Berry Beach Week

We took our first official Berry family vacation with John and Pepper to Myrtle Beach, SC last week. Ella was a champ the entire trip, despite being diagnosed with an ear infection and a few other, blog-inappropriate, ailments. We all had a wonderfully relaxing and sun-filled time together hanging out on the beach, in the pool, at the all-you-can-eat buffet, and in our extra special rated condo which allowed us to visit the all-you-can-eat buffet more than once!

We started with a mini-pedicure for Miss Ella Bella. She surprisingly sat through it without much squirming. We all know it's important to have those tootsies looking nice when you're enjoying sandal weather...

Next, we put on the bikini, sunscreen and wide-brimmed hat and took to the sand and sea! Ella loved the sand, and especially liked putting it in her mouth! Here is one of her first experiences with the grainy stuff. Later, I was able to tell her all about how God's thoughts towards her outnumber the grains of sand on the seashore. We counted all the grains that were on her body...lost count at about 4...but there were probably a couple million on her alone. I think she grasped the object lesson! :)

Though we never made it out to the beach nicely dressed and picture perfect, we did end up with a cute shore-shot.

As you can see, it didn't take long for Ella to figure out what to do with all that water...splish, splash! Brandon was great with her in the water. He took her out to experience the waves, and though I was a little trepedacious about the situation (I'm not much of an ocean person anyway), it was fun to see the two of them enjoy one of his all-time favorite things together.

I can't forget about the food aspect of the trip...possibly my favorite. We love seafood, and don't even get me started about our passion about crab legs. We hit up 2 all-you-can-eat buffets (Crabby Mike's-3 out of 5 stars, and Benjamin's Original Calabash Seafood-5 out of 5 stars) and an old favorite from my previous trips to MB, Tripp's Steakhouse at Broadway on the Beach (4 out of 5 stars due to small glasses that never quenched our thirst, the 100 degree environment, and the fire alarm that went off not 30 seconds after I cut into my blue cheese encrusted filet mignon). Benjamins, by far, was the best. From the moment we walked through the parking lot, we were greeted with friendly staff and great customer service. We also had some of the best seafood...fresh fish on the grill, steaks, veggies, too much yummy fried items, coconut fried shrimp (another favorite) and, of course, all the crab legs we cared to eat. We'll just say that they don't make their money off of people like us. Brandon put down at least 11 plates that night. We counted.

Here are more fun pics of our trip: