We asked Jeff & Ema if they'd be interested in vacationing with us and we quickly decided on a destination - Hilton Head island (picked because of the good family-friendly reputation and the less-than-10-hour-drive) and started making plans.
June 23 could not get here quickly enough! Dave had fun playing car-Tetris while I worked that day...everything fit!
We left at around midnight - we just pulled the kids out of bed and stuck them in the car. They were awake more than I expected - especially Lucy - but they did great! Max definitely slept more than his sister but both were pretty quiet even when they were awake.
We didn't have any traffic issues and made it there in just over 9 hours. Well, we almost made it...Lucy tends to get car sick and started complaining that her belly hurt. I gave each of them an applesauce pouch to snack on but soon enough, Lucy's came right back up. Yeah, she started barfing into Kroger bags about 10 minutes before we stopped for breakfast...We ended up pulling into a McDonald's lot so she could get cleaned up and take a short break from the car. Everyone decided to get out and stretch their legs at that point - which was when it was discovered that both Luke & Ellie had soaked through their diapers...and pajamas...and car seats. So our happy little caravan had a barf-mobile and a pee-mobile. But...we were at the beach! Vaca, baby!
Everyone got cleaned up quickly and we were back on the road, headed to a more vacation-ish eatery than ol' MickeyD's.
We went to a beach-front hotel/restaurant and ate outside...and it was HOT! We thought we were in for a sweltering week of sweaty fun in the sun but it turns out that the hour we were dining outdoors in the hot sun was the hottest point of the whole week! We had a tasty breakfast, though, and the kids ate for free which was all the better!
They had a few fun games out on the patio - Lucy and I played checkers for a bit.
It was still too early to check into our place but we were anxious to locate it and take a look (at least of the outside). We pulled in and headed to our complex's pool where we swam for a bit - but it wasn't long before we got the call that we could check in, hooray!
After a bit of splashing around, we headed back across the parking lot to take a look at our home for the week. Lucy was beyond excited about the bunk beds!
They all had fun exploring outside, too. We had screened-in porch as well as a patio and a bit of a backyard. We were staying on a golf course and there was a lake a few feet away from our backyard.
The kids liked walking over to see the turtles. We fed them some food that first day but then the daddies said we were risking luring gators and made us stop feeding the poor little turtles.
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| Vaca besties |
Lucy was super excited about the bunk beds in the kids' room and when Max saw them, he was pumped, too. All day, he said he was going to sleep on the top bunk. Ema was leery about putting Luke up there and he was content with a bottom bunk anyway so we were planning to let Max sleep up top, above Luke.
Lucy was on the top of the other bed and had the bottom bunk reserved for her American Girl dolls.
We'd brought along a bed rail to use for Max - the top bunks had rails but the bottom bunks did not. Since Max was planning to sleep up top, we let Lukey use the rail and it was all set up on his bed. Later in the afternoon, the kids were playing in their room. All day, Max was going up and down the ladder to "his bed" but at one point, he misjudged a step and fell. He was fine but scared - and wouldn't go back up there. I took it as a sign that we probably shouldn't have planned to let him sleep up there anyway and we relocated him to Lucy's bottom bunk (which caused an epic meltdown from her and a dramatic mother/daughter fight because she didn't want to let her human brother sleep where her DOLLS were planning to sleep...). We'd already offered the rail to Luke and it was all set up and I figured Max would be fine anyway.
Oops...he fell out of bed a few hours later...there was a thud and some crying on the monitor. I ran across the hall to find him crying on the floor but I scooped him up and stuck him back in bed - he was never fully awake and it was a smooth replacement. Dave never even woke up or knew that happened.
A couple of hours later - another thud and more crying! Dave heard it this time and raced across the hall, scooped him up and brought him to bed with us. Again, he was fine and had no memory of it the next day (to the point where he argued "No me didn't!" when we talked the next morning about him falling out of bed).
The biggest "duh" moment of the whole scenario, though, was the fact that we could have taken the rail from that top bunk and moved it to the bottom bunk (which we did for the rest of the week).
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| Lukey |
The next day, it was time to find the beach! We loaded up the wagon with a pair of cute boys plus a cooler of essentials, stuck Ellie in the stroller, and put our beach chairs on our backs and headed out.
It was a bit of a trek but worth it when we made it!
Both of my kids literally squealed with delight when they saw the sand and ocean: "The beeeeeeaaaaaaaaach!!!"
We had a lot of fun at the beach for a few hours but then we headed back to the house for lunch. We also looked into renting bikes to make the journey to the beach much easier and they arrived that evening!
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| First ever Meyers family beach photo! |
Dave asked me if I thought we should explain to our kids that the ocean is saltwater and isn't like regular pool water. I thought he was crazy...why give Lucy a reason to be timid right off the bat? She's a goof like that...so we didn't say anything and they both raced right into the waves. Later, Lucy said to me, "Did you know the ocean tastes DEsgusting?!"
