Summer Vacation - Part 6 {Family Fun on the Beach}

We spent the majority of our last full day in Hilton Head on the beach.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.
 

And this one might be the reason my camera died later that afternoon.  Dan was standing in the water when he took this one.

These are Boone's footprints.

Goodbye Hilton Head!  We had a great time.

Summer Vacation - Part 5 {Just the 4 of us}

We spent our last couple of days hitting the beach and enjoying some family time.

We rented some bikes and that ended up being one the boys' favorite things to do.  We rode around Palmetto Dunes (looking in the waterways for alligators!) and also on the beach.  That was a first for me and tons of fun.  Boone even fell asleep while riding.

We stopped in front of the Palmetto Dunes fire station to get some pictures by the fire engine and one of the firemen came out and asked if the boys wanted to climb up inside a truck.  Fenn particularly loved that.

We went to dinner one night at a nearby mexican restaurant.  There was a guy playing guitar and singing, so the boys loved that.  They danced to the music and even put some money in his bucket.

And we bought a Toy Story 3 kite... it was the boys' first kite.  {This was the very last photo I took with my Canon Rebel Xti DSLR.  It died on me... but thankfully it was the last day of our vacation.  Although, I had planned to do one last photo session of the boys that evening because I ran out of time (and light the other night.}

Summer Vacation - Part 4 {More fun with the Shaws}

Over the next couple of days, we had more fun on the beach with the Shaws.

Gabe and Fenn building sand castles.  Gabe is 13 months older than Fenn.  They had a lot of fun together.

Here's a cute one of Kama and Addy.

On Monday night, we did a little photo session for each family.  Here are a couple of favorites.

A cute one of all 4 kids.

On Tuesday night, we went to a great restaurant called Hudson's.  My friend, Donna, had recommended it to us.  And we were not disappointed.  We'll be going there every time we go to Hilton Head from now on.  Very family friendly.  Great service.  And the food was great, too.  We loved the 'throw back' atmosphere... an old school seafood restaurant.

This one's for Donna.  Her family goes there every summer and they always make hats out of the menus.

Another family photo in front of the shrimp boats.

Kama and Jim had to head back on Wednesday and get back to work.  We had a great time with them.  We were all pleased at how well the kids played together.  And we look forward to more vacations together in the future.

Two stories about the week:

I got sick with a fever and extremely sore throat.  On Tuesday morning, I went to a walk-in clinic nearby and found out I had strep!  Thankfully, they gave me prescriptions for some great medicine that had me feeling much better by the end of the day.  Just my luck to get sick on vacation.

And a funny story about something that happened during the week.  We set up our pop-up tent on our first day on the beach.  In the evenings, we would just pull the top off so the wind wouldn't blow it away at night.  It made it much easier each morning to get our stuff set up on the beach.  We didn't think anything of it because we had always done this when going to Florida beaches.  Well, apparently Hilton Head has different rules.  On Wednesday morning, we woke up and saw our tent frame out there.  But a little later, I looked out and noticed it was gone.  I immediately got on the phone to resort security, who got me in touch with the beach patrol.  We found out the 'rules' and figured out they must have just gone by and picked up our tent.  Apparently, they had tagged it a couple of other mornings, but we just didn't notice the tag.  Anyway, they weren't very far down the beach and brought our tent back to us.  Whew!  Crisis averted!  And it's a good thing, because Dan was mad and had already said we would not be buying another tent! 

Summer Vacation - Part 3 {Hilton Head with the Shaws}

We finally made it to Hilton Head late Saturday afternoon.  Our friends, Kama and Jim, were already there with their kids, Gabe and Addy.  It was late enough when we arrived, that we didn't have time to get on the beach.  We were more focused on getting the car unpacked, the boys fed, and then down for the night.  But first thing Sunday, we all hit the beach!

Four kids under the age of 3, plus 4 adults, in a 2 bedroom condo for a week.  Should make for an interesting (& fun-filled) week!

Hitting the beach!

Boone wasn't happy the first time he got knocked down.

But it didn't take him long to get over it.  Pretty soon he was loving it!

Fenn had fun running, playing with his trucks and sand buckets, and playing with the baseball bat and balls.

Mommy and Boone.

Boone really seemed to like playing in the water.

A cute one of Fenn and Boone.

And a cute one of Fenn, Boone, and Gabe playing together.

'Sand' Pipers on the beach.

Summer Vacation - Part 2 cont'd {Hanging Out}

We had a little more playtime before heading over to Hilton Head.  The boys had a ball playing football keepaway with Uncle Todd.

Boone was fascinated by Sarge and Deuce.  They're a little more playful than Petey.  Of course, they're a good bit younger than Petey, too.

Here's another cute photo of Fenn on the tractor with his Uncle Todd.

And I couldn't leave out these 2 photos:

Here's Sarge.

And here's Deuce.

We had a great time with Uncle Todd, Aunt Angie, Seth, and all the horses and dogs.  We didn't get to see Jesse this time, and he was certainly missed.  It was a short trip and we hated to have to combine it with our beach trip.  But at this point in our lives, while it is such an ordeal to pack for two little ones, you have to make the most of your long trips.  As the boys get older, and the amount of gear required to travel with them gets smaller, then we hope to be able to go for an extended visit to the farm and not have to combine it with another trip.  I'm thinking it would be nice to go in the fall when it cools off a little.  That's good horseback riding weather!  Anyway, thank you Todd and Angie for having us.  Even though it was a short trip, we treasure the time we got to spend with you.  The boys will have such fond memories of visiting you over the years.  Oh, and after our trip was over we asked Fenn what was his favorite thing to do:  play on the beach or ride horses.  And he said, "Ride horses."

Summer Vacation - Part 2 {Horses and Tractors}

It's Saturday at White Horse Ranch and we have a busy day planned before heading over to Hilton Head for the rest of our vacation.  I'm going to keep this short and let the pictures tell most of the story.
{Love Fenn's expression in this photo.  He looks like a true cowpoke.} 

Right after breakfast, Uncle Todd and Seth saddled up the horses for the boys to ride.  This was Boone's very first time on a horse.  {Fenn let him borrow his cowboy hat.}  He loved it from the start and was a natural in the saddle.  He kept himself up there... I just kept my hand on his foot, just in case, as I walked along beside him.

And like Fenn was last year, Boone didn't want to get off... no matter how tired he was getting.

This was Fenn's 2nd time to ride horses.  He got to ride when we visited Todd and Angie last summer, but Boone was only 4 months old and not quite ready to get on a horse yet.  Fenn loved it just as much as he did last year.  And this year, he was ready with his cowboy hat and cowboy boots he got from his Uncle Todd and Aunt Angie.

Fenn wanted mommy and daddy to ride with them for a little while.

Riding horses makes a cowboy hungry and tired.  So the boys ate a quick lunch and then went down for a nap.  After naps, it was time to do some farm work and ride the tractor with Uncle Todd.  They helped him work on the new arena area for the horses.

This post is getting really big, so I think I'll stop here and do another post to finish off the day.  But here's Uncle Todd and Boone riding off into the sunset on the tractor... with Sarge pulling up the rear.