Hilton Head 2017

This past fall break, Nana decided to take us to the beach since we had not for the summer. We were so excited to get away and relax. Of course, the kids couldn't wait to play mini-golf, ride the waves and swim in a pool!

Typically, we go to Gulf Shores with the Rich family. Ansley calls Gulf Shores "Nana and Poppa's beach" actually! Well Hurricane Nate stopped us from going there last minute. Which worked out great because we got to try something different, Hilton Head! Tyler and I had been with Jack and Sonja in college, but not since having kids. Also, Kadie had never been to an Atlantic beach! I'll never forget when Ansley found out she kept yelling "South Carolina here we come!" Then once we were on the way, she had forgotten where we were going and said "Are we almost to South America?" We all died laughing in the car.

The place was so nice with lots of trees and sidewalks. I love the quaint feel of Hilton Head. Just seems like another neighborhood; oh and with a beach in the backyard! Ansley and Layne couldn't wait to get to the beach but it was already 6:30 or so at night so we just stuck our toes in the water!

Bryson, Emma, Layne, Ansley and Garyn all did so well playing in the ocean in the mornings. I think they stayed out there a good hour at least every day. We kept commenting on how well Emma and Bryson were doing at the beach. They used to hate the beach and spent less than 15 minutes out on the beach and cried that whole time. This year they loved it. Emma did say it was "too wavy" but she spent a lot of time smiling still! Ansley even made Tyler a birthday cake out of sand that first day! We still go between the beach and pool a lot. And even though it was super hot they like to sit in the hot tub.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to bike ride with the family. We had one morning that was rainy and cloudy so we decided to bike around the resort. We also ate at the Disney Vacation Club place on site. We all had fun!

One of the times we went biking, it was just Garyn, Ansley, Layne, Tyler, Jack and I. Ansley really wanted to ride separate and not tandem. Her cute little pink bike was evidently not working well and she was pedaling hard to keep up. It was the afternoon after being at the beach all morning. She quickly got whiny and dramatic. I was stopping with her constantly, trying to encourage her to push through. She ended up running into Garyn, Tyler and a tree! Thankfully there were no major catastrophes! We went straight back after that and parked our two bikes while the rest kept going! We did thankfully get to ride on the beach before it all went downhill!

Daddy's birthday was while we were there. We ate out and let him open his gift early. We got him an Apple watch. We were glad it was still a surprise because Layne kept trying to tell him. Several times he said "Daddy, we got you a......" and we thankfully stopped him, well I think we did, Tyler didn't tell us if so.

I'm so thankful for Nana and Poppa taking us on this trip and we can have these memories together.

Panama City Beach; Family Trip June '13

This year's beach trip was different than our normal family trip. The last 5 or 6 years we have been able to go with Pop, Josh and Karen and Lorna and Lakelin otherwise known as my dad, brother, sister n' law and niece and nephew. We always look forward to that time to spend with them since we don't get to see them too often. With Baby Layne coming and their hectic schedule caring for their goat farm, we couldn't go at the same time this summer. At first, we were bummed and then thought we might be able to still go on our own.

We made plans last minute to try and go knowing we were about to get into a busy season of life with building, new baby and Garyn beginning kindergarten. I am so glad we took the time and went despite the change from our annual family trip.

We decided to go to Panama City because of its closeness and the choices of rentals at such a late date. It was a great- short drive, nice condo and location. The kids were so excited. Garyn started counting down the days a couple weeks before we went. Ansley would hear the word "beach" and would want to go "right now!" So the anticipation was high when leaving and traveling.

We spent 4 nights there so for three days, we went out to the beach for a couple hours then the pool. The kids did great playing in the water and Ansley played in the sand well. Garyn still doesn't like the sand. I got one picture of him digging....

 

Garyn likes playing in the waves. He also enjoys the pool and found some boys to play with most days in the pool.

 

 

 

"surfing!"

 

 

Ansley did well not being scared but yet having a healthy fear of the water. Most of the time she stayed with me at the sand and then would ask to go to the water with Tyler or I. She liked the pool, too, and did well with her new floatie thing.

 

 

 

 

Smiley with her paci, I think she had just came and snuck it out of the bag.

 

 

 

We evidently wore them out in the morning because they both took naps everyday. Tyler and I got to just hang out and get ready for dinner. We went out to eat twice and ate in the room twice. Our place was right next to Schooner's which we had been to at least twice before on past trips. They have good food and just simple beachy atmosphere. They also have live music. Garyn has been all about playing guitar hero and singing his favorites on my I tunes music, so he enjoyed watching.

 

He made himself at home up next to the stage.

 

Tyler and I at Schooner's

 

These last two were after eating ice cream. Safe to say they liked it! We were stuffed that night.

 

 

But if you ask Garyn what his favorite activity was on the trip, he says playing minigolf! He wanted to go so bad that we went first thing the day we arrived before checking in (we had some time to spare before we could check in.) Ansley played some, too, she liked to grab every one's ball before you could get down there to hit it again. :)

Mario had to join us this night

 

Another detail I have to mention, is that it was also our anniversary during this trip! We have been married 8 years now and while it feels like its been forever; it's still crazy to hear the number. Reminds us of how old we are getting! We enjoyed just being at the beach with normal life on hold for a bit. Well as much as can be considering we still had our 5 and 2 year old. Garyn attempted to get a picture of us out on the beach. The lighting was wrong though....

 

And I honestly feel like I look like a cow! I was 32 weeks in these.

 

Anyway, I loved the trip and the time away. We are blessed for sure! Can't wait to see what our next baby boy looks like, cause these two melt us all the time!