Beach Beauties

Almost done....I promise, this is my only scrapbook, so I have to get it all in. Just a few from one of our days at the beach.

2 little cuties flying a kite.

Under that navy umbrella....my favorite spot!
Sand castle building....the kids abandon me, but expect me to keep working.

They helped for a little while.

We always tried to set our chairs up by a tide pool. The girls loved playing in them and hunting for sea creatures. They were just the perfect size for Gracyn,

Pretty Girl. Beach Girl.

Addison holding up a tiny crab she found. All this and she still claims to love the mountains best.

She's a beach girl like her mama.

Hilton Head

The Salty Dog

I had never heard of The Salty Dog Cafe, until we moved to Cincinnait. Once we moved here, I began seeing the t-shirts and hats everywhere. After all the publicity, we had to check it out. It was my favorite dinner of the trip. The food was great and the kids loved the story. The legend is that a dog name Jake, saved his fisherman, owner when their ship was overturned in a storm. We had to buy the book! After dinner outside by the marina, they had a children's music show, we saw some very "Now-sy" parrots (as Gracyn says), and met Jake. It was a great night!

Putt-Putt and Pool Time

More Hilton Head....I am nowhere near done yet! One morning, Addison, my sensitive skin girl, needed a break from the sun. We went out to a delicious breakfast at a restaurant called stacks. I am not a big breakfast eater, but YUM! After that, we headed to a round of pirate themed putt-putt. The girls played fast and furious, while Tommy and I hung behind and tried to really compete.....as if I could ever even come close to beating him at anything athletic!!!

Later in the day, we headed out for just a short pool trip. their favorite thing on this trip was for me to hold their tubes up, while they tried to jump threw them. Gracyn loved just kicking around the deep water in her puddle-jumper!

Evenings on the Island

Each evening, on the island, we would head out for an early dinner. After dinner, there was always some form of live entertainment for the kids. There are 2 singing/guitar shows that are quite famous there and have been around for 25-30 years. The kids loved them and they were great for us too. The girls got to go up on stage and sang one night and each show had the kids all dancing and playing games.

Me and 2 girlies before dinner. Don't you love Addison's strange smile? Don't know what was going on with her this trip, but I have about 600 pictures that look just like that. Between her strange expressions and Gracyn being a 2 year old, we don't have many good pictures.

Though she wasn't too thrilled with being photographed, she is getting decent at taking pictures.
Gracyn slept through dinner and the photo session. She did this almost every night. Then, when we would go back to the condo and put all 3 girls to bed in one room she would be super-energized and keep them up for an hour!!!

We were early this night and the girls were stalking the clown, waiting for her to arrive. She was sweet and let them help her set up for the night.

They sure love to get their faces painted.

Waiting for our favorite, "The Shannon Tanner Show".

Both times we went to that show, Tommy got called out of the audience to do the "Sprinkler Dance" for everyone. I guess you can't be the 6'5 person in a stripes and blend in!

Gracyn and Reagan ready for a little dance party at one of his shows.

This was our final night and we went back to Shannon Tanner's show one last time. I had tears in my eyes at the end. I was already so sad to be leaving such an amazing vacation and then Shannon Tanner spotted a group of teenager kids in the audience. He asked them if they had grown up coming to his show and they said yes. He called them all up to sit behind him and then sang, "Your Going to Miss This". My little ones were sitting in front of him and those big kids all grown up were in the back. It was such a reminder of how quickly time goes. Made me happy for vacation weeks were we get to just soak up our family time!

Farewell Mr. Shannon Tanner, I hope we see you next year.

How We Roll

We had a great time cruising around the resort on these bikes. We took Addison's bike with us and rented the rest. The girls especially loved taking turns being hooked on to Daddy. :)

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

We are just getting back from an amazing week long vacation on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. After a lifetime of reading Nicholas Sparks books and loving the ocean and the south, I have always wanted to visit the Carolinas. Turns out Hilton Head is the beach vacation of choice for the people of Cincinnati. I got a few recommendations from friends here and got us all booked. I am in love with the entire area and would move there TOMORROW, if the opportunity arose. It is such a contrast with old, mature trees and beaches all in one place. From the front side of our condo, you could just see forest for miles through the resort. It was cool and shady and under a canopy of enormous trees. Then the backside of the condo, you could almost think you were in a completely different world. It was a mix of large trees with palm trees and more tropical plants. Then just over the sand dunes are beaches for as far as the eye can see. HEAVEN!!!

Here are the girls checking out the patio of the condo just after we arrived. Not bad for 11 hours in the car, beginning at 3am and the clothes they slept in the night before.

We couldn't get to the beach fast enough. We changed and headed that way. They weren't too thrilled to stop for pictures.
I absolutely love stepping on to that bridge and taking in the sights, smell and sounds of the ocean.

She loves it.

The view looking back up to the condo.

Sweet Gracyn, she is getting so big. Traveling with her this time was a real eye-opener that she is not a baby anymore.

My little nature lover got her hands on all kinds of sea-creatures this week. This is a variety of jellyfish that doesn't sting. She loved to pick them up and hold them.

Gracyn loved to be jumped in the waves.