A much needed vacation

On August 8th, Jason and I headed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a much needed vacation. Prior to this beach trip, it had been EIGHT years since we had been to a beach. It had been over ten years since we had been to a "local" beach (eight years ago we went on a cruise, so those beaches were obviously far, far away from home).

Going that long without going to the ocean is strange for me. I grew up about an hour from the coast - just a hop, jump, and a skip away. Now it's about a 4+ hour trip, depending on where we're going.

On that Wednesday, we took a half day from work before heading home to finish packing and getting things ready. Finally we were on our way. About 4 hours later, we got to our hotel.

Our resort was awesome. We had access from the resort to a private beach. As soon as Jason and I checked in, we tossed our bags into the room and immediately headed for the shore. Too excited to care about changing into bathing suits. We just wanted to get our feet in the water.

I could've stood there forever.

After standing in the ocean for an indeterminate amount of time (literally, just standing there, looking at the grand infinity "pool" we were standing in, speechless), we decided to head back to our room and freshen up before heading out to dinner.

Across the street from our hotel was an outdoor mall/pavilion called Barefoot Landing. A lot of touristy shops and restaurants. We wandered in and out of stores, just seeing the sites, taking it all in. Enjoying life. We finally decided we were hungry and - being at the coast - felt we had to have seafood. I had always wanted to eat a Joe's Crab Shack, and there was one at Barefoot Landing, so we headed there. Of course I had to get one of their bucket o'crab legs (I love crab legs!!). Here's the bib the waitress gave me.

And, boy, did they itch!

The next day, we woke up at 5:45am. Jason had said he wanted to get up early one morning to see the sunrise. Why not? So, we got up and traipsed (sluggishly, mind you) to the beach. Oh, wow, it was so peaceful out there. The sunrise was beautiful. We sat on the sand for a bit, watching the sky lighten up, before heading back to our room. Where we promptly passed back out for a couple more hours.

The whole vacation was just uneventful. Which was perfect. With the stress of our everyday lives and the go-go-go pace we're so used to, we needed this time to recharge. We didn't have any time constraints.

As each day back in our normal (busy) lives takes us further from our time at the surf, those happy days become more so like a dream.

Don't ask why Jason and I haven't been to the beach in so long. I don't have a good answer. But, we've learned our lesson. We'll definitely head back next year. Maybe (hopefully) we'll even make more than one trip.

Two tickets to the gun show

I just have to brag on myself. Get over it, I don't do it nearly enough.

I've been doing Crossfit at Crossfit Amplitude since the end of April. Here's their website, if you want to check out what some of the classes look like http://crossfitamplitude.com/. If you don't know what the moves are, look them up on youtube.

In tonight's class we were working on personal weight lifting records. We worked with three different moves. I've included videos of the movements to help you see what each thing is if you're not familiar.

Back squat:

Shoulder Press (this video also shows 2 other moves we do in Crossfit):

Dead Lift:

Tonight, I did 125lbs on the back squat, 75lbs on the shoulder press, and155lbs on the dead lift.

While those weights are probably pansy weights compared to what other people can lift, I think they are pretty damn beasty. I'm proud of myself.

And, I'm only going to get stronger.