Hilton Head Island

So after our Disney vacation we drove up the coast to South Carolina to meet my whole family in Hilton Head Island. It was just a short drive compared to what we had done to get to Disney and the kids did great again. This portion of the vacation wasn't so much about the sights, but the people. We were meeting my parents, and both sisters and their families. It was a great week to just spend time together and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Our family has never made the trip to Hilton Head Island before, but everyone else had been there multiple times. I assumed it would be similar to Myrtle Beach or Cocoa Beach, but I was wrong. It is a very secluded beach where it hasn't been commercialized and is not very touristy. There were no bright yellow arches at the McDonald's or any billboards lining the streets. The whole feeling was just relaxing.

We spent a lot of time at the pool and beaches and went on a lot of bike rides. There were wide bike paths all throughout the island so we did a lot of riding. The kids loved going on bike rides. We had brought their seats from home and rented bikes from Hilton Head Island. All the bike rides were pretty comical..for onlookers. I may have had a rough time on the bike rides. I had a hard time stopping, starting, slowing and pretty much everything except for the coasting. My family had a good laugh at my expense. Luckily there were no crashes or injuries. There was one bike ride that was just dreadful. The sun was up and hot and there was no shade riding on the beach. I thought I was dying. So Zach and I took a turn from the rest of the family to take surface streets back to the condo to get some shade. Maybe not the best idea, but not the worst. We cut over in a neighborhood that we had to wind through to get back to the main streets, which added some back tracking and more time, but I could ride in the shade so it was better. Then Chloe fell asleep on the ride and I was worried she passed out so I had Zach tap her helmet to see if she was alive and she wasn't waking up so we stopped (under the shade tree) and woke her up just to make sure she was okay. We all made it back to the condo safe and sound, but I was bright red and tired. Other than that all the bike rides went really great. 

Both kids loved the beach. This was Levi's first time at the beach and he jumped right in. He would go out with Zach towards the wave breaks and loved it. He enjoyed running in the waves and playing in the sand. Chloe loved it too, however, not at fearless as he was. Both kids would get really excited whenever we would say we were going to the beach.

Papa and Levi at the pool...one of my favorites

Eating out at Salty Dog in Sea Pines

Trying for a family photo before our boat ride..at least we are all present

Waiting for the boat to take off so we can see some dolphins!

The whole family

Well....we tried

Nothing has changed...this could be a classic Easter family photo

All the kids building sand castles

Levi's first experience on the beach

Couldn't resist the pigtails :)

Sydney, Chloe and Tina running into the ocean

No photos please

Not often that we get a photo with the three of us together..smiling

Aren't they cute

 

Yep..she's asleep

What a fabulous vacation we had!! Can't wait to see the family again.

The Most Magical Place on Earth...Seriously

So we decided to take a big family vacation this year. We haven't really done a big family vacation in the past few years as we normally spent our vacation time taking long weekend trips or trips back home to visit family. As enjoyable as those were, we were ready for a real family vacation. So we knew we were going to go meet my family in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and we knew that we were driving there from Texas so we decided to make a little detour to DISNEY WORLD!!!

I know what you are thinking, the kids are too small to remember why would we waste a Disney vacation when they won't remember. Well you would be thinking wrong. Zach has never been to Disney World so I wasn't only taking the kids for the first time, but also Zach. Now, I hadn't been to Disney World for about 12 years and so I was just as excited as the first time.

Like I said before we were making the drive. The drive would be about 17 and a half hours and we were going to make it mostly during the night. When we had moved to Texas we made most of the trip at night and it seemed to work out great for the kids as they slept most of the way so we wanted to try that again. We packed up the truck and headed out. I was to take the first shift as I knew I couldn't do the super late night drive into the morning as that was my toughest leg of the last road trip. I only made it about 150 miles until I couldn't go on any further. I had worked that day an 8 hour and was just spent. It was probably a good thing because I forgot what it was like driving in the midwest/east. There are a lot of animals that come out at night. We had to keep our eyes peeled for deer. Also, we hit a lot of rain. It just so happened there was a tropical storm going on that we hit once we were in Alabama and Florida. There were points where you couldn't see the car in front of you. Zach was calm and cool and we made the drive without any issues. The kids did great as well. They slept on and off and didn't complain much at all. It was a success. We took our time and stopped a little longer at our stops than if it were just Zach and I, but we made the drive in about 18 hours. We were pretty exhausted, but excited when we arrived at our condo. Chloe was pretty excited too. She continued to say "wee-hoo, we are going to Mickey's house!" periodically on the drive to Florida. It was really funny and made us even more excited because we knew she was excited for the trip. Once we were at the condo we had to wait about 15-20 minutes for our room to be ready so we decided to check out the pool area. There was a kids splash area and Chloe couldn't wait to start playing. She was so excited! 

