2nd Annual Henninger Family Vacation

This weekend we went to Myrtle Beach,SC for our 2nd Annual Henninger family vacation! John and I left Friday afternoon and we met up with his parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. We immediately checked into our room and loaded it up and then all of us went to Wal-Mart to purchase groceries for the extended weekend. After grocery shopping we went back to the rooms and ordered pizza for dinner. It is always such a fun time for everyone to get together so we had a nice time talking and catching up. Oh and we had to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins game - ugh - ha! No, I am sure I have mentioned that the Henningers are from Pittsburgh, PA, so that correlates to them bleeding black and gold. Not only does this apply to football, but since ALL of the professional teams in Pittsburgh are black and gold it requires you to be a fan of all P-burgh teams. Well, it was a good night because the Penguins pulled it off and WON the Stanley Cup. I was grateful that Detroit did not win and also VERY grateful that I did not have to watch an octopus be thrown onto the ice by the fans. I would have been upset having to watch that.

Soon after the game Rebecca and David joined us on the porch - they came in from Charlotte, NC. After a couple of hours of hanging out we decided that it was bedtime. We had all been traveling all day so we were pretty tired and ready to sleep so that we could wake up fro a fun day! Once John and I REALLY got into our room (earlier we had only dropped off our luggage) we were not to happy to see that our A/C was not working. We called the front desk and it was taken car of in the morning, but unfortunately sleep was not too easy when it was so hot.

Morning came and John, along with Brad and his dad, went to play golf. The rest of us had a lazy beach and pool day. The place we stayed at was a hotel and also had condos, but it had 4 pools, 2 lazy rivers, 5 or 6 hot tubs, and it was right on the beach. The name was Sea Watch and it was such a nice place to relax. My day was spent mostly at the beach. While I was applying my sunscreen and wearing my straw hat I started thinking to myself how I would never wear sunscreen 5 years ago. I was passionate about being in the sun soaking up all of the rays and determined to keep my golden tan year long - yes which meant spending many hours in the tanning bed. It is crazy to think that now I am obsessed with wearing sunscreen and applying it multiple times throughout the day as well as wearing my big hat - which by the way there was this lady there with the CUTEST hat I have ever seen...I drooled over it. After a day in the sun and golf we all went out to dinner for John's mom's (Nikki's) birthday. Her actual birthday is on the 24th, but we had an early celebration. We didn't know if we were going to be able to go because there was a heavy rain mixed with a ton of thunder and lightening. The restaurant we went to was overlooking the ocean and a very nice place to eat - Sea Captains House Restaurant - where they offered land and sea cuisine. Before our table was ready we were able to hang out in the back where it overlooked the beach and there was a man playing music - Jimmy Buffet and that type of stuff. It was a great atmosphere. Next, after dinner, we ventured back to our home for the weekend and spent some time out in the lazy river and the hot tub. It was a nice and relaxing time.

Sunday morning we were supposed to take a big family picture, but instead we made it a beach/pool day. Bec and David headed back home that morning as well. The remainder of the day was spent by the pool and just enjoying time with the family. That night we ate tacos and had the cookie cake we bought for Nikki's birthday. Rebekah and I were going to have the cake say "Happy Birthday Tom's wife" because she referred to me when talking to Gavin (our nephew) as "Uncle John's wife" and I won't let her forget that! Instead we settled for "Happy 50th Birthday Nikki". After cake and ice cream we headed towards the SunCruz Casino boat for a little fun on the gambling boat. We like to play card games and roulette, but we definitely do not take it too seriously. On the boat John saw a guy with a Kappa Sigma shirt and we made friends with him and then found out his girlfriend is an ADPi like me! We took one of our "diamond" pictures and within 5 seconds the security team was there to ask if we were taking pictures. I was allowed to keep my camera (and my picture) and we didn't take anymore pictures inside the boat. Oh and I am sure I will have to mention the fact that I fell and busted my butt walking to the boat - it was actually more of a slipping around and catching myself (twice) and not landing on my butt - it was hilarious.

Monday we woke up and finally took a family picture in our white shirts and jeans on the beach. We then proceeded to gather all of our things together and check out of our rooms. After saying goodbye to everyone John and I ventured to Surfside beach and met up with a couple that we met on our honeymoon - Brent and Jamie for lunch. It was great to see them after two years and it was as if no time had passed. After our visit we headed back home.




On the way we stopped to see the progress on our house and we took a few pictures of it!!


Once we got home within 1 minute my parents asked us if we wanted to go on a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean. Apparently everyone in the family is going and John was able to get off work - so we are going!! As of today we are all booked! Last night we also went to meet up with two of my very close friends and their husbands - we went to Wild Wings!

Cindy/Craig (John & I) Melissa/Jonathon

So, with all of the fun and excitement I had this weekend I also had a few moments of reflection about Hudson. I kept thinking to myself that if things had gone as planned that Hudson would have been almost 3 months old during this trip. Instead of hanging out at the pool and beach all day I would have been on nap and feeding schedules. Instead of late nights with everyone and going to the casino boat I would have had to first make arrangements for Hudson. This was supposed to be Hudson's first trip to the beach, his first time really getting to hang out with his cousin Gavin and his trip Henninger family vacation. Today marks the 5th month that we have been going through our grief of losing Hudson. Has dealing with the grief gotten any easier? Yes, a little, but everyday there are new situations that open up the deep and heavy heart that John and have. The more I watch parents with their children each day and the way they treat their little ones the more I want to scream at them that they should count their blessing because I would in one instant trade places with them.