Hilton Head Island

For the second summer in a row we visited Hilton Head Island over 4th of July weekend. This place holds special memories for our family because it is where my grandparents lived for many years. Many of my childhood memories are from my grandparents’ house in HHI, playing on the dock, taking boat rides, learning to fish with my grandparents and playing with cousins. Last year Olivia was only 3 months old when we braved this trip with her (can you believe she was so tiny in these pictures). This year we took an active, talking, walking toddler to the beach.

Upon arriving we promptly took Olivia to show her the beach (well not so quickly as we had lots of sunscreen to apply, chairs, umbrellas, towels, toys, drinks, and snacks to load in the wagon). But it was great because the sun was going down and the beach was not very crowded so Olivia splashed in the pools that had formed from the tide. She also chased after sea gulls and stopped to look at dogs and other beach goers. At first, Olivia was a bit afraid to get too close to the waves, but with some gentle coaxing she soon was sitting in the water and giggling as the waves splashed her face.

That evening we headed for dinner and despite a LONG wait Olivia entertained herself with her dolly.

The next day we were up and at the beach where Olivia got to see her cousins who were visiting from North Carolina as well as another cousin who lives in HHI.

That evening we made our first attempt at taking beach pictures. Only dad followed through on the memo to wear white and khaki as the rest of us were still in our swim suits, but these pictures are special nonetheless.

That evening Nana and Poppy babysat while Mark and I had a date night at a fun seafood restaurant with a spectacular view of the water.

On 4th of July Olivia decided to start the day off early at 4 AM. After an hour attempt to will her back to sleep Mark took her to the beach where they watched the sun rise. Mark said Olivia was running down the beach waving and telling other early risers “hi” and looking at shells. There was also a pond near the boardwalk that had lots of turtles so Olivia stopped and kept repeating “turtle, turtle, turtle.” We spent much of the day at the beach, using the umbrella and tent to keep Olivia protected from the sun.

Olivia dug in the sand

Played in her tent

And had a snack

Mark and I took a marvelous bike ride around the area while Olivia napped that afternoon. Later that evening we made our second attempt at family beach pictures. This proved more disastrous than then first. Olivia was thrilled with the ability to run everywhere and we couldn’t get her to stay still for a second. Here is Olivia running from the fountain to the boardwalk to check out the flowers and back.

And here is the best family picture we got all evening

Somehow Nana used her charms and managed to get Olivia to stay still for a few seconds for a picture.

It is times like this when you can either laugh or cry. Sure, we wanted beautiful beach pictures of all of us out by the sand dunes in white and khaki, but instead we have fantastic memories of Olivia squealing with excitement as she ran all around the resort.

Of course this blog entry wouldn’t be complete without sharing Olivia’s reaction to the fireworks which we watched from the beach. She pointed to the brightly colored fireworks and said “wow.”

I wish we could have frozen time during this trip. Just as soon as we arrived it seemed time to return home. Next year we have agreed that we will stay an entire week.