Good Monday morning friends. Trying to get back in the groove here after a week away so lots to catch up on both in real life and in blog life. Grab your coffee because I'm going to jam a week's worth of activity into a single post. It's my niche.
Actually I have one more related anecdote to share in it's own post so there will be a p.s. tomorrow.
Linking with Holly and Sarah and their Hello Monday hop, and also with Kym and her most recent Everyday Image photo prompts, which this time around are -at home, station, selfie, beginning and/or end, pebbles, and scenery.
Let's get to it...
We live on a lake so typically stick close to home in the summer months. We haven't taken a whole family vacation since my oldest daughter got married, so this year we decided to get the entire gang together and head to the beach.
We chose Hilton Head because a.- it's beautiful and b- it's a reasonable drive from here. Daughter1's hubs couldn't stay the whole week due to his work commitments so we wanted to make the location somewhat convenient for him.
~scenery~
Hilton Head is beautiful. It's lush and makes you feels like you've escaped somewhere tropical. The whole island is very well planned and signage is low, so you're not looking at billboards every few yards.
We rented a house through Airbnb and it worked out well. It was situated near the front end of the Palmetto Dunes section of HHI and the location was perfect.
~at home~...for the week anyway
The property backed up to the lagoon, home to so much beautiful and interesting wildlife including huge chatty osprey, blue heron...
...or the grandpa birds as my grands call them, and something called snake birds. If you've never seen one they're wild. They look like a snake as they come out of the water, but then when you see the body you relax because you realize its a bird and not a snake.
Of course there was the neighborhood alligator present too, because no trip to the island is complete without one.
The house had a little dock perched over the lagoon and it was not designed with little people in mind.
I think they left one section open to pull kayaks in and out, but we kept a tight grip on the kids eager to watch the gator.
The pool was a big hit...
We all drove separately and hubs and I took our time getting there. We took the back roads because I-95 is one of the worst roads in America and we love small town USA. My favorite thing about a road trip is seeing something new, especially if it's historic. A sampling of my google history from the drive shows the following-
Gold mines in South Carolina, Redcliff Plantation, images of purple sage (relating to our audio book), egrets vs. herons (all egrets are herons but not all herons are egrets), does Spanish moss kill trees-the answer is no, and what is a Barbados nut plant
There's more but you get the idea. It was a nice ride and there was zero traffic. We stopped for lunch in Bluffton, about thirty minutes before reaching HH, a casual spot that had the most delicious blackened mahi taco-
So good, and they came with a warning-ha!
As we got nearer the ocean I could just feel the tension leave my body. Salt air does that.
Initially when we saw the forecast for the week we were a little nervous. There was a lot of rain predicted and while we did have some rain it was mostly overnight and we had beach time every day. We had rain one afternoon just as we got back home, but mostly the cloud coverage and breeze made it really pleasant for sitting, especially with small children. Daughter2 brought a tent with her but they only set it up a couple of days. The sun shone but the clouds kept it from being too much.
This is where I planted myself pretty much on the daily-
~my station~
We arrived Saturday afternoon, unloaded and set up house, then grabbed dinner at a beachside spot in Palmetto Dunes. The weather was threatening but didn't let loose until we were back home.
We typically spent mornings at the beach, and half of us packed lunch and stayed into the early afternoon. Daughter2 and her crew went back to the house for lunch so they could settle Sugar for an afternoon nap. Our house was about a quarter mile from the beach so a super easy walk on a wide paved trail designed for both walkers and cyclists.
I didn't walk. I drove, and actually hubs drove me because I'm still nursing my ankle. I wore the boot off and on and kept it wrapped while on the beach. I didn't do any swimming which was a little bit sad because I love to be out in the waves, but that didn't seem sensible right now. Hubs and I did take a couple of short walks. The sand was flat and packed and the beach is wide, so really nice for walking.
Everybody thought so...
Daughter2 and her family also drove to the beach because the amount of gear with kids this age is a lot.
Daughter1 pulled a wagon loaded to overflowing with sand toys, boogie boards, a beach bag and her little miss, and then the two oldest boys rode their bikes. What a treat to ride a bike on the beach!
The first few days we were there hubs also hauled his surf rod and assorted fishing gear down to the ocean to see what he could catch. Not a lot, but he and the boys had fun.
We went out for a big family dinner on Monday night-Skull Creek Boathouse for those who frequent HH.We went on the early side and didn't have to wait. It's a great spot, with a pier you can walk out on, wonderful food, and a pirate ship playground for the kids which they loved.
Little Miss rocks the beach waves. I'm having fun buying matching dresses for the grandgirls when I can. These are from Stitchy Fish and they were so cute, and the fabric was really nice.
As an aside, I try not to post pics of my grandbabies faces on my blog these days. Every now and then one will land there, but I check with mom first. My oldest especially doesn't really want their faces on the Internet and I'm also not posting swim suit pics, which is what most of my beach photos are.
Okay, back to what I ate because I know that's why you're here. I had stuffed shrimp and it was scrumptious. Our server took a pic of us all at dinner and we took a few snaps of the whole family out on the pier later. The weather was delightful and I'm so glad we were there this week instead of the one prior when all anyone could talk about was the heat. Which was outrageous.
One night we went to Shelter Cove for ice cream. I had Eskimo Kisses which was coconut ice cream with chocolate truffles covered in fudge. Yum! One grandson who shall remain nameless dropped his before we left the shop, but the server was really nice and gave him another. Vacationing with kids is not for the faint of heart lol.
The boys were skeptical when we told them the pebbles under their feet were mostly crushed oyster shells. True story though.
~pebbles~
Hubs and I went back to Shelter Cove Friday afternoon to browse a gallery I'd seen that had some pretty things. Still looking for jut the right thing for our outdoor dining space. My son-in-law grilled fresh swordfish and more shrimp for dinner that evening. We taught the oldest grandsons how to play Mexican Train dominoes this week so there was one more game before everyone did some packing for our Saturday check out.
Can't forget the selfie prompt. This is as close as we got...
Here's how it started-
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