Vacation

So after we survived the earthquake*, and Hurricane Irene**, who left us without power for over a week, we hit the road for the beach!  


We went back to Hilton Head, and this time, we had TWO little ones!  Last year, I was hugely pregnant and Jack got sick, so it wasn't the most relaxing beach vacation ever.  This year we knew we'd have our hands full, so we were so excited that Grams and Gramps were up for making the trip with us!  We were even more excited that the Weavers were also able to join us for a bit.  They are always so kind to let us stay in their beautiful beach house but we don't usually get to hang out with them while we do it.  What a treat!

It SO was nice having extra hands and ears to respond when the little guys needed something.  Taking kids to the beach is a lot of fun, but not very relaxing.  The more hands you have to help, the better!  Kenny and I even got to go to the pool alone a few times and out to eat without kids!  YAY!


Jack is really into superheroes and he decided shortly after we arrived who each person would be.  Tommy was Lizard Man, Patti was Incredible Hulk (!), Gramps was Batman, Grams was Kraven, Max was Wolverine, Kenny was Captain America and I...I was Wonder Woman!  He rarely called people by their actual names all week!


We watched a lot of Spiderman, read a lot of books and worked a lot of puzzles...

It rained a couple of mornings so we went to The Sandbox, their Children's Museum.  Jack didn't want to leave, at all.  He loves it there!

We also spent a lot of time on the deck and in the backyard at the house.  The weather was wonderful...warm and breezy.  Not too humid.  It was perfect deck sitting weather.  September is a great time to go to the beach!  Too bad in just TWO years we'll Jack will be in kindergarten and we won't be able to go then.  TWO years!

The house is on the golf course and Tommy took Jack out to play...in his pajamas! Jack fell in love with being in his jammies on vacation.  I'm not sure what's so uncomfortable about his regular wardrobe but he either wanted jammies or his bathing suit.  On vacation, anything goes in my book (well, most anything anyway!), so he got to play golf in his jammies!

He played with these things on the deck a LOT.  An alligator statue, lots of shells and a bucket full of golfballs and he was entertained for hours.  

 Max took a little more work, but he loves being outside too...

Of course, we also spent a lot of time playing at the beach!  Jack loved playing in the sand and the water this year.  He was just so happy to be on the beach and with Grams and Gramps!  We took a picnic lunch for him most every day and he'd just sit in his chair and eat it all up and go right back to playing.  He loved every minute!  Grams asked him at some point if he liked vacation and he said vacation was SO FUN!  He really was in heaven the entire week!

Max loved it too!  He'd wander around, chase birds, eat sand (the paci was there to help deter that!), drink ocean water, play in the sand and just smile, smile, smile.

I promise the bottle was empty...I'll let him drink ocean water (!) but not beer! :)

Jack and Grams and Gramps found lots of sea creatures...

On the first day, Gramps went for a little walk and came back with 3 squid that had washed up on the shore.  He showed them to Jack, who snatched them right up and began playing with them.  I was amazed - he's not usually quite so willing to touch something he's not touched before.  He played with them for quite some time, just tossing them here and there, putting them in his buckets and burying them in the sand.  Kenny and I watched, in amazement until we realized, he had no idea they were real!  We waited until we got home for lunch to ask if he would touch a real squid and he just laughed and laughed and said NO!  It was pretty funny.





Jack drew a jellyfish in the sand...

They even spotted an alligator in a pond near the beach!

Not only was it vacation week, but Max turned ONE while we were there!  More on that in another post, but we did have a little party for him, of course!  Jack made cupcakes...

And we all waited to see what Max would do...

Not a fan...

But don't worry...he's still happy to be ONE!

And for the record...this one...he didn't want anything to do with cake on his first birthday either, but now...just look...he LOVES it!

It wouldn't have been a party without presents...

It was a wonderful week and I can't think of a better way to have spent Max's first birthday!  Thanks again to Grams and Gramps and of course the Weavers!  It wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun without you!

*Kenny and I were working and Max and Jack were at school when the earthquake hit.  It was a bit disconcerting as it seemed to last several seconds and my building shook quite a bit.  Kenny was in the field but felt it as well.  Jack and Max...we got an email from their school right after it was over that said they were fine and they both slept right through it! 

**Miss Irene was scary.  She hung around a while too and it was a bit challenging keeping everyone entertained in the dark.  We lost power around 2PM, and just after that, a huge tree fell on our street.  Our neighborhood got hit really hard...

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in fear, but are happy to report we lost no trees and all lived through it.  We were quite lucky.  We didn't have power for what felt like forever...a week is a long time!  We ended up leaving for the beach even though the power was still out after we spent 4-5 days with Grandma. Thank goodness for Grandma!  She housed us and fed us and ket the boys so very happy.  THANK YOU!