Hilton Head Vacation

Last week we spent the week on vacation in Hilton Head.  It was such a fun time and the weather was wonderful!  Being the beach girl that I am, I was in heaven.  I seriously wish I could stay there for the entire summer.  Vacation is so nice because you really do remove yourself from everything and just relax.  We went with my mama, my sister and her boys.  Every day we would get up, spend time at the pool/beach, eat lunch and then go back out for more beach time.  We would also go for bike rides each day.  Riding bikes is one of our favorite things to do down there.  Some nights we chose to eat in which gave us more beach time and others we would go out.  On the nights we ate in, we would ride our bikes over to Coligny Plaza to my FAVORITE ice cream place, The Ice Cream Cone and Deli.  They have the best ice cream and my most favorite flavor ever.  I also look forward to shopping there as well.  We rode over for lunch one day after a morning of bike riding and then did a little shopping.
My girls are really opposite from each other so it was only natural that Cohen wanted to spend every minute at the pool while Kate loved the beach.  Cohen has really impressed me with her swimming skills.  After hating her lessons at the beginning of the summer she has really turned into a water girl and didn't even want to use her floatie.  She would swim for hours back and forth to anyone who would swim with her.  She would swim back and forth between the ladder and someone.  Cohen also wanted to jump in and swim or have someone throw her up in the air.  I was real proud of her.  Another  thing about Cohen was how many friends she made.  Starting from day 1 Cohen was introducing herself to every little girl she saw.  I was glad to see her being so outgoing and friendly.  She definitely hasn't always been that way :)  We got real tickled with her one day at the beach.  She met a little girl named Annaleigh and they hit it off.  They played in the sand for a long time together.  Cohen would come up to me to tell me about what they were playing and one time she came over to tell me something then just walked right over and sat down with Annaleigh's family under the umbrella in a chair.  Annaleigh was still playing in the sand and there sat Cohen with the family just like she belonged to them.  Kelly & I were sitting right beside them and he walked over to get her, but it was quite funny seeing her make herself right at home.  I think both girls kept each other company which was nice.
My nephew Devin brought his friend Cameron with us again this year.  Cameron went with us last year and Cohen became fast friends with him.  He had her the moment he made her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  They call each other "George" and each night we would get dressed she wanted to make sure Cameron would like what she was wearing.  I'm really starting to worry about my little boy crazy girl :)  Kelly and I did have fun playing cards with these boys most every night and we are still the Rook champions so that left a bad taste in their mouths :)
As for Kate, she was our beach girl.  Normally she would take a mid-morning nap and an afternoon nap depending on what we were doing.  We took my cousin Jessica with us to help us with the girls.  Both my girls love Jessica and she was a big help whether it was being inside while Kate napped or being with Cohen at the pool.  Cohen really loved having Jessica to play with in the pool.  Kate was a little clingy to me.  The Saturday before we left I had taken her to urgent care with her throat.  Even with antibiotics she wasn't 100%.  In fact, her fever came back mid-week and I took her back to the urgent care in HHI.  I'm one of those anxious moms when sickness comes up.  Waiting forever at urgent care was not the highlight for sure, but we had her meds changed and she perked up pretty well for the last few days.  Kate's favorite thing to do was mash the elevator buttons.   She learned how really quick and the minute we would walk out of the condo she was pointing her finger towards the elevator.  She mashed the buttons that we needed her to and then some!  It was so cute to watch her learn what that was.  She was also pretty fascinated by the ocean.  We had to constantly chase her because she would take off to the water and even with a few falls along the way she was back on her feet going strong straight into the water.  She loved it and she even fell in the water which normally makes a child hate the salt water, but not her.
I've tried breaking down the pics from each day...and this isn't even all of them :)

Sunday/Monday:
Most of Sunday was spent getting settled and doing the grocery shopping.   We did have some pool time since the girls had done so well riding.  Cohen was so excited that she didn't even sleep at all!  We got our bikes rented then went for a quick pizza dinner.
Monday was an all day pool/beach day.  Cohen was really brave at the ocean, which we weren't sure how she would be.  Kate loved chasing the balls of course and would scream and laugh at the sight of one.  That day we saw a tiny crab on the beach and Kelly caught it to see her reaction.  She wasn't phased at all, in fact, she tried her best to pick it up when it got close to her leg!
We ate in that night and then rode our bikes for ice cream.  Kate is just like her mama in that she LOVES the ice cream too.  She would squeal so loud while we were in line just by looking at the cones they had on display!

