Just sayin’.

The best part?  We went on our adventure after Annabel was asleep and it was “really, really late.”  Like “super late.”  Like the only other kids awake at the same time were the “big kids.”

Bean thought it would be “really, really dark” so we had to bring a flashlight.  (It really wasn’t that dark out at 8 o’clock, but he didn’t mind.  He still used his flashlight. )

It was perfectly warm with an awesome ocean breeze as we searched the wet sand.   He was in his jammies with blue Crocs.  He held my hand as we walked but then he would let it go to run after a piece of white or black or silver shell he saw floating in a foaming wave.  We carefully placed our treasures in a mini blue  pail.

The best part?  It was just me and him. 

Just him and me.

Yes, it’s true.

I actually worked in country radio for many years.  I was the promotions director.  I was in charge of all the fun give-a-ways and I also met a bunch of up and coming artists.  The one thing that struck me the most was that the people in the country music industry are the nicest people around.  From the record reps to the band roadies.  Everyone was just super cool.  It made me enjoy the music more.  I never really listened to any country music before I worked in country radio (well, aside from some old school country my Dad played when I was growing up.) But I learned to really love it and appreciate it.

I’m a fan of mostly the boys – Kenny, Keith, Toby, Alan, Garth, and the cuties from Rascal Flatts.  But there are some great country chicks out there too.  Miranda Lambert is one of them.

Miranda Lambert got her big break on Nashville Star which is basically the country version of American Idol.  She DIDN’T win.  (She was third. I have no idea who actually won.  Isn’t that always the case?)  But it didn’t matter because she was signed to Sony Music and her debut album went straight to number one.  The girl can sing  AND write a great song.  Like this one which I just heard today while driving the kiddies to their swimming lessons.  I was trying not to tear up.  I know it’s been out on country radio for awhile, but I just discovered it. 

Lucky me.

We stayed at the super family friendly Dunes Village Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC.  The key feature for us was the nice covered pool area. (This is very important for my pale family.) 

The pool area also has a lazy river…

and TWO water slides.

Bean was in heaven and could not get enough of it.  Annabel was a little hesitant of all the pool stuff the first day. But by the second day, she was a little princess mermaid.   She would sit with me for an hour in the kiddie pool area and just swim around in circles.

She also liked to lounge with me at the beach.  I could not ask for a better companion.  Something about the salty ocean air must really mellow a crazy 2 year old because she was my beach chair buddy.

Daddy and Bean did a lot of sand castle building and wave jumping.

And each day ended with ice cream on the balcony. 

Annabel always had “pink” (strawberry) ice cream from the ice cream parlor.  Bean always wanted a fudge bar from the freezer because that’s what he picked out from the grocery store the first night we arrived.

Family. Pool.  Beach.  Ice Cream. 

Perfect.

'The Hills' cast (clockwise from l.): Lo Bosworth, Kristin Cavallari, Lauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge, Whitney Port and Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. (Getty; WireImage)

But then, BAM! The big surprise ending.  Brody Jenner is waving a (sorta) tearful goodbye to Kristin who is heading off to Europe for the summer. Just then the iconic Hollywood sign behind Brody starts to move and it is revealed that he is on a sound stage.  The cameras and crew members come out.  Brody starts to smile and clap. The car with Kristin stops and she runs over to give Brody a finale hug.  (And…SCENE.)

Hilarious.  One of the best finales ever.   I loved it.  I’m glad they FINALLY let us in on the joke. I think we all suspected the show was mostly scripted, didn’t we?  But then I read about these “characters” constantly in US Weekly and various entertainment websites.  Were they really fighting or hooking up?  Was it all fake?  I mean Heidi’s ten plastic surgeries can’t be staged?  I will admit it was hard to believe Kristin and Justin Bobby ever liked each other when they were dating.  And then I read about Brody dating pop star Avril Lavigne (he tweets about it too) while he is supposedly single on The Hills and heading to Costa Rica with Kristin and the gang for an impromptu vacation.

So now I’m left thinking about The City and The Jersey Shore and all the other MTV reality shows.  (Or ALL reality shows for that matter.) Should I now assume most of them are scripted?  Or at least partially scripted?

The answer is probably yes, but either way, that Hills ending was genius MTV.  Just genius. 

YES, Bethenny Frankel did get married! 

