Hilton Head

After our exciting week of birthday celebration and shots, we got to head to Hilton Head. We left Friday, but Lani had to first go to school so during Chapel she could go on stage and be wished Happy Birthday. Every child that has a birthday that week gets to go on stage and say hey to mommy's and daddy's and then everyone sings Happy Birthday to them.
So after that, we headed out for the week long trip to Hilton Head. In one car was me, Robert, my sister, her baby, Zoe and then Ella. We were in Robert's dad suburban so we had plenty of room. In the other car was mom, dad, Lani, Cole and Judah. So as we head down the road mom had packed food for us to have a picnic. On the other side of Columbus, we look on the GPS for a park area. It finds one and we head to it...it showed green space, but all we saw was a trailer park :) No stopping for picnic there and we headed to our usually stop at Lane's which is similar to the Peach Park. We ate our lunch while be attached by flies and then let the kids play on the playset for a little bit before heading on down the road. We got to Hilton Head around 8:30 and had to get the kids straight to bed.

Here is a run down of our week (Beau came down Sunday and Robert had to leave Tuesday):

1. We got to stay in 2 two bedroom condos instead of our normal 3 bedroom condo. Mom and dad in one with Cole, Lani and Judah. Me, Robert and Ella and Ashley, Beau and Zoe in the other. It worked out great except Lani and Judah kept talking at night and wouldn't go to sleep so Judah had to sleep on a pallet in the room with mom and dad. Of course Lani and Cole woke up all week around 6:00 - glad we were in the other condo - thanks MOM!!


2. We started things off with Ella tripping out the door to the patio and busting her lip up bad. She had a big cut inside and it got swollen for a few days, but she was good to go.


3. We swam a lot and the kids loved it. Cole was doing awesome swimming by himself and Lani did well also. Ella and Judah would play in the pool, but had fun in the splash water area. We threw Lani and Cole in the air and let them land in the water. By the end of the week, my dad and Beau were throwing Lani way up in the air. She loved it. But every time Beau would throw her he would say "oh no" b/c it was so high and she would start to do flips and he thought she would get hurt. But she loved it and kept going back for more.


4. We did smores one night at the firepit which is always fun for the kids. Ella kept eating all the marshmallows and Lani had fun roasting hers. We then went to the ocean while it was low tide and the kids got to run around in the water and play. That's the best time to go out there. It's totally different from our beaches in the gulf and not nearly as pretty, but it can be a lot of fun.


5. We rented bikes and went riding several days. I took the bike trailer for Ella, Lani and Judah rode on the bakes of the big bikes and Cole had his own. We rode a little to far one day and Cole got very tired, but he made it back.


6. There are activities for the kids so one day the 3 older ones went to a pirate party. Mom and dad took them and they got to go on a scavenger hunt. Cole found the prize for everyone and then they got to make necklaces. They had a good time. The next day Lani got to go to the Princess party which she had done last year. She got to dress up in a princess dress and have a cookie and juice. Then she made a bracelet and a tiara. She loves it!


7. We played putt-putt one night. Last year we got there and had just started playing and Lani started not feeling good. She had a temp and didn't want to walk anymore. So we missed getting to play and took her back to the condo to get medicine and go to bed. So it was fun to get to play this year. Me, Beau, Cole, Lani and Judah played while mom and Ashley kept up with the little ones. The course is a lot of fun with waterfalls and such. Judah did not want anyone to help him and had fun playing on his own. Lani and Cole ended up with the same score and I beat Beau - good game though Beau!


8. Lani met a little girl at the pool named Annie. Of course she loved her name b/c she is all into Annie now. She was just a little older and so sweet. We got to know the family and they were very sweet. They live in NC and come to Hilton Head the same time each year that we do. So hopefully we will get to know them better and the kids will have fun playing. Dad is going to try and play golf with the men next year.


9. We went to the Sandbox which is a fun interactive playhouse for the kids. They have a post office area, an airplane cockpit, a kitchen, a rock climbing wall, a pirates ship, a construction area and then upstairs is books, arts and crafts and puppets. It is very cute and the kids love it. We had a little picnic outside (which went much better this time) before heading inside. They played with everything and had fun before heading back to take naps.


10. One night me, Robert, Ashley and Beau got to go out to eat dinner by ourselves. Oh, how nice! We went to Truffles, same as last year, and the food was so good! We enjoyed our evening out and are so thankful to mom and dad for keeping the 5 kids for us!


I think that sums up the week! It was a great time with lots of fun activities to do! We look forward to our family trip every year! Thanks mom and dad for a great vacation!