Levi is excited about the journey ahead

Sound asleep on our long trip

We bought the head pillows to think maybe that it would help them be comfortable, but they don't work with car seats, so we made them as nice hats :)

Chloe playing on the splash pad in her traveling clothes

That's a little better. She changed into her swim clothes to play some more

Levi enjoying the splash pad

We had two days at Disney planned. The weather forecast wasn't the best so we were really just winging it. Our plan was to be at the park when it opened and spend about 6 hours at the park and be back for the kids to take a nap at the condo. Remember how I said that I hadn't been to the park for about 12 years, well I forgot all the steps you have to take just to get to the park. We started off a little slower than what we wanted and parked with a pretty good parking spot, walked to the Monorail, waited a good 10-15 minutes for the Monorail then waited in line to get into the park. We were on Disney property about 45 minutes before we hit the gates. So we just decided we weren't on a schedule and took our time to enjoy the park. 

That first day we really didn't go on many rides, but experienced the overwhelming Magic Kingdom. It was overwhelming in a great way, but there is just so much to do and see. We of course started with the best ride at the park, Dumbo! I had read that they added more Dumbos to the ride, but what I didn't know is they added a second Dumbo ride! And the wait time was just 20 minutes. Not bad for what it use to be like. Not only was the wait just 20 minutes, but they have a little play place for the kids to play rather than wait in line. You have to wind through a few rows before you get to the play place, but we only actually stood in line for about 5 minutes and the kids played for the rest until our number was called. We all were able to fit in one Dumbo. We loved it! Next we headed over to meet Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck, rode the train, got some lunch, watched one of the Minnie/Mickey shows at the castle, rode the carousel, watched the big afternoon parade and did some shopping. It was a fun filled day and we spent about 7 or 8 hours there soaking it all in. We all had a great time. It was hot, but not terribly crowded or too hot. 

Excited!!! We are on the Monorail on our way to Magic Kingdom

Levi playing before the Dumbo ride

All of us on the Dumbo ride, flying through the sky!

Surprisingly, Chloe didn't have any issues going up to the characters for hugs and pictures

Silly faces on the Prince Charming Carousel

Taking a quick nap while we shopped

Levi too

Daddy bought each the kids a very large balloon. They made it back to Texas with us and are still floating today.

On our second day the plan was to relax at the condo in the morning and head over in the late afternoon so we can watch the closing fireworks, however, it was suppose to storm in the evening so we decided to head over in the late morning. Because we had got most of the "experiences" out of the way we were able to hit all the rides. On our last ride I said, well, we have hit everything so lets go ride Dumbo again. There was a crowd at the exit of the ride and we quickly figured out why. It was pouring rain outside. The rain wasn't suppose to come for another few hours, but it is Florida and came early. So we put the kids in the stroller and booked it for cover. We went to the shopping area again, with most everyone else, walked around for about half hour then decided the rain wasn't going to stop and we needed to head to the truck. So we bought a poncho threw it over the stroller and ran to the Monorail so we could run to our truck. We were all soaked through and through. It was as if we were thrown in a pool. We did have an extra set of clothes for the kids in the truck, but not for us. So while the rain was pouring down we still changed the kids clothes in the truck so they could be dry. 

It was a great trip to Disney. As we were driving out of the park in the pouring down rain we decided that this Disney trip was a must to add into our family vacations. Zach loved it for his first time and he is hooked. I'm so excited he loved it just as much as I did. We didn't see everything, but it was a great beginning to our new family vacation spot. I couldn't dream about it to much because this Disney trip was just the beginning of our vacation. Next stop Hilton Head Island!

Chloe hugging and talking to Belle

Levi spinning us on the Tea Cups

Chloe's turn to spin

Soaked...leaving the Magic Kingdom soaked from head to toe