Getting the ball

Laughing as she gets it!

Coco and Jessica

Hubby & I on the beach

Sweetness

Where did it go?

Grabbing the crab

Running and jumping the waves

Cohen has always fallen asleep on bike rides :)

First time in the big seat with a helmet!

Devin!

Loving the ice cream

Cohen's favorite-Blue's Clues which makes a big blue mess

Tuesday we enjoyed our day at the pool and beach again.  That night we headed to the Salty Dog Cafe.  Cohen was so excited to see Jake the Salty Dog and have her picture made with him.   Kate had gotten so tired that she fell asleep in her high chair in the middle of eating.  Bless her heart!

Off to the water!

Sand time was fun too

Such a poser!

Poor baby was too tired to eat!

 Wednesday/Thursday:
These two days were the same...beach, pool, and bikes!  Wednesday is when Kate ran a fever again and just wanted to lay on me most of the time.  I love the cuddle time but I wanted my sweet baby to enjoy her vacation!  This was also when Cohen made friends on the beach and decided to spend her time under their umbrella instead of with us.  Snacks will do that :)
Thursday was interrupted by our urgent care visit but that didn't hold us down too long.  We went out to eat on Thursday night and we were able to ride our bikes to the restaurant.  Afterwards we headed down to CVS to pick up her medicine. On the way we got to see our first alligator of the trip.  Cohen was very fascinated by this.  We had to hurry though to get the medicine.  I had to get a picture of us in the drive thru on our bikes...especially for my WAIFS!

That's Cohen with her new friends :)

Poor baby was not feeling too good

The alligator going after the bird...iPhone pic is a little blurry

Drive thru/Bike thru

 Friday we spent the morning out riding bikes.  We rode on trails and on the beach.  I found several dream homes!:)  We ate lunch at the Coligny Deli then did some shopping.  I was ready to get back to the beach after that so we headed back to the condo.  That night Kelly and I went out by ourselves for a birthday dinner for me.  We really enjoyed ourselves and the food was wonderful!  We made a quick ice cream stop then headed back to sit on the beach.  There is nothing better than just sitting on the beach together talking.  LOVED it!

 

Date night!

Before going out that night I decided to take Kate to the beach to attempt some pictures.  I had an outfit that I had taken a picture of Cohen in when she was about 18 months old.  I knew this would be my chance for one of Kate.  It was a little harder since Cohen was more steady on her feet and she had turned around to look at me.  Kate was so cute though.  She headed straight for the water and when she got wet she just laughed and laughed for me!

Here is a comparison :)  I'm not seeing look-a-likes :)

Saturday was my birthday, and I can't think of a better place to spend it or with better people.  Surrounded by my family at the beach!  If I have to get older that was the way to do it.  We spent the day soaking up our last rays.  That night we went to Harbor Town.  I love Harbor Town and I love the Crazy Crab so that's where we went.  As we left that night we rode around hoping to see more alligators so Brock could see on and we weren't disappointed.  This one was larger too!  We then headed to play putt-putt.  Cohen had been asking about it all week and we just never got around to going so we did.  Note to self...taking a 4 year old after a long day of swimming and no nap isn't a great idea.  She did pretty well but she did fall and complained of being thirsty.  I was getting hot myself so from now on putt-putt will be earlier in the day.  All in all it was a great vacation and I have spent this week  wishing I was still there!

Beach bums!

My little tanned girl!

This how we found Kate napping...all relaxed.  She did have a little rash this day too :(

Auntie P getting some pool time

The whole family...Cameron was our photographer in these

Harbor Town 

Our gator sighting

 

Our happy family-Hilton Head 2012