because I don't want to forget: hilton head island

a few weeks ago we packed up the 'ole minivan and headed south. the trip down was sort of comical with all the stops along the way. i'm quite certain the kids will really reconsider the next time we ask if they want to go for a road trip. for the record, road trips are still my favorite. forever and always. and sunsets. and cereal.

about an hour in we decided we were hungry so we stopped for bob evans. every good road trip includes a bob evans stop…and cracker barrel…and starbucks. don't worry, we made sure to include all of those.

one of my favorite people i haven't seen in way too long lives in charlotte so we met up with her. i promised joe we'd only be stopped for fifteen minutes, tops.

two hours later we were back on the road.

good thing for me he knows me all too well and had already figured it would be about that long. he's a good one.

we pulled out of charlotte at eleven pm with about a five hour drive left! we crazy. but i knew i'd regret not stopping. anyway, we made it to our beach house around 4:30 in the morning. our dear friends who we shared the house and vacation with left a light on for us. probably laughing all the way to their nice cozy beds as we drove and drove and drove.

the next morning there was no sleeping in for the kiddos. the beach could not wait for us to catch up on our sleep! way too much fun was waiting in the wings.

the kids played in the waves and built sandcastles. day one was pretty much a blur for mommy and daddy. i kept looking at joe and saying things like, 'can you believe we were just in the car a few hours ago?!' day one also included a jellyfish sting for joe. boo.

day two was more beach. more waves, more watching the kids on the boogie boards, playing in the tide. content to just be there. no worrying about what time it was or what needed to be done. just play. it was great. day two also included a jellyfish sting for Gabe. double boo.

day three we drove to savannah. it was so much fun. i wish i had more time to walk the streets and make my way into all the shoppes. we ate at paula deen's restaurant. yum, yum, yum! we all opted for the buffet. it seemed to be the biggest bang for our paula deen buck.

after lunch we decided to walk along the river. we took the ferry and had fun just moseying around. it was stinkin' hot and the kids were not super excited about walking, walking, walking. so what do you suppose civilized human beings do with their children under such circumstances? you take them to the fanciest savannah hotel you can find and let them ride the elevator up and down, up and down. i was kind of waiting to be kicked out, but nope those savannah peeps take their hospitality seriously.

hotel shenanigans…

i just sat there in the lobby reading a magazine and pretending they weren't waving excitedly at me.

then it was back to the house for dinner and impromptu beach pictures.