Myrtle Beach and a Japan Update

Our trip to Myrtle Beach was just what we needed to unwind. After starting the first couple of nights with a bang (and being quickly reminded by our bodies that we are no longer 21 years old and cannot drink like that anymore!)...we mainly relaxed by the pool, read our books, and floated on the lazy river.

This was our first night in our condo, Michael was really excited to play bartender for everyone. In case you are wondering, we were trying to "kill" our entire liquor cabinet b/c none of it can go with us to Japan!! (We failed miserably)Mat and Sara at Hard Rock (where I somehow came home with a "Hard Rock" tumbler all packaged up?!) I like this picture b/c Mat looks funny. It's going to be sad, and very strange, not to see Sara everyday once we move.
Our adventure the second night we were there was to Medieval Times. It was a lot of fun...helped along by the bartender giving Mat and Michael free drinks all night (and Sara and I free "sparkle glasses" b/c we weren't drinking) long b/c they were Marines and so was the bartender's brother.
The food was (surprisingly) REALLY good! You don't have any utensils to use so you had to drink the soup and eat everything else with just your fingers.
This was our knight. The RED KNIGHT!! We ended up being bad guys trying to overthrow the king...go figure. Sara and I kept commenting on his beautiful, luscious locks of hair. (It seemed really funny to us at the time anyway)

After Mat and Sara left we became the lazy couple that we usually are. I was able to pursuade Michael into taking me to Alligator Alley up in North Myrtle Beach. It was AMAZING!! I have become obsessed with alligators since moving to NC (they actually just caught a 7-footer here on base and then released it at an undisclosed location...on base. Whatever.)

These are pictures of Utan. He's the biggest alligator in captivity in the world!! I failed to take a picture of his specs tho and I can't remember them exactly. (12 feet long?)

Here are some of the alligators after the feeding time.

This is an albino alligator.

...and after all of those cool things (including a trip through the snake area where they had a black mamba, all sorts of 8-10 foot pythons, etc)...these turtles were Michael's favorite part of the excursion.

As for our move to Japan...of course the Marine Corp has to make it more difficult than it should be (at least PMO is)...thats who books our plane tickets... We now are not able to fly out of Sea-Tac until Aug 2nd...won't land until 1500 on Aug 3rd...and Michael is supposed to check in by midnight Aug 3rd!! This is a Friday...in Okinawa!! People are off of work by about noon!! When you add on the baggage of getting me to a hotel, the kids through their quarantine check, to the boarding facility, and to the vet within 72 hours (without our own car) -- it doesn't seem quite feasible. We'll see. My biggest gripe about all of this is that they won't allow our animals up in the cabin with us b/c they're stupid. Piglet has flown all over the US without a problem, but now that it is an AMC (military charter) flight, there are issues. They were so excited to fly in their Sherpas too. Just to be a pain...I'm sending Piglet on the plane in her crate that could house a Great Dane. It's within the weight restrictions. So there. (that's me sticking it to The Man).

Here's Bailey all snuggled up...