Our Crazy, Busy, Super Fun Weekend

Last weekend Calla's new Sunday School, Zone 345 (for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders) went on a retreat of sorts. We dropped her off at church on Friday afternoon at 4:00pm amongst dozens of eager graderschoolers where a fifteen passenger van with her name on it, awaited her departure. From the church, the six van caravan (two 15 passenger vans and four minivans) headed to Myrtle Beach. God bless all of the patient chaperons! The kids stopped half way to eat dinner and then they were off again to their destination of Ripley's Aquarium. Once there, the kids had a scavenger hunt in the aquarium, got to pet stingrays, painted a t-shirt with ocean stamps and learned all about sharks and then got to set up camp for the night in the shark tunnel. The dangerous reef tunnel is a large glass tunnel with a moving sidewalk that allows you to see sharks and other coral reef life up close and on every side! Of course the moving sidewalk was turned off for the night, but Calla had a fabulous time counting sharks instead of sheep as she drifted off. The next morning, Ripley's provided a Continental breakfast before everyone went over to Myrtle Beach for the day. After a park ranger gave everyone a guided tour of the beach, all the kids got to make sand castles and play in the ocean until lunchtime. Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Myrtle Beach and head back home.

Calla with her sweet friends and showing off the shirt she made.

Meanwhile here at the house, my stepsister Wendy and her husband Jason had called to tell us they would like to come up for a day trip. They pulled in around lunchtime and after a cookout with the family, we walked up town to the Autumn Treasures street fair where local businesses and artisans come to showcase their work. The festival was a lot of fun and a lot of exercise but time was slipping away and we still had to go pick Calla up at church. Once Calla's caravan arrived, we got to hear a very excited and brief retelling of the trip before we were in the car again, this time heading to Aw Shucks Corn Maze. The sun was setting quickly but we managed to get through the maze before dark set in. It was a good thing to since the kids' favorite thing to do in the corn was get lost! After the maze we wandered around to some of the other fun things at Aw Shucks. Hiding in the corn maze.Hayride!Super fun rubber duck races! The kids loved pumping the water to make them go faster.Treehouse swings.Gobble, Gobble Finally our weary bunch trudged to the car to come home. Surprisingly no one fell asleep so everyone wished Uncle Jason and Aunt Wendy a safe trip home and then settled in to watched "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" in anticipation of the next morning...