To her cute fiance Jason Hoppy.  And she was 8 months preggers.  It was a zany and emotional episode that included some really romantic vows and Bethenny peeing in an ice bucket.  I was on the edge of my seat wondering if she was going to castrate her wedding planner if the red velvet wedding cake wasn’t to her liking.  (She liked it.  PHEW.)

Bethenny has that way about her that is equally shocking and endearing.  She is so much fun to watch and she seems to walk the line very well between just being herself and being a really great entertainer.  (And she’s got some awesome one-liners.)

She started her reality television training on The Real Housewives of NYC in which she “played” a wannabe desperate housewife.  We learned about her struggle to find the right guy and settle down.  We watched her fight with the other women. (Team “Kelly is Crazy!”)  We learned she didn’t have any close family ties.  We watched her move from a natural food chef to a business diva with projects that included two best selling books, a fitness DVD, the creation of the Skinnygirl Margarita, and a national Peta campaign in which she posed nudie for a Times Square billboard.  And, oh yeah, she was on the cover of last week’s PEOPLE magazine.

But the entire time we were witnessing the emergence of a true reality star, she remained relatable.  She was candid.  She cried. She was open.  She was REAL.

Then, she got her own show: Bethenny Getting Married?  Well, it’s a specialty show for now.  I thought the short series would be over when she actually GOT married, but now the cameras are following along for the honeymoon.  You have to give props to a woman who lets the cameras follow her to St. Bart’s for her honeymoon while she’s about to pop.  (That episode airs this Thursday at 10 PM EST on Bravo TV.)

My hubbie met Bethenny when she came to our city for a Southern Women’s Show appearance last year.  I am still kicking myself because I could not get out of kid wrangling to go and meet her.  Hubbie did get me an autograph, but I would have loved to have met Bethenny in person. To shake her hand. Or to give her a hug.  Or to just tell her she’s one cool chick.  Now I probably won’t get the chance because she is on the path to being an even bigger star.  (Bethenny Getting Married? was Bravo TV’s highest rated freshman series ever.)

I hope Bravo TV does give Bethenny a permanent show, because I’d love to watch her zip through her crazy world as a new Mama to baby girl Bryn.

Bethenny’s World. 

There. You can steal that one, B.  It’s on me.

May God Bless America and May God Bless all the brave Americans who are serving, or have served, our awesome country.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

I love this photo of Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross and her adorable twin daughters, Eden and Savannah. 

I especially love the sun protection bathing suits and all the beautiful, curly hair.

Well, what I really need is some QUIET time.  Alone.  In a room. With a blanket over my head.

It’s weird but this is the first time I’ve really felt the LOUDNESS of my life with two kiddies under the age of 4.

And I think it’s because it just got a lot louder LATELY.

Today at lunch I had to tell Bean “Shhh…quiet.  Just EAT.”  I’ve never done that before.

This morning, before lunch, we had to run a quick errand to the library to drop off some books.  The entire two mile trip in the car was just…LOUD.

Bean asks a million questions.   I encourage his curiosity,  I do, but sometime it’s just SO much.  So LOUD.

“Mama, see that cloud, Mama?  That cloud is dark, Mama? Why that cloud so dark, Mama? ‘Cause it’s going to rain, Mama?  Yes, Mama?  YES, MAMA?  YES, MAMA??!!”

“YES, BEAN. Shhh….”

“Mama, see that car carrier, Mama?  Why it have cars on it, Mama?  Where it going, Mama?  Mama, you see it?  See it, Mama?  MAMA!?”

“YES, BEAN.  I see it.  It is carrying those cars to the car place.”  (Car place?  Hey, he fires them fast.)

“Mama, is it going to rain, Mama?  Is it going to thunder, Mama?  Why it thunder, Mama?  And lightning?  Why it lightning, Mama?  Do you hear thunder, Mama?  Is it going to rain?  Is it going to rain NOW, Mama?  Mama?  MAMA?!”

Then combine this with my 2 year old daughter who just WHINES.  “MAA-MAA…MAA-MAA..”

All the time. 

Then, I get tired of hearing MY voice constantly ask HER, “What, Annabel?  What do you want, Annabel?  Use your words, please. What do you want?  What?

“WHAT?!”

I find myself enjoying the 2 hour nap/stay-and-play-quietly-in-your-room time more and more lately because it’s finally QUIET.

Shhh….

Well, great, now it’s thundering.  It’s really LOUD.  I’m going to go lay down.  With a blanket over my head. 

Just for a minute.