Myrtle Beach, South Carolina arrival

We left New England on August 12th. My mom flew up from South Carolina into Connecticut on our route and we picked her up to road trip down with us. I'm so thankful for family who jumps on the change to spend days road tripping with us for extra company and helping entertain Hayden. Since we travel with Caleb in our truck pulling our camper and me in our second car, it means Caleb and I are in two separate vehicles on our road trips. It is extra helpful to have one adult in the car with me to hand things to Hayden or give him an activity/toy/snack while I continue driving. 

Our road trip from Vermont & New Hampshire took us through Baltimore. Caleb’s sister, Krista, and her family (who live in Gunnison, CO) are staying for 2+ months of specialized post op care and physical therapy for our nephew Owen in Baltimore. You can read about their medical journey for Owen on https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/owenpennington . Krista asked if we’d like to spend some time with them since we were passing through Baltimore, and of course said YES! We would be there on one of the few days that Owen didn’t have therapy or any appointment. This worked great for us all to stay the night and have a fun outing at the National aquarium the next day. The cousins seemed to love the time they had together and kept on loving on each other with hugs and laughter. We wish we could have spent more time with them. It was special that our paths crossed in Maryland even if for a short visit. 
 

We made it to Myrtle Beach for Caleb’s travel nurse contract a few days before he had to report at the hospital. So we got to spend some extra time with our college friends Kelli & Nathan Sweet at their home. They live in Surfside Beach only about 5 miles from us. He is the pastor at First Baptist Surfside and Kelli is an elementary school teacher. They were so generous having us in their home even in the busy days leading up to the school year starting. Hayden hit it off with their daughter Danielle who is only 7 weeks older than him.  

Caleb is working in the ER at Grand Strand Medical Center. So far this ER has started off as the busiest Caleb's ever worked and he's worked in ten other emergency rooms across the country. If we come to your mind, would you pray for protection over Caleb and other healthcare workers on the frontline. I know there are so many differing opinions on covid, vaccines, conspiracies, big Pharma etc.... I don't want to get into the issues on any side. I only want to share what I can say from Caleb's real life first person experience. And that is covid is on the rise again and it's not fake numbers someone is making up. People are dying every shift he's at work in the ER from covid complications. Many patients are being intubated in the ER because they arrive in unstable conditions. The ER halls have beds with covid patients needing to be admitted to the hospital because they are so sick. These patients are often waiting 48+ hours for a hospital room to be moved out of the ER hallway because the hospital is at full capacity. For medical staff, this means there are really sick covid patients they are treating in the hallway too. This is all on top of the other regular emergent patients coming in to be seen and treated. Please pray for Caleb's mental clarity each shift, strong immunity against getting the virus, and encouragement as it feels like an impossibility to give his patients his best when there are so many needing so much care. I know healthcare worker after healthcare worker across the country are feeling the same way. 

Walking by the moon's glow

I'm thankful we get to be at a beautiful place on the beach where on his days off work Caleb is able to take some deep breaths and breathe in the ocean air and sounds to decompress. He is a wonderful husband and father who has a smile on his face when at home and enjoying time with us. 
Since we are at the beach only about 4.5 hours from our families in Greenville, SC we knew family would come to visit us. This past weekend my brother and sister-in-love came for a couple nights. It had been over a year since we last saw them so it was fun to watch them play with Hayden. Hayden still acted as if he knew them well from all of our video chats even though he hadn't seem them since he was 21 months old. They stayed with us in our camper at the Pirateland RV resort. It will be special to have extra family time on this South Carolina contract. 

Hayden was excited to show Uncle David how the hammock worked

Snuggles with Uncle David

Helping grate cheese with Aunt Nichole

We have a site at Pirateland Family RV Resort on Myrtle Beach. Our camper is a few sites back from the beach so it's a quick walk out there. The picture below shows the view looking at the beach walkway ahead standing in front of our camper. It is nice to feel like we can go out to the beach even if it's only for a quick 10 minute listen to the ocean. Hayden always brings his big shovel along for some sand play. We have been here for a week and we've really only spent one time so far out playing on the beach. Some days have felt too hot to be out there with the real feel temps well over 100. I think as we have more days not quite as toasty we'll get out for some more extended play on the beach and water. Until then, the evenings are our favorite time out on the beach. The sunset colors are beautiful and we love seeing the moon over the ocean. One night we watched a large cloud formation with heat lightning. Hayden is learning about the different types of birds we see at the beach. So far we've spotted pelicans, seagulls, and funny little birds who run on the shore near the water eating something out of the sand and it is fun to see them skedaddle as the water runs up over their tiny feet. We have yet to identify their name. 

More to come from our RV life, beach life, travel nurse life experiences.