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We left for our yearly family vacation to Surfside Beach, SC on August 17, 2007. However, right from the start we hit a road bump. The night before, as I was dropping the dogs off to the kennel, packing for myself, packing for 3 kids, and trying to get laundry and dishes done before we left, Sean offers to pick up a friend at the airport, at 10pm. I asked him not to do it, we were leaving the next day and he still needed to pack for himself and pack the car. But nope, he said he’d go pick up his buddy and come right home. Whatever, I finished as much as I could and went to bed around 11pm. Around 4am Sean comes in the bedroom and says, “Turn on the light, wake up. It’s important.” Groggily I look at the clock and turn on the light. He’s standing at the foot of the bed and tells me, “I wrecked the car. I was arrested for DUI, reckless driving, driving an uninsured vehicle, and open container. They put me in hand cuffs, I’ve spent the last 2 hours at the hospital. I’m sorry.”

Shocked I went to sleep. I don’t think I realized what he really had said until the morning. That morning was spent with Sean on the phone to his boss and his mom and the State Police and the tow place, etc. We got off to a late start and the whole drive down was miserable. Sean on the phone to his mom all day, 10 hours in a car w/3 kids. We spent the night in Richmond, VA. The next morning we got up early and got to the beach around 3pm. Sean took the kids to the beach and the pool while I went to Wal-mart to get groceries. We enjoyed the beach and the pool together when I got back. We made some dinner and relaxed in the condo. Around 9pm our best friends from Georgia arrived and the kids played for a while as us grown ups caught up (we hadn’t seen them since they moved in May). We all were in bed by midnight or so.

The next morning we got up early and fed all 5 kids and headed out to the beach. We swapped watching the kids between the pool and the beach and getting things ready for lunch, dinner, etc. A great day was had by all! We took a walk on the beach after dinner down to the pier. We got the kids some ice cream and hung out. We went back to the condo and the kids played and we had some beers. The next day our friends hung out for the morning and headed back to Georgia in the early afternoon.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach and pool, etc. I took Rachel and Grace for a walk while the boys slept. We headed about a mile down the road to where Sean’s Aunt and Uncle own a beach house. They were there with their 2 married adult children and their 4 grandchildren. We don’t see this side of his family much because they live in OH and SC. His Aunt asked us to come back tomorrow afternoon to hang out and eat dinner. We stayed for a while so Rachel could visit with her cousin and the others could meet Gracie. We got back to the condo and ate dinner and relaxed.

Read the next installment here.

Posted in: disaster, vacation on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at at 8:05 PM