Hilton Head

Our Hilton Head vacation this year was SOOOOO needed. I feel like I had vacation withdraw in the worst way! We booked our trip in the Winter to coincide with Carissa's again, but even after she changed hers, we decided to go as soon as school was out anyway, which literally was Saturday after school let out. 

We spent the day loading the car and trying to wear the girls out, but they were so excited it didn't work, haha. 

It was so fun talking about the trip with the girls, now that we have been there three times. Amara wanted to visit her "favorite restaurant," Aunt Chiladas, Eric wanted to go to Hudsons, and I wanted to try a couple new places--and just soak up the pool and the sun for a week. 

I also wanted to do a couple activities, so we booked a tour with the Pirates of Hilton Head, and a dolphin tour too. The pirate adventure, featuring the charismatic characters Squirt, Sea Dog, and Captain Bones (Cora insisted on calling Squirt, Squid the entire time!) was really great! We toured around the water off of sea pines getting clues and chasing Stinky Pete, who we blasted with water cannons in the end. 

We thought we'd made it to mini golf one night, but we didn't--the girls really really liked night swimming so any night after dinner that we made it in time, we just headed back down to the pool, which they LOVED. 

The sunset dolphin tour was amazing--dolphins that we literally could have reached out and touched if we'd wanted to, and we were partnered with the Davis family of three kids who were perfect companions to ours. Amara laid on the front of the boat, searching for dolphins the entire 1.5 hours, while Cora raced around the boat, spotting. Both girls got a chance to drive the boat with Captain Gio's help too, it was just amazing. 

Between the calm areas of the creek we were in, he'd punch the boat up to 40 knots and blow the girls hair back, they screamed and yelled and wanted him to go faster. Gio was a great captain and one we will ask for again!

We did some of our favorite activities too, like lighting sparklers at sundown, attending the singing family Shannon Tanner show at the HarborTown marina across the street, going to fun dinners every night and spending all days at the pool too. 

We visited the general store near the hotel for ice cream and bought souvenirs, mailed post cards, and got too much sun some days but it was really, really perfect overall. 

Amara really took to boogie boarding quickly--she was catching waves like a pro and stayed at the beach quite a while on a few days. 

The girls did plenty of crafts and consumed MANY slushies at the pool-side craft shacks. They painted, made sandy candy, got hair wraps, and did poolside dancing with Duney the dolphin on several occasions. 

And last but not least, Eric and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in Hilton Head (for the 2nd year in a row!) We had dinner at Skull Creek Boat House, which was way more fun than anything we would have done on a work night at home, and loved it! 

Anywhere we went all week, I had to have singles in my wallet, because beach and restaurant singers attracted her like a moth to a flame. The girls made fast friends with several families of girls at the pool during the week too, especially Sophia and Jocelyn (who happened to be from Cincinnati and we hope we can meet up with again soon). Several families told us at the pool that they recognized us from previous visits too, as did we--so I think it's safe to say we found our safe spot.