During Thanksgiving week, we joined my parents, Dan's parents, and Dan's brother's family in Hilton Head, SC. Dan's brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Dawn, rented a large house a block from the beach with enough space for our whole family. It was an amazing week!
After driving all day Saturday and settling into the rental house, we woke up on Sunday ready to hit the beach! The temperatures were in the 50s and 60s most of the week, and the kids jumped right in the ocean while most of the adults stayed on the beach bundled up in their coats!
First day at the beach!
Soccer and frisbee games
Our nephews, Benjamin and Nathan hard at play
It's not THAT cold, Mom!
My favorite people in the world
Sand dollars!
They were living, so we put them back in the ocean
Horseshoe crab shell
Dan's dad and Tim, prepping the kite for takeoff
A successful launch!
Micah, Hallie, Emma, and Josiah loved digging ditches and holes in the sand. We had to fill them in before we left the beach, for the sake of the bicyclists who rode on the beach.
Dan's parents and my dad
Dawn, my mom, and I
We visited a playground and had a picnic one day
The playground had a splash pad feature, which of course the kids played in, even though they were fully clothed.
The cannons on the playground pirate ship sprayed water!
There was also a sand pit and sculptures
Hallie wanted Nana to play with her.
Benjamin, Nathan, and Aaron
We left the playground and walked to the nearby shops and beach
We came across this amazing tree on our way to the beach
The kids couldn't resist climbing it!
We enjoyed a short walk along the beach
Dan's parents
My parents
Tim and Dawn
Dan and I
We found the remains of a jellyfish and another horseshoe crab shell
After shopping in some stores nearby, we found an ice cream parlor
We took an hour drive to Savannah, GA another day during our stay. We parked at the tourist center and picked up a walking tour map that led us through the heart of Savannah. There were beautiful squares throughout the city with grassy areas and statues. We walked mostly, but rode some of the free busses when we found a bus stop. We took the kids to a playground, visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, and toured Colonial Park Cemetery.
Colonial Park Cemetery is the site of Button Gwinnett's grave. He was one of the nation's founders who signed the Declaration of Independence.
This "wall of gravestones" was created after the Civil War era, when dozens of grave markers were displaced. Not knowing where they were originally placed, the city hung them on this wall.
The Spanish moss hanging on all the trees gave the city a very unique look and feel. We learned that Spanish moss isn't harmful to the trees.
We continued walking to the waterfront district, intending to ride a ferry. But we just missed the ferry and it didn't return for at least a half hour. We were all exhausted by then and it was getting colder, so we called it a day and drove back to Hilton Head.
Our rental house had a back yard with bamboo plants. The kids found inventive ways to use the stalks that had fallen on the ground!
They loved exploring in the "jungle." Only one eye was poked by all the wildly swinging bamboo stalks, which I'll call a success.
It was great to have a yard where the kids could play outside.
Of course there were also shenanigans when the kids were indoors
We enjoyed playing games in the evenings after the younger kids were in bed.
We played miniature golf one afternoon at Legendary Golf.
On Thanksgiving day, we fixed a big turkey lunch, then headed to the beach!
It was way too cold that day to get wet, so naturally all the boys (and Emma) jumped in anyway.
Digging more holes in the sand for the adults to fill in.
After he was soaking wet, Micah finally agreed that it was too cold!
You can't beat Thanksgiving at the beach, though!
Tim and Dawn got up early a couple of mornings to see the sunrise. I was content to sleep in and enjoy their gorgeous pictures.
On our last day in Hilton Head, we visited Shelter Cove shopping center to see Santa arrive on a fire truck.
Nathan, Benjamin, and Aaron could hardly contain themselves at the sight of Santa. Heh!
There was a cute train ride, but it had a long line and they were charging money to ride, so we opted out.
But we did find a very fun scavenger hunt. Each store had "hidden" an Elf on the Shelf (mostly in plain sight) for kids to hunt for. There's one hiding in the wreath above the kids' heads.
We took photos of each elf, and showed the pictures to the local ice cream parlor. Each child was rewarded with ice cream for completing the scavenger hunt!
We also shopped for souvenirs at the stores.
Our last excursion of the week was to the Harbor Town playground and lighthouse.
The lighthouse was built in 1970 overlooking a harbor and golf course, where there's actually no need for a lighthouse. But it's become a popular museum and tourist attraction since it was built.
This was the first time our family had been to the top of a lighthouse!
We timed our visit so we could watch the sunset from the top of the lighthouse.
I gave the four youngest kids glow sticks to play with on our last night at the rental house.
They exceeded all our expectations by choreographing a dance show, complete with music, flashing lights, and twirling glow sticks!
The kids lined up by age on the spiral staircase at the rental house. We loved our Thanksgiving week with family!
No comments:
Post a Comment