Spring Break at Myrtle Beach

Ok fellow moms, lets face it. Spring is here! We can see it in the warm temperatures, sunny blue skies and tons of pink, blue and yellow wildflowers blanketing the field behind my house. For some of us, its wonderful exciting news. We're tired of the cold, the ice, the snow. We've had it with old man winter!

Spring is here. Let's celebrate. Its time for family barbeque's in the back yard, camping out, hunting firefly's at dusk with the kids. Afternoon football games or whatever else your favorite outdoor family activity might be. And of course, for the kids, it's the event they look forward to all year. Second only to summer vacation. Its spring break from school.

I don't know about yours, but my kids have been dropping hints for weeks on what they are hoping to do for spring break. First it was my daughter who casually informed me she needed a new bathing suit for spring break vacation. Then of course, lets not forget my son who just happened to leave his broken boogie board lying on the living room couch. When asked why it wasn't in his room, he replied, " I just left it there so you wouldn't forget I needed a new one for spring break.' And then of course there's the constant question, 'have you made the reservations yet mom, all the good rooms are going to be gone" , ' What parks are we going to at myrtle beach mom", Oh, and lets not forget the myrtle beach travel books left strewn all over every available surface of the house.

So here I am, 2 weeks until spring break, struggling with a dilemma. Either plan a frugal myrtle beach vacation. Or inform my heart broken kids we will be staying home this year. A task I definitely don't want to tackle. But as anyone who has ever tried to take 5 kids to myrtle beach knows, frugal and m.b. at spring break just don't mesh well. it's the busiest, most expensive time of year.

My first stop on my quest to plan the miracle vacation was some myrtle beach websites, there were tons to choose from. But surprise! Nothing with the word frugal in it. Except during the winter, prices for the off season are significantly lower than now. For instance, in December you can stay the whole month for the same price as
you'd pay for the weekend in April. But unfortunately, my kids want to go now, not in December.

Once my search for information on the net failed. My next stop on the information highway is my mom. Who in her typical genius fashion suggest that instead of our usual ocean front room we stay closer inland. Such as Conway or Aynor. Which is about a 15 minute drive from the beach but the prices are much less expensive. Another one of my moms great ideas. And one we've both tried many times, is getting more than one family to travel together and share the cost of the room. It usually means people sleeping all over the floor but hey, its myrtle beach we'll only be using the room for sleeping anyway. Just don't tell the management, they have something called a fire code and more than 6 people in a room violates it. For a few dollars more a night you can even get a kitchenette. You can prepare the majority of your meals in room and save hundreds on restaurant bills. Plan meals for every day you'll be there. Make it fun and take along a tabletop grill for grilling out by the pool. Make it an extra special family day. Just bring along some paper plates and your all set. And as everyone knows when you go walking along the boardwalk. Its hard to resist those delicious smells that emanate from every corner. So take along a picnic basket of sausage dogs with the works, and giant slices of pizza, all cooked in your very own kitchenette. You can also make the kids giant ice cream cones complete with sprinkles and chocolate. Before ever leaving the room. Stop on the beach when you get tired of walking and have a picnic. Of course, for those times when you absolutely have to eat something you haven't cooked yourself. Choose the smaller restaurants inland and use coupons. Which you can find at any visitor center and on every corner.

There are also several companies who want to sell you something called a timeshare. These companies will offer you everything but a free rolls Royce to view there properties. Free nights in very upscale condos, free restaurant passes, free tickets to amusement parks, and local attractions. All they want in return is for you to view a 45 minute presentation of there program. And hopefully buy one of there timeshare properties. Although you're not obligated.
By the time I found all this out, I was beginning to think our trip was looking hopeful after all. Of course, that still left me with finding activities to keep the kids busy.

Myrtle beach has tons of state parks, which have a low or even free admission. You can take the kids picnicking, play Frisbee, football or basketball. Of course, there's also the reason we go in the first place, the beach! Where they can ride the waves on there boogie boards, spend an afternoon lying in the sun. collecting seashells, walking on the boardwalk. and watching the planes fly overhead displaying there very prominent 2 for 1 dinner and free horseshoe crab with purchase banners. So after all my searching i suppose my family and i will be headed for myrtle beach this spring break. see ya'll later!