Mayhem in Myrtle Beach July 2009

The week at the beach flew by. It was an oceanfront condo with 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths and top of the line appliances I didn't even want to touch. There were 8 beds in the place, including sofa beds, and like the good latinos we are we filled it up with family. My family, my two sisters and their family, Mom and Jose (10 children in our party).

The 8 hr drive down wasn't bad with the kids. After situating ourselves, we went straight to the beach. Oh, the weather was nice. Oh so nice. The water warm, and that nice ocean breeze. The South Carolina people look similar to West Virginians. I guess the biggest difference was their southern accent. They were polite too.

Besides going to the beach, the pool, and eating out with a party of 14 we also got to see the fireworks...actually fireworks all week. They were thrown off the pier while many watched all along the beach on the 4th of July. It was my first time watching firecrackers at the beach. I still like D.C. better but it was nice. There was a firecracker in the shape of a smiley face. Then we celebrated Mom's birthday on the 7th and Winston and I took her to Senor Frog's Nightclub. It was pretty funny jamming with my mom and Jose to Jump Around by House of Pain, and even with Winston for that matter. It was a descent club, nobody disrespectful, and the DJ's even played a merengue for mom and wished her happy birthday.

Let's see we also went to Ripley's Aquarium-I love aquarium's-Ripley's Mirror Maze-a free outdoor show of Ripley's Believe It or Not-Gabriella kept asking me "Mom...did he eat the balloon...where's the balloon?...did he eat the balloon Mom?" This guy got on my nerves with his jokes.

The funnest for the kids was Family Kingdom. Cheaper than King's Dominion, smaller, less exhausting, and still packed with fun. I'd have to say the most fun I had was laughing so hard at the beach with my mom and sisters when we were recreating a pose we took years and years ago when we were at the beach with my mom as children. Together we were remembering the exact pose and who was beside who and I'm not sure if Mom knew what we were trying to do cuz she kep telling Elena "why do you have your hand up like that, put your hand down Elena, stop that"...and then I kept looking at the picture and laughing and looking at the picture again and laughing more til I couldn't breathe. So my plan is to have Elena scan the old picture and put the then a now shots together to give you all a good laugh.

The nicest place we ate at was Captain George's. I highly recommend it. Very yummy and worth every dollar.

No fights, none at all, EXCEPT for a small blow out on the very last day with Mom and Jose in the middle of a restaurant between Jose and I. I felt terrible. We made up and still ate together, but my lack of patience is a shame. It was 2pm and I don't think anybody had eaten an actual meal.

Other funny moments: Gabriella peed on the bed in the early morning, someone else had another accident on another bed, spills by the kids at the restaurants, jokes about the SC serial killer that was on the loose while we were there (he got caught), crying as we watched the MJ memorial together, following Caesar to get to church on time and then we figure out it's on a completely different road, following Alex to get to Aquarium and there went Alex and there we went down the wrong road, Mom and Jose following us to pick a place to eat and Elena and I couldn't decide where to eat and we kept going into parking lots, changing our minds giggling, and then leaving while Mom and Jose were dying to eat, sneaking into the lazy river the resort next to us had even with their big sign that said trespassers will be prosecuted...and other moments I'm probably forgetting-OH MY GOSH-Dimitri, I almost forgot Dimitri, our bulgarian waiter from Captain George's. When Jose was in the bathroom, he was all telling my mom the spanish words he knew like " eres bella, quieres casarte conmigo.."and mom ofcourse was lovin' it-then it was time to check out and so I make Elena (who was reapplying her lipstick after eating) kiss the receipt for Dimitri and I was going to put Lili's # but we didn't, and then there was a book where you could leave your name and comment so I put Elena's name and wrote " I loved Dimitri" and Elena put Lili's name and wrote "from a feel good place in MD" and we're hovering over this book giggling like little mischievous girls.....yes the three of us over 30 and loving the childish play.

And to finish it off, it's one in the morning and we're driving back home when Winston and I decide to switch places, so I'm behind the wheel now, and I'm awake, feeling fine when all of a sudden the car in front of me swerves out of the way abruptly only to leave in front of me this HUGE dead deer-it was HUGE, HUGE. I looked at my mirrors in the split second that I had and didn't have any choice but to hold on to that steering wheel and pray nothing worse would happen-BUH- BOOM-BOOM BOOM-BOOM went my car as it hit the carcass. It was terrible. There was a trailor behind me and another beside that trailor, and as I kept repeating the scene in my mind, all I could think of was those trailors and had I lost control and hit those trailors-no more Peralta Zepeda family or a maimed one. God still wants us alive though. The worst that happened was the bumper partially coming off and a shot alignment. So we get home fine and as we get out of the car the smell of dead deer is so potent I refused to park it in the garage. The next morning we see blood on the tires, on other parts of the car and deer hair under the car. Yuck!

Would I do it again? In a heart beat. (except for that deer accident).

Life is good....even with its ups and downs...life is good.