Vacation: Dad's post

There are so many things that your child will do that makes you proud. You get so much joy as you watch them start to enjoy the things that you enjoy. Trey has been experiencing so many new things in the past few months. Vacation was a whole new ball game.

One of our first stops was a meal at Sticky Fingers, only the best ribs restaurant in the universe. Honestly, if there was such a thing as aliens, and they ate meat, we would all know because they would eat there. They have about eight different sauces for the ribs including the best, in my opinion, Memphis original. This is not the tangy bbq that many are use to. That would be the Carolina style, which they also have. The Memphis style still has the bbq taste with a hint of sweetness. It is a good smooth flavor. I recommend it highly, but I'll get back to the blog.


Trey had the opportunity to try ribs. I tore some small pieces off and put them on his plate. He was unsure of the texture at first, he hasn't eaten a lot of meat, but he seemed to enjoy it. He continued to reach for the meat until Ashley decided his blood pressure would rise and we needed to stop.
One big thing about going to Myrtle Beach to me is hitting the Nike outlet. The basketball coaches always attend a Nike coaches clinic at Myrtle Beach in April and the Nike outlet is one of the stops. We had to go on vacation to check for any deals and to add some of dad's style to Trey's wardrobe.

Trey helped me look at the dri-fit golf shirts. He seemed to be more interested in the colors than the prices. I, on the other hand, was more concerned with the price. He will learn, because both of his parents have been accused of being "tight" at times. I take that as a compliment.

Vacations are a time to relax. Because of logistics (people in their rooms, location, or just desire) Trey had several naps on me. Since he was a little baby, I let him sleep on me from time to time. I think he is comfortable their and will nap their with no problem. He did have one 2 1/2 hour nap on me. Needless to say, I got a little sleep with that one.

Not pictured is probably the strangest nap. Trey fell asleep on me at the putt-putt place. I played the last 4 or 5 holes with one hand. I will add that I scored a par on every hole with a 1 year old in the left arm. Maybe I could try this when I play real golf and it would improve my game.

Trey couldn't find me while I was taking a shower one day. He thought maybe he could peek under the door to see if I was in the bathroom.

Now the fish tale. I enjoy sharks, for some odd reason. I watch shark week on TV and I will only consider a trip to the aquarium a success if they have a shark tank. On our last day, as Ashley, Trey and I were in the ocean, I noticed some small fish jumping out of the water. From my days working with fishing guides, I realized that they were probably being chased by something and I started looking around with the word "shark" in the back of my mind. When I turned around to the shore, people were waving us in. I calmly (seriously) grabbed Trey and told Ashley that we should get out. I didn't reply to her with a reason until we were a little closer to the water. As we were getting close to the beach, I actually saw the shark in the water about 15-20 feet away. He was between us and the beach and was about 4 feet long. After we were on the beach, we watched for about 20 minutes as he surfaced a few times with the fin showing in the water just like on shark week or the movie Jaws.

I thought it was great that we had swam with "sharks" and it kind of freaked Ashley out. Trey didn't seem worried too much about it, but needless to say it ended our time in the water. The lifeguard said that sand sharks don't attack people, but we didn't want to be in the percentage of people that do get attacked. Great story and by the time I have grandchildren, it will be a 30 foot long great white shark that I fought off with my bare hands.