Obviously, she figured it out on her own but by then, she didn't care. They both had a great very first day at the beach - in the ocean as well as in the sand.
After lunch, we turned on a movie (probably either Moana or Trolls) and a few people took naps. It started to rain and never really stopped...so we hung out and laid low and ordered pizza from a place called Dough Boys.
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| Lucy really wanted to feed the turtles again so us two sneaked out to do so! |
The kids were all amazing at bedtime again and the moms and dads stayed up for a while to play cards. Day two - success!
The rain had stopped by the next day and we were equipped with our new bikes and were ready to hit the beach again. The excitement of heading to the beach made that first walk adventurous and fun but heading back at lunchtime was a little annoying - the bikes brought the excitement back in full force!
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| This girl (Ellie) loves selfies! |
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| Fine, I like selfies too... |
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| Dave was super pumped to use the selfie stick! |
After some sandy fun in the sun, we packed our bikes back up to head home for lunch and naps. Dave and I went on a little bike ride so I could work on improving my bicycling skills before they let me pull the kids :)
Dave had mentioned that riding the single bike felt no different than riding the bike with two kids attached in a carrier - he said the only difference was it was harder to get going initially. It wasn't until later in the week that Ema and I could confirm that Dave is a big fat liar.
We saw some gators at a little lake (not the one in our backyard) and while Dave high-tailed it out of there, I couldn't resist a gator selfie!
Our house had a patio as well as a screened-in porch off of the living room. The kids soon claimed that as their dining space and ate most of their meals in there together while the parents stayed inside (and watched them come in and out a million times).
Just like at home, Max loved cutting the grass as much as possible!
After our bike ride and the kids' rest, we all headed back across the parking lot to the pool.
Lucy and Ellie were excited to wear coordinating swimsuits!
Lucy got hers for her birthday from the Hicks family
and we couldn't resist buying Ells the baby version...too cute!
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| Ready for the pool! |
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| "Taking a nap" with my babyguy |
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| Grill master preparing our dinner that night |
The next day, we started at the beach again.
After the beach and some lunch, the daddies went out to play golf while the rest of us rested and hung out in our backyard.
We were expecting it to take them longer than usual to golf, thinking the courses would be packed. The mamas and the kids headed over to the pool, planning to be there for a bit before taking the kids back home to feed them dinner - and we planned to eat with the guys later.
Little Miss Snack Attack wasn't a huge fan of the pool...she seems to prefer being able to reach the bottom with her own feet to feel independent and in control. Luckily a popsicle and a box of Cheez-Its worked to distract her a bit!
The guys called when they finished golfing and we were still at the pool; it wasn't even quite dinner time yet. They offered to pick up dinner on their way back so after the pool, we met back at our place to eat - BBQ from Jim 'N Nicks...yum!
We still stuck with the plan of feeding the kids something else, though - lunchables and sandwiches while the grownups feasted on the barbecue.
To put the cherry on top of our super day 4, we went out for ice cream! The closest place we knew of at the time was a DQ so we biked on over. We'd have preferred a local place we couldn't get back home but you really can't go wrong with ice cream anyway!
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| Tickle-tickle! |
Morning-time shenanigans. The kids all loved playing on the screened-in porch...they basically took it over as their own space. Ellie particularly loved escaping out the side door onto the patio and as you can see, she did not particularly care for it when someone told her no or locked that door...
After playing around the house for a bit, we started at the beach again and took our kites with us - Lucy & Max each got one in their Easter baskets from Grandma & Grandpa so I told Ema to make sure to get Lukey one to bring, too.
But first, the girls had to get ready in their matching suits!
The beach - what a perfect place to fly a kite! Jeff and I reminisced about flying them at our Granny & Grandpa's house when we were younger: "Remember how hard we had to work for it? Take off running for like 5 minutes before the kite would even think about getting off the ground? Here, all you have to do is stand there!"
Max kept letting his kite go and Dave kept running after it...
When Max said he wanted to hold it again, Dave handed it over...then Max let it go again...so Dave would run after it...then he'd ask for it back and Dave would give it to him. Jeff was cracking up (as was I) and couldn't believe he kept giving it back to the crazy little guy. Fun times!
That day, the boys found a lot of crabs crawling around and were capturing them in buckets and their trucks - they were on a mission! They thought the little crabs were so cool.
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| This wild woman actually gave in and fell asleep at the beach! |
That afternoon, the moms went to the outlets and the dads and kids went to the pool. We picked up more pizza on the way home - yummy!
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| Cuddly movie time! |
We played cards that night after the kids went to bed - another incredible day!
On Thursday, we changed it up and started at the pool. We inflated way more floats than we needed and had a blast!
After some swimming, the dads headed out to golf again while the rest of us rested. Once my kids woke up, we played around with the selfie stick and sidewalk chalk.
Once the Stallkamps were awake, us mamas decided to take them on a bike ride to an ice cream shop - we found a local one within biking distance. That was when we discovered that Dave lied about how similar riding a single bike was to riding one with a cart full of fools attached. We were literally drenched in sweat when we arrived at the shop and definitely felt like we'd earned the treat!
