 7 p.m. on Tursday until 7 p.m. Thursday, basking in the sun but staying cool because of the refreshing ocean breeze. The only other thing I planned was to go to Medieval Times, but more on that in a minute. Back to the soft waves rolling onto the even softer sand, where I sat with my legs just barely getting wet from the surf. Sun, sand, snacks, and swimming-four of my favorite things!!
Yeah. None of that happened. We set up in a torrential downpour. Then on Wednesday we played board games, scheduled our feast and decided to go to a movie to kill time. I would have rather killed the rain, but that did not appear to be an option.
Once loaded into the truckster (which autocorrect demands I change to trickster), we again struggled with directions to the theater. On the way the boys began to get more and more ridiculous, shouting, bickering, and touching each other to get the other in trouble. They didn't know where we were going, just that we were going to a specific place. Long story short, Jason and I lost our minds and yelled, "you don't deserve to go to the movies!," just as we pulled into the mall parking lot, just several hundred feet from the theater. Que the dramatics from the boys as they found out they were going to go to Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and just as quickly they WERENT. "Well if you would have told us we were going to the movie we would have behaved." What? I immediately pointed out that they should act like humans ALL the time, not just with the promise or expectation of doing something. Ugh. Kids.
Not having anything else to do, we decided to head to Barnes and Noble in the outdoor mall. In a downpour. By this point, I was already sick to death of being wet from head to toe on this trip, without ever having gone swimming, so I took a time out in bookstore wandering around by myself as my flip flops squished and squashed with each step.
Just as I was relaxing and coming to terms with being sopping wet again, a child approached me with a book and a giant smile. "Mom, this is what I'm going to get!" Uh, no. Nope. We didn't just forfeit going to a movie because of your poor behavior to come to Barnes and Noble to buy you things. As you can imagine things spiraled swiftly downward from there. Jason ran and got the car and we loaded up and had a calm, heart to heart with the children. Well not exactly, but our point was made.
From time to time, the boys (and I) need to be reminded what a privilege our trips are. This was that moment. Jason had come to terms with not being able to hike the Smokeys, I needed to accept that I wouldn't be lying on the beach, and the boys, eventually came to the conclusion that good behavior was the way to go.
We decided to head to downtown Myrtle Beach to what was what, and maybe turn all our frowns upside down. They were setting up for what looked like would be some gigantic music festival. On the main drag we jumped in line at Ripleys Believe It Or Not Museum. After waiting a while, I began reading reviews and we decided to jump back out of line. We perused what was essentially the same shop, up and down both sides of the road and did a mirror maze. The only thing that set apart one shop from another was how many bongs and edibles each sold. Classy.
Thankfully, Medieval Times was a bright spot in a dreary week. We were front row for the action and the horse arena smelled only the tiniest bit like a barn. I got a princess hat and the boys all got swords. Our knight kind of stunk at knighting, but cheering was still fun. We all drank our weight in Pepsi and we ate with our hands. What more could you ask for!?
The next day was still rainy. We woke up late and decided it was the beach or bust. As soon as there was a break in the radar we trotted over with some chairs, snacks, and Anna Kendricks biography (that was me). It was cloudy, the water was murky, and there was a swift rip tide, but the Munschs swam in the Atlantic Ocean. Well, as much swimming as you can do in water up to your knees. Jason claims I didn't swim because my hair didn't get wet, but I maintain that wading counts.
After swimming, we watched Tommy Boy, which is relentlessly quoted by the boys, walked down the pier, had a fire, and played Ticket to Ride until everybody was angry with exhaustion. "Pay attention so we can finish this!" "Marcus, it's your turn! Go!" Good times!
I was afraid the bears ate you.
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