They stopped renting out the house we used to stay in, so we had to find a new one. While there were things we missed about the other one, there were two things that made this one a winner. Item 1: The bunk room. Molly wasn't ready to join the party yet, but my kids slept in there together. They probably didn't sleep as much as they would have if they were on their own, but they weren't in our room and THAT was a beautiful thing. Plus, Molly and Sam really enjoyed climbing all over the beds, up the ladders, and playing "Bed" together. I mean, how sweet is this:
Items 2: The view. Its not an oceanfront house, but some skilled design allowed for beach views from a couple of rooms, including a nice balcony. Not too shabby my friends, not too shabby. And a nice short walk to the beach with all the short people and their gear ;-)
The beach. We have two little beach bums in our house. I am so very thankful! Sam was in his element from the moment his toes hit the sand. Every time we went down there he was non-stop, moving from one activity to the next without more than 30 seconds to pause in between. There was football throwing with the boys and sandcastle building with mommy. There was wave jumping and paddle ball with Papa and tide pool swimming with Baby Belle. There was "beach wrestling" with Uncle George and Shark Spotting with the entire beach. I'm not kidding, but more on that later. The boy would get knocked down HARD by a wave - hard enough that I'd hurry over to pull him out of what I was sure was a near-drowning situation - and he'd pop up laughing. He always wanted to go deeper. And oh, there are treasures to be found on the beach!
Annabelle developed a real appreciation for playing in the water on this trip! Those little tide pools that appear when the tide heads out were her very favorite spot. The water gets all warm and its shallow enough for her to be on her own. She found a little slide she liked to use to get in, and enjoyed the challenge of climbing out at the steepest part. She would sit, walk, splash and crawl. She even demonstrated a self-taught (assuming she learned through observation) skill for bubble blowing in the water! Don't get me wrong, she also enjoyed the big ocean - so fun to have grown ups help you fly over the waves. She would run towards them, too! And she also enjoyed digging and filling her buckets.
The pool didn't get quite as much love this year. Everyone enjoyed it just fine, but there were no elaborate games, or even really any times when all of us were out there at once. I have no pictures of the pool. But Sam did display his new swimming skills and Annabelle enjoyed floating in Molly's raft, and throwing the rockets to the bottom, announcing "Uh-Oh" and demanding that someone retrieve them so that she could repeat the activity. The adults enjoyed lounging pool-side during nap time.
We did head out on the Island a few nights. Once we went to "the place where the cook right in front of you" (Kurama, the Japanese Steak House), which was a huge hit with both of my children. Turns out Sam is quite adept with the kiddie chop sticks (he calls them pork chops, and asked for a pair recently when I served pork chops for dinner) and that my daughter love hibachi shrimp. One night we went to The Wreck of the Salty Dog, where the kids enjoyed some type of street performer outside the restaurant so much that it was difficult to get them to eat. We're talking tutu's, hula hoops, wigs, silly songs and more. And of course we did Harbor Town for dinner at Crazy Crab and a performance by Greg Russel. My preschooler sat on this stage this year! Yes, I was a few feet behind him, but he was up there, paying attention, listening to the songs and having a good time with it. He's really getting into music for the first time, and its fun to watch. Annabelle played in the grass during the show, but she had fun with that. Oh, and Greg talked to me. He asked who in the audience had come as children and was now back as a parents, and of course Kristen and I raised our hands. He pointed to us and noted that we hadn't made it too far (still sitting on the edge of the stage with our preschoolers) and asked if we were nannies or moms. Ha! If only I traveled with a nanny!
Two anniversaries were celebrated, as well! Gommy and Papa only got a key lime pie as recognition of theirs (and only after Kate stole their forks!), but Chris and I actually got to go out on a date to a fancy restaurant while the other 6 adults fed our kids and put them to bed. Ahhh.
In order to optimize the timing of our return trip, the Hunnifords and Stegmillers didn't leave the Island until after lunch on Saturday. The left us some time to kill once the house had been packed up, so the 7 of us hit Harbor Town again. This time we got to climb the light house and play on the really awesome playground they have their now. We hit up Hilton Head Diner for lunch (Sam went twice that day. He got to join the early-leavers for their breakfast there as well. He sat down with us and said, "Hmm, what should I order this time?!"). The table split an order of Oreo Pancakes, which was an excellent decision.
So there we have it, Hilton Head Island 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment