Another successful family beach vacation for the books! We headed to Hilton Head, South Carolina this summer to enjoy some sun, sand and ocean air and made lots of lasting family memories.
The girls were great during the cartrip. It takes about 6 hours to drive to Hilton Head from Richmond, but with Lainey in the car, it took more like 10. We stopped for a potty break at least every hour, on the hour and sometimes every 30 minutes!
Because the girls enjoy staying overnight in a hotel just about as much as they enjoy the vacation itself, we stopped at a Hampton Inn just over the South Carolina border. They ran around, jumped on the bed, played hide and seek and scarfed down some major food and icecream at Friendly's.
After a minor breaking and entering situation (we were given the wrong address and the girls made themselves at home in a strangers unlocked house! Avery even left with an antique babydoll in her arms which we later discretely placed inside their front door!) we unloaded the car and began exploring the beautiful island.
Hilton Head is gorgeous and full of big beautiful trees, white sandy beaches and scenic views. Hailey was most excited about all of the marshland. She has been fascinated with swamps and marshes and all of the creatures that dwell in them. Hailey was also excited to finally get her hermit crab that she had been talking about for over a month. It was one of our first stops. "Hermie" the crab goes with her everywhere now!
The girls loved the beach! After about an hour of sand uneasiness, Avery warmed up to the beach and was right there with her sisters in all of the sandcastle building, wave jumping action! Lainey has made great progress with her swimming this summer and had a blast going "Under da' sea!" like Ariel. She's going under, jumping in and attempting to swim just like Hailey! Hailey was in her element, digging, building and scavenging the shore for sea creatures. Both girls found tons of starfish and sand dollars in the ocean and Hailey even found a hermit crab! We brought "Hilton" the crab home but didn't realize that he was different from "Hermie" our store bought hermit crab. He lived in the water, so sadly we had to set him free. On our "off" beach days, we hit up the pool for some sand-free water fun.
When we weren't in the water, we were either dining out (which proved to be quite the undertaking with Avery in tow!!) or taking in the sites of the island. Some of our favorite places were:
The Salty Dog in South Beach where the girls enjoyed some refreshing water on the rocks at the bar, explored the marina, the girls met a real pirate and we had front row seats to an awesome dinner and live music.
The Old Oyster Factory where we dined on the water, explored the marshes and then enjoyed after dinner drinks and music while the girls were entertained by a juggler!
The Sandbox Children's Museum where the girls played, explored and crafted all morning long.
My favorite night was when we visited Harbor Town. We climbed to the top of the Hilton Head lighthouse, ate icecream while walking around the town and watched the girls crack up to Greg Russell, a children's performer who has been performing under the old oak tree on Harbor Island for over 30 years. There were a few instances where I caught Hailey laughing so hard she was crying! Particularly at the moments where he was making fun of Mommy's and Daddy's!! We ended the night taking in a beautiful sunset view on the beach together.
I'm not sure how we're going to top this family beach trip, but we've only been home a few days and the girls are already talking about next years vacation! Thankfully, we have some pretty incredible memories, pictures (and a hermit crab!) to last us until then.
Hilton Head Beach
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| The girls made lots of new friends on the beach who shared in their passion for crabs, shells, starfish and sand dollars! |
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| Lainey couldn't get enough of the ocean! |
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| "Look! Airplane!" |
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| Sweet Avery. We love her, but she is a tiny terror!! We spent most of our time chasing her around (trying to catch her!) and putting out tantrums! Phew! She's a handful! |
Sand-free Water Fun
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| Sunbathing beauties. |
Old Oyster Factory
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| Looking at the hernit crabs. |
Hilton Head Diner and Fat Baby Pizza
The girls' favorite restaurant was Fat baby Pizza. It was the first place we went to and they thought the Fat Baby Logo was hysterical. For the rest of the trip they kept singing to Avery "Big fat baby! Coming to town! Oh she's the big fat baby! Yeah!"
The Salty Dog
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| "Water on the rocks with extra weegles please!" |
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| Front row seats to Todd Cowart. |
Harbor Town
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| Family photo from the top of the Hitlon Head Lighthouse |
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| Climbing the stairs to the top of the lighthouse. |
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| All of that stair climbing made three little girls very hungry! Time for icecream! |
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| Listening to Greg Russell under the old oak tree. |
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| I've never seen Hailey laugh so hard! |
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| Photo courtesy of Lainey. Our crazy wild child, Avery Claire. |
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| Daddy and Avery in front of the lighthouse. |
Fun in the Beach House
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| Playing Jenga with Daddy. |
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| Playing Sophia castle with Mommy. |
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| Bedheads at breakfast! |
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| The girls loved sharing a room and sleeping in the same bed! |
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| They also loved listening to Avery as she fell asleep. They laughed under the covers as Avery sang to herself in her crib, "Shake your butt! Shake your butt!" and repeated to herself, "Ni-night baby. Ni-night" while pretending to snore! |
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| They slept hard at the beach house! All of the sun and swimming! |
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| Crafts at the beach house! |
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| Nighttime snuggles. |
Hermie the Hermit Crab
Hailey was very excited about getting her new pet at the beach. We went to the Shell Shop and picked him out first thing. Hailey spotted her favorite right away. A tiny hermit crab with a pig painted shell with googly eyes! He hasn't left her side since. She even carried him in her lap the whole ride home to Virginia!
The Sandbox Children's Museum
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| Giving Peaches a checkup. |
Travel Adventures
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| Our car was packed with luggage and lots of cuteness! |
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| As you can imagine, Avery was not the best traveler! |
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| Lulu, carbo loading at Friendly's! |
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| She loves her "slurpy noodles!" |
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| Don't let the chubby smile fool you! Dining out with this little stinker is no easy task! |
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| Jumping on the bed at the hotel! |
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| "Look! A new Mickey Mouse show!!" |
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| Avery made herself at home in the hotel bed. |
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| Playing hide-n-seek. |
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| Sharing a hotel room with these three is quite an adventure! |
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| One of our MANY potty breaks! |
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| Headed home! |
