Every year we go on a glorious family vacation with Ben's Family. We have always gone to Disney World in the past, and it's always so so so fun. This year we decided that we would take a little break from Florida and see something new. Hilton Head Island in South Carolina became our destination for 2012. We were all really excited and a little nervous about it, none of us had ever been there and we weren't sure it would measure up to the four fabulous theme parks and one out of this world Patisserie that we were used to. A few days before we left Ben said (keep in mind that he was one of the ones that really wanted to go somewhere new, a few of us were just fine doing the same thing every year) "What are we even going to do there?" And so the adventure began.
We climbed up a lighthouse...
We drove into Savannah Georgia which is only an hour from Hilton Head, two days. The first day we took a trolley tour of Historic Downtown, our trolley driver, who was also the tour guide, was from New Jersey. He was totally crazy and hilarious, we laughed about him and his commentary the rest of the trip. On the second day we went to get a closer look at all the things we had seen while on the Trolley. Savannah was one of my favorite parts of the trip, it was straight out of a story book, if you are ever close by, definitely check this city out, it's absolutely stunning and chuck full of American history.
The Catholic Cathedral... (St Paul's I think???)
So many amazing homes, This is the one I want to live in, they had the most beautiful Christmas tree in their window.
There are several homes in Savannah that are historic and open for tours, for a price anyways. Since it was a little spendy we all agreed on this one and toured it. It was the Mercer Williams house. The Book and Movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is based on the man who restored and lived in this house. They did NOT allow you to take pictures, and they only let you tour the main floor, which we didn't know before hand, boo. But it was still very beautiful and quite interesting.
We found a candy store that we adopted as our substitute for the French Patisserie. We only went there twice though, instead of twice a day.
(She's been taught well don't you think?)
We also went to The Lady and Sons restaurant, it's Paula Deen's place, and yeah it was fantastic y'all. Really, it was so so yummy. (I totally stole this picture from Google, sorry)
The rest of the time we stayed on Hilton Head (If you don't count the trip to World Market, ever been there? might just be my new favorite store)
We rented bikes and rode them to the beach.
(We are so grateful for Uncle Brian, he always made sure Ty was having fun)
We did this two days in a row. Trust me when I say that even though this might not sound like a grand time, it was. It was almost surreal how beautiful the ride to the beach was, and then once you got there, well, it was heavenly. Ahhh, the beach.
And that's about when I decided to never remember the camera again, :(
We did so many more fun things, we rented kayaks and paddled around in them. We started out with Ally and I in one, and Ty and Ben in another. But then Ben was paddling them into what Ty thought was "scary" places, so Grandma asked Ty if he wanted to trade with Maddie who was in with her. Of course he did, but he didn't want to sit in the front, he wanted to sit with Grandma. Since she is such a good Grandma she was fine with it. Maddie was not so fine with going with her big brother (they have a love hate relationship :) But they ended up having a total blast together and it was good for them to work together. Then Grandpa asked Ally if she wanted to go with him, so in the process of handing her over she grabbed onto Grandma (who was helping with the passing) and would not let go. So Grandma got to paddle all three of them in, I don't know how she did it, she is a brave woman, and a pretty darn good Grandma. I wish that I had a picture of the three of them, it was priceless. Then when we got back to the dock Ben and Brian decided that it would be faster to swim across the marina to our hotel than to walk all the way around. So after about 15 minutes of them sitting on the dock and gaining courage, in they went, fully dressed, excpet for their shoes and hats and hoodies. Crazy boys, the water was less than warm to say the least. But it's one heck of a good memory, maybe not for them, but for the rest of us. I sure wish I would have had my camera :(
Ben and Emmy and Big Ty rented fishing poles and crab nets and attempted to catch themselves a snack, but had no luck. We went on a Dolphin tour and learned some pretty neat stuff about the island and surrounding places. Our guide was hilarious, and we got to see a few dolphins. We swam in the pool in the rain and went down the slide about 100 times each. Who knew adults could have so much fun on a dumb water slide. This vacation was so different from what we usually do. It was so fun to explore and see new things together, as a big happy family. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to go on a family vacation every year. I know it's because of the hard work and sacrifice that my in laws live and also have taught their children, that makes this possible. I am also so grateful for my Sister and Brother in-laws. They were always hanging with, and taking care of my kids. Ty and Ally both LOVED being all together with their Aunts and Uncles and Grandma and Grandpa. One morning, a week or so after we got home, I was helping Ty get dressed and he started telling me about his plan. He told me that he thought we could just take all the fabric I had and sew it together into a big huge bag. Then we could just put the whole farm inside and tell the airplane pilot that we needed to tow it behind the plane with us to South Carolina, so we could all live there together, forever. But we didn't need a house because we would just stay in the same one we did before. All I could think was, Wow, do you really think I have that much fabric?
(and I love you little man, I'm glad that your Heaven on Earth looks like all of us together too)
