Hilton Head Pics, Part 1

After a very brief stop at the Waffle House (our first time at a Waffle House!) for breakfast, we made it into Hilton Head around 1:30pm-- really, really awesome time. Leaving that early and driving pretty much straight through was really the way to go for us. The kids were troopers- not a single tear or that much whining about when we'd get there- whew!!

Hilton Head is nothing short of magical. I can't imagine a better family vacation for us. It's why we make the trek (15-16 hours from our house, although we obviously broke it up with our stopover in Maryland). Adding to the fun this year-- Andrew's brother and family rented a house down there the same week as us (we all had a family wedding to go to in North Carolina the following weekend so we timed up our weeks in Hilton Head accordingly). My kids are pretty much obsessed with their cousins so they really had a blast playing with them on the beach, dinners and dancing at the Salty Dog and Beach Club, etc. Such a great trip for us all! Picture heavy post here...

A highlight of our place- the view from our patio. The kids would play so hard at the beach and pool in the mornings, so both took amazing naps almost every afternoon. Which is when happy hour would commence for us out on the patio ;)

 Beach babe.

 Cousins at the beach!

 Post beach dancing at the Beach Club.

The kid in the green shirt wasn't with us but he was an awesome dancer.

The kids like to hold hands in the car- Leyla asks Connor for his hand almost immediately once she's strapped in- so sweet!

 Who's from Connecticut??

 Kid table at the Salty Dag.

Cheers- Mr. Vacation at it again!!

My kids obviously do not have as great "smile and actually look at the camera" skills as their cousins do.

 Little beauty!

My girl is not afraid to be the only one on the dance floor. She definitely gets that from me.

 Natalie, Kate and baby Elliott.

Rob and Kate showed us this cool beach to see dolphins at night.

 This man caught a stingray. Love Leyla's hand on Connor's back here ;)

 Petting the sting ray.

Dinner at Truffles, our favorite restaurant! Andrew worked there the summer after he graduated from college so it's always fun to go back there. And how handsome is that little boy of mine??

Andrew got to play golf with his brother twice. He texted me this picture, his best drive of the day but he decided to abandon the ball, you can see why. He said the gator was growling at him. Do gators growl?

Playing with the crew, another beach day.

 Playground.

Stopping to feed the horses. Connor was thrilled, Leyla wanted no part of that action.

Pony rides!

 So happy!

 I was shocked Leyla actually wanted to ride. She was really scared at first. So brave!

 Petty Harley the Clydesdale.

 This is how we rolled all week!

More to come.

Roadtrippin' It

The week prior to Hilton Head the kids and I headed down to my Mom's in Annapolis to spend a few days. It broke up the 15 hour drive to Hilton Head, and allowed us to visit with family and friends. On the way to MD we stopped to visit my Grandpa Don in NJ. We had a great visit and I think Grandpa was entertained by the performance Connor did of an assortment of songs from his week of Vacation Bible School (mixed in with his awesome break dancing moves of course). As usual Leyla was happy to serve as backup. It was cute. And I LOVE this picture of the kids with their Great Grandpa, what a great shot!

Next we drove to the eastern shore to visit with my Dad (and Oliver), another nice visit. We took a walk to the playground and it was great for the kids to be able to run around after being in the car for so long.

I love being back on the eastern shore. Blasting country music, just fields and corn as far as the eye can see. Beautiful!

At my Mom's. Here's Leyla with her Great Grandma Alice. How neat that the kids got to see their two great grandparents in the same day!

 

The crew. My Grandma loved having them there!

A hobby of Gerry's is building these really neat bird houses out of recycled wine boxes. He then sells them in wine and gift stores throughout Annapolis. Connor's always so excited to get in his workshop with him to help measure, hammer, glue, etc.

Measuring and sketching away.

Flowers Connor insisted on buying for my Mom and Grandma Alice. He told me "we have to get these for them- all girls like flowers!" He's going to do well with the ladies someday ;)

Not the greatest pic but super fun girls night out at Yellow Fin with my high school besties. 28+ years of friendship right there!

At night Leyla slept in a packnplay in my room. Had to take this sweet picture of her sleeping ;) She is the sweetest little thing!

Apparently the Annapolis Mall has become an awesome kid destination?? They've got a bounce house place, crafting kiosks, story times, train rides, play places, etc. The kids and I entertained ourselves for hours there one morning!

Taking a ride on the train.

On Friday morning we met up with Shannon (who lives in NJ but was also home visiting her parents that week) at her parents' house. We walked down to the Severn River beach in her neighborhood where the kids could play. So pretty.

After leaving Shann's we picked Andrew up from the train station at BWI. That night we had a crab feast in our backyard. Yuuuummmmmmm. I had heard that the crabs were pretty awesome this year and they did not disappoint!!

After 10+ years, Andrew has become quite the crab picker. So proud ;)

We packed the car up that night and left at 5:15am the next morning (this was our first time attempting something like that and it was a huge success- definitely the way to go for long car rides like that, at least for ours!) Next stop: Hilton Head!!

Back Home!

Looks like it's been a month since I've last posted- oops. This summer has been such a busy one- but as I've said- a really fun kind of busy and my favorite summer to date!!  We've recently returned from being on the road for two weeks. Our ultimate destination was Hilton Head, SC- with stops in NJ and MD along the way to visit with family and friends. On the way home from Hilton Head we stopped for a weekend in Wilmington, NC for Andrew's cousin's wedding and more family fun. It's great to be home but so sad our big road trip is over- it was so fun!

The (sunset) view from our patio in Hilton Head- ahhhhhh.

More pics to come from our travels (need to upload) but here's a couple quick (and random) iphone pics from yesterday and today.

Some of the "harvest" we returned to- our garden is rockin' and rolling! The yellow ones are called rainbow tomatoes and are out of this world. We've given some away, and then incorporated tomatoes into basically every meal we've eaten since we've been home- cucumber and tomato salads (a summer favorite), our go to Tuscan Tomato soup (Williams Sonoma recipe), tomato mozzarella, grilled tomato and cheese, pasta with homemade tomato sauce, "blowout" burritos (a Trish recipe) piled high with tomatoes and peppers from the garden-- the list goes on and on and it's all been amazing! Only downside- I'm not sure that we'll ever enjoy a store bought tomato as much again, now that we've been spoiled with the fresh-from-the-garden ones. The kids have been getting such a thrill visiting the garden each day to see what's ready to be cut (we let Connor do all the cutting- a job he takes very seriously and is so proud of.) I'd say not bad for us first time farmers!

Yesterday I took the kids to Michael's and the Party Store (favorite shopping destinations of theirs!) to stock up on some crafts and other goodies. In the party aisle I told Leyla she could pick out whatever plates she wanted for her upcoming birthday and surprise, surprise these are the ones she chose, ha! I can't believe my little lady turns two in a month (she however still adamantly claims she's four and a half). I don't want to stop time, but it does make me want to cry a little- the way it goes by so fast!

Stay tuned for vacation pics :)