Oh my gosh! Did we have a blast at the beach or what? Rhyne and Jake's first beach trip was so much more than I would have ever expected.

It started off with us chasing Hurricane Ernesto off the coast of Myrtle Beach. I tried to find a blue windbreaker so I could like one of those Weather Channel storm chasers, but no luck. I did however, call my family and friends back home saying, ''Live from the beach, this is Action 12 News". We did have a news crew staying at our hotel, and yes I did go out on the balcony a few times to catch a glimpse of my first hurricane up close and personal. Of course this was more of a wind and rain show - we saw worse weather during our 2004 cruise where we were close enough to reached up and slapped Hurricane Ivan on the butt. There was quite a bit of flooding though to close most locals down, so we settled on pizza in our room for dinner.

On our way down, we did stop at one of the many Tourists Informational shops. I wanted to pick up a few brochures about the aquarium and see what was new (I haven't been to the beach in several years). The guy behind the counter asked where we were staying, and when I replied, he lit up like a light bulb. "It just so happens, our company just bought that hotel. If you are interested in taking a 90 minute tour tomorrow morning, we will give you a free breakfast, four tickets to the aquarium, $35 gift certificate to eat at Planet Hollywood, and another free 3 day/2 night stay to come back again and visit with us.". OK! This was my kind of deal! Besides, it was going to be cloudy and rainy in the morning because of Ernesto, so why not. We would have the two best excuses (Rhyne and Jake) to say we were not interested in a highly over-priced condo that you could only stay 1 week out of the year in. Needless to say, we told the kids it was action time and let them have free reign. Of course, they were model citizens the whole time and never once got fussy - to our surprise. We ended up getting the salesman's blood pressure tore up (could tell this by the steam coming out of his ears when we told him that we were not interested in the condo). He politely asked us to step into the other room, collect our prize, and "please do not attend another timeshare siminar if you are not interested in purchasing a timeshare". Can you say RUDE? Besides, as you know, we love to camp and we can pull our camper anywhere we so desire - AND IT'S ALREADY PAID FOR!

OK, on to the fun stuff. We went to the aquarium, which I would have been disappointed if we had actually had to pay for the tickets, but the kids had fun. They had a carousel nearby, so we stopped and let the kids ride the horseys or round and round (as the kids called it). They absolutely loved it!!! As a matter of fact they loved it so much, we let them ride every day. The last day we walked to the amusement park from our hotel to let them ride all the rides that their little hearts desired. Rhyne just floored us with her excitement in wanting to ride all the rides that we just knew she would scream bloody murder about. This is our child that is scared of her own shadow sometimes, but loves to ride the rides that spin and go up in the air - go figure! Jake liked the rides too, but he is still more of our "entertainer". He's developed this "wink". Whenever he sees a pretty girl/lady, he'll wink one eye at her and make this clicking noise with the side of his mouth. Is he a flirt or what??? Yes, all the ladies just gooed over him and smiled.

The kids loved the water - ok let me clarify. Rhyne loved the pool and Jake loved the ocean - my kind of girl! I love the beach, but I don't like to get into water where I can't see what dangerous creatures are swimming around. We tried to get some professional pictures of the family on the beach while we were down there, but I'm not sure if we actually got one where the whole family is smiling. Rhyne as usually does not like to have her picture taken by professionals and cried most of the time. The only hope we have is that some nice guy, who was a tad over weight, was smoking a cigar and wearing a Boston Red Sox ball cap, got up and was doing this "jumping jack" waive behind the photographer to try and get Rhyne to smile. We'll see what the proofs look like when they come.

One thing that did surprise me was the number of Russians that were working at a variety of stores at the beach. A friend of mine, that also adopted from Russia, had mentioned this to me when she and her family went a few weeks before us. She said that she asked why they would choose to come over here and work and was told that they could come over here and work four months and make enough money to buy a car back home, which would take them over four years to make back home. It goes to show just how lucky we are to be living in America where we are free to make choices, make a decent living (compared to the rest of the world), and have so much more than we could ever dream of having. Apparently, there are over 4000 immigrants from Russia and neighboring countries that are working in the Mytle Beach area this Summer. We met a few that were working at the Krispy Kreme, Wings/Eagles (beach novelty shops that are on every corner), and the amusement parks. There was one nice lady that spoke a little Russian to the kids. Jake took no interest in her while looking like "lady, I have no idea what you are saying". Rhyne on the other hand had a terrified look on her face as if she was trying not to remember a time where she heard this familiar language. That was enough for me - no more speaking Russian to this child. I do not want her to feel hurt or remember sad times ever again. Yes, she still has her Russian memorabila in her room, her Ana doll that speaks Russian, and I ask her all the time, "remember in Russia when . . . ". However, I will refrain from asking anyone else to speak to her in the Russian language.