We went back to the same house again in 2018!
The night we left (at midnight), I let the kids stay up
kinda late since I wanted them to sleep in the car. Dave went to bed as early
as possible so he could be the first driver. Lucy invited Max to a sleepover in
her room!
We'd gotten a
POD a few weeks prior to load a lot of our stuff in preparation for listing our
house and moving...so I got the kids all set up in Lucy's bed - AKA a mattress
on the floor - and the iPad to watch a movie. Max didn't last too long!
They spent a
lot more time awake than I would have liked (watching movies) but they were
good and mostly stayed quiet...and they did have stretches of sleeping, too. We met at Jeff & Ema's house and departed at 12:15 and pulled into the parking
lot for brunch at 9:45.
9.5 hours was a little longer than the previous year but still, not bad!
9.5 hours was a little longer than the previous year but still, not bad!
There was a
short wait to get into the restaurant - a place called Stacks - but we were
happy to stretch our legs!
We'd hoped we
could check in early but didn't end up getting into our place until 3:30pm. But
we made sure our swimsuits were easily accessible in our cars so we killed some
time at the community pool. Not too many others were there so we felt like we
had the pool to ourselves, which was nice!
Once we'd
checked in and gotten settled, the moms went to Kroger while the kids relaxed. We
brought pizza back from Fat Baby Pizza (which we all thought was just okay).
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| Matching t-shirts and matching rosy cheeks! |
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| "resting" |
The kids
explored in the backyard for a bit after dinner, before pj time. We stayed in
the same place as the year before and the kids seem to think it's
"our" summer home (if only!).
On Sunday morning, Jeff wasn't feeling his best after
getting a nasty sunburn the day before so he hung back and we split up for a
bit. The Meyers family got on our bikes and headed to the beach while Ema took
Luke & Ellie to the pool for a bit before we all met back up to eat lunch.
We rented bikes
last year, but not until after we got there...so the first day, we walked to
the beach...and it was a brutal hike. The bikes were a game-changer! And
knowing about them and ordering in advance so that they were delivered the same
day we checked in was a big win, too!
Low tide meant
the kids had a huge strip of water to play in, without having to wear their
life jackets...they called it the "little ocean." Lucy had tons of fun
with her Barbies! The kids even caught a crab (though I'm pretty sure it was
already dead which made the capture pretty easy...).
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| More matching shirts! |
After lunch, Dave and I took a quick bike ride before we all headed to the pool together.
Again, we practically had the pool to ourselves.
That evening,
we had a quick dinner at McDonald's before going to play some pirate putt-putt.
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| The cool kids table |
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| Not sure what Ellie had spotted but it must have been cool! |
On Monday, we all headed to the beach together.
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| Ells loves selfies! It was pretty breezy... |
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| The wind knocked the hat of her head...which cracked her right up! |
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| He buried his own legs in the sand... |
After some fun in
the sun, we headed back to our place to eat some lunch and then the dads went
to play golf.
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| I'd won this cup at a shower a few weeks before vaca It says "Cheers Beaches" on it... Maybe not completely appropriate for my 7-year-old but she loved it and stole it as her "vacation cup" |
Cutie little sharks in their matching shark tanks!
Moms & kids headed across the parking lot to the pool. The pool was a bit more crowded this time but that didn't bother anyone!
When the guys got
back, they hung in the pool with us for a bit before we headed home to made spaghetti
for dinner.
The kids got a good night's sleep!
On Tuesday, we
started at the beach again before heading back to the house for lunch.
It was the perfect day to fly the kites! Max had his Cars kite, Lucy had her Barbie kite, Luke had a Star Wars kite and Ellie had an Elsa kite, of course!
After the beach, it was the moms' turn to get away - for a bit of outlet shopping!
While we shopped, the kids rested and hit the pool with the dads and us gals brought home dinner - pizza from a place called Giuseppi's which we all loved.
It was the perfect day to fly the kites! Max had his Cars kite, Lucy had her Barbie kite, Luke had a Star Wars kite and Ellie had an Elsa kite, of course!
After the beach, it was the moms' turn to get away - for a bit of outlet shopping!
While we shopped, the kids rested and hit the pool with the dads and us gals brought home dinner - pizza from a place called Giuseppi's which we all loved.
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| Matching suits from Gymboree! |
That evening, Lucy and I took a little walk and spotted SO MANY frogs! This one was hopping ahead of us for quite awhile (before he hopped into the grass).
Wednesday - more
beach fun!
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| Max wore himself out at the beach that day! |
We ate lunch at
the house and then spent the afternoon at the pool before heading back home for
a grill-out.
A quick photo shoot after nap, before pool:
We finished the
day with a bike ride to Hilton Head Ice Cream...yum!
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| Lots of matching...too cute! |
On Thursday, we
started at the beach again. There is a dock / pond right before the bridge to get to the beach where the kids liked to stop and spot turtles.
The kids had fun in the "little ocean" playing with the Barbies Lucy had brought.
We spotted some horseshoe crab shells - pretty neat!
It was so hot that the lens on my phone camera kept fogging over and I forgot to wipe it off before taking these pics (it was also so bright and sunny that I couldn't see the images on my phone screen!).
After some time spent at the beach, we had lunch
back at the house and headed back to the pool after that.
Someone can't quite get the hang of taking selfies...
Pool fun:
That evening,
we picked up BBQ sandwiches for dinner from a tasty place called One Hot
Mama's.
On Friday, we changed things up by going to the pool in the morning before
heading back to the house for lunch. But first, a little sidewalk-chalkin'!
That afternoon
while Ellie & Jeff napped, the Meyers four plus Lukey & Ema went on a pirate
cruise! It was a lot of fun...we got there and got checked in (after buying tickets online) and the kids got decked out like little pirates! They could choose a vest or a scarf and could get their face painted. Lucy stuck with a red heart on her cheek but the boys got awesome pirate facial hair! We also got a sword for all of them.
All of the kids had to work to find the treasure and overcome some obstacles...when we first boarded, the crew gave me and Dave a role - mine way pretty low key but Dave was accused of hiding the key to the treasure check, causing him to get attacked by all of the foam sword-wielding mini-pirates on board!
They talked to a sneaky pirate who approached our "ship" who said he'd trade them the treasure key for the "monkey" - and I was the "monkey!" They'd have to toss me overboard!
Luckily the little pirates decided NO DEAL!
Instead, they all attacked him with the water cannons!
In the end, they all got some treasure - hooray!
Afterward, we couldn't resist stopping for some ice cream...and the ice cream smearing into the "facial hair" on the boys' faces was quite a good look!
We rode our
bikes to Callahan's for dinner that evening.
We found this little sports bar the previous summer and liked it because it was within an easy bike ride from our place plus there weren't many people in there which meant the kids could be a little louder and could roam a bit. We went back this year and had a similar experience. Not the greatest find of all time but definitely worth going back with kids.
Later, the four of us went to the beach to say our goodbyes...another great family vaca!
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| Goodbye, beach! |
We packed up the car and got a bit of sleep and then hit the road for home at about 12:10am.