I had the selfie stick with us and we wanted to get a group pic by the dolphin.
A young kid - maybe around 10? - watched us struggling and was kind enough not to laugh and even offered to take the pic for us. But it was half the fun to squish together to make it happen so we politely declined. There are about 10 more hysterical shots but I love this one with just the top of an orange head!
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| All of us! |
While we biked, I was on the lookout for places to get carry out for dinner that night. We were in a shop getting a couple of souvenirs when the dads called to say they were finished golfing and were hopping on their bikes to find us.
They found us and took over the kid-attached bikes - hallelujah!
On the way back, we passed by one of the places I made a mental note to look up online for dinner and I decided to go in and see if they had a menu I could take with us.
It was a hole-in-the-wall sports bar and there were no other customers in the place...perfect for a group with kids! We decided to break our plan of not going out to eat since we were already there and there weren't any other patrons to disturb with our wild babies.
Max and Lucy ordered grilled cheese and when the waitress asked if I wanted them on white or wheat, I said wheat since that's what we eat at home. Well it wasn't really wheat, it was multi-grain and neither of the kids were a fan of the seedy bread and didn't eat much of their sandwiches. We ended up boxing them up and taking them home with us - but no worries, they filled up on French fries!
Yet another marvelous day of vaca, baby!
On our final day, we wanted to do something - with trying to do both the pool and the beach almost every day, the dads getting some golf in and the moms getting some outlet shopping in plus the mid-day nap requirement, we hadn't ventured too far past our place and wanted to give Lawton Stables a look after having heard so many good things about it.
The kids were so cute in their matching clothes from H&M!
The first thing we did was pet and look at the ponies. There was a sign warning that the ponies could bite so we were kind of watching hands. At one point, Lucy was petting one and suddenly started screaming crying. We were confused and wondered if maybe she'd gotten stung since we could see her hands and they hadn't been bit. But while she was reaching up and over to pet a pony, he ducked his head and stuck it between the rails to bite her on the belly!
It looked red at the time but not bad and she stopped crying quickly but when she changed into her swimsuit later, I gasped at the site of her giant horse bite!
But still, we had a lot of fun at the stables. The three bigger kids went on a little pony ride.
They got to see plenty of other animals, too - goats, sheep, turtles, a donkey, cows, a pig...
Next, we went to Harbor Town to a big playground - we planned to also find somewhere there to eat lunch.
Soon after the kids were done playing, it started to rain. Hard. We took cover but the kids (Max in particular) couldn't resist the puddles and the splashes...
It didn't rain too long but it sure rained hard. We walked into a few shops but there was only one restaurant there and it had filled up when the rain started so we decided to just head back to our place to eat lunch.
Everyone just ate leftovers or whatever they could piece together for lunch - I ended up eating some of the kids' grilled cheese from the night before.
Later, the dads took the big kids over to the pool while the younger ones napped and the moms started packing. By the time Max and Ellie woke up, I was outside working on deflating rafts and separating beach toys. Suddenly, I got so hot and starting having severe stomach cramps to the point where I could no longer stand up straight. Max had come out and I told him I needed to go in and that he needed to follow me and even though he was asking a million unanswered questions, he followed me like I asked. As we were walking in, Ellie was walking out but I managed to call out to Emalee that she was out there and that I was not feeling well.
I got back up to my room and could barely move or talk and then started throwing up. I told Max to go down and and get me a bottled water and though he kept saying things like "why, Mommy?" and "are you barfing, Mommy?" he ended up going down there. I remembered the night before after dinner, he kept saying "My belly hurts" and I joked that it was because he hadn't eaten his dinner - he only ate about one bite of the grilled cheese.
But that afternoon, I ate the whole sandwich! What if I had food poisoning when we were leaving on our 10 hour car ride soon?!
Max brought up the water (such a good boy!) and I drank it and it did not come right back up which I took to be a very good sign. I still felt horrible but was able to move (though my stomach was still so cramped I could not stand up straight all of the way) so I went down to talk to Ema...she gave me a Gatorade to drink, suggesting that maybe I'd gotten overheated and offered to take Max and Ellie across to the pool. I laid on my bed and finished the Gatorade and the water and within a half an hour or so, I felt back to normal. So weird! I guess I had gotten overheated / dehydrated - we were all so glad I wasn't sick (and spreading germs) or food poisoned!
The rest of the night was reserved for packing up but the Meyers family wanted to "say goodbye to the beach" so we biked on over.
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| Goodbye, turtles |
Max...what a fool...fully clothed and he was running into the ocean and crawling along the beach. He was a wet, sandy mess but I am sure he feels he gave the beach a proper goodbye!
Our wonderful week had come to an end and once the cars were loaded, it was time for everyone to try to get a bit of sleep before hitting the road at midnight again.
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| Lukey is one funny sleeper! |
We were so happy we were able to give our kids (and ourselves) such a wonderful beach vaca!
