Heithaus Family Vacation in Myrtle Beach

At the end of July, we went to Myrtle Beach to spend a relaxing week with Joey's family. It was a long trip, coast to coast - about 15 hours. I felt like we should be in a another country for a trip that long! We had a red-eye, one-stop flight into Greenville, then a 5 hour drive to Myrtle Beach. Luckily, we found some nice cozy benches in Chicago at 2am to rest up on...

Joey's parents generously rented two beach condos for the entire family - all 22 of us! 

The condos were filled with kids and babies! 2012 was baby-palooza for the Heithauses - All of Joey's siblings had or are having a baby this year, except us. That makes for 4 new babies on top of the 7 kids already in the family. Whew! This was the first time we saw a lot of the new babies so there were a lot of introductions. 

Here is Beth's newest - Luke - at only 2 weeks old! 

And Chris & Sam's little guy Zachary, at about 5 months. 

And Jenny's new little girl Claire at about 3 months. 

I'm not going to try to give a play by play but we had a great time just relaxing in the condo, at the beach, playing with the kids, catching up, watching the olympics, etc. Here are a few pictures from the week.

Here's a picture of the older kids playing with the babies. 

And Grace being a little ham. She knows how to pose for a picture!

On the second day, we had a little flea problem in one of the condos so everything had to be moved out for the flea bombing. That didn't end up working so some of us had to move to a different room. It all worked out in the end though!

Some of the kids playing on the beach. 

Katelyn and Alex sharing a towel. So cute. :)

Dinner at the kiddie table. 

Ladies lunch out at a nice seafood restaurant. 

An afternoon stroll at a nearby shopping center. 

Brianna and Sam "Horse'n Around"

Martin and Sam as Tiki people.

One night we had a surprise baby shower for Tim & Lauren. They will be the fourth to have a baby this year. They are having a boy due at the end of October. 

Lounging at the lazy river.

Claire and Daddy at the beach. 

Claire seemed to really like me. She was so cute. :)

Baby Zachary with Grandpa.

One evening Joey's mom hired a photographer to take family photos on the beach. They turned out great. Here is the group shot. 

And here's one of the women of baby-palooza. Did I mention Joey and I are also expecting? Oh, well we are! Surprise! But not until March 2013. More on that in a later post. 

The men spent a few evenings chatting over cigars and scotch. 

 We spent a lot of time playing with the kids. Here Joey is playing Guess Who with Katelyn. Great game.

They love Joey.

More beach time. 

Uncle Tim playing soccer with Sam.

Playing in the sand.

Siblings night out. Grandma and Grandpa watched (most) of the kids. 

Glow in the dark necklaces on the lawn. This entertained the kids for hours!

And final goodbyes. 

What a great week, even despite a few hiccups - fleas, losing Leah (we found her), and our canceled flight home (we made it eventually!).  It was so awesome to get a chance to spend so much quality time with everyone. We hope this turns into a regular occurrence. Thank you so much Rick and Jan for your generosity and for planning such a wonderful vacation for all of us. We are very thankful!

So that's the first of four posts I'm behind on. Next up - the beginning of our baby story, moving, and Yosemite.