Hilton Head Island Beach Trip, Part 1

Last week was just so good. A week at the beach with Matt's parents and his sister's family was the perfect start to summer and the perfect last trip for our little family of four before we welcome our newest little one in June.

I slept in each morning and didn't worry about any typical household responsibilities outside of laundry. I'm even way behind on email, and it feels great. Or felt great, hah! Outside of uploading pictures from my camera, I didn't open my computer once. It was truly a vacation from everything!

As always when I come back from these trips, there are too many pictures to share in just one post, so here's a look at the first half of our vacation.

And in case you're local and looking for a great beach destination, we stayed in the Sea Pines Resort (think huge neighborhood/community with tons of options for lodging) and loved it just as much as we did last year. I seriously don't know how we have grown up in Georgia and only been to Hilton Head, and particularly Sea Pines, now twice. It is the best family beach destination!

A few standout memories from the trip include:

**Natalie had her first real trip to the beach (last year she was 3 months and 6 months on our beach trips) and LOVED it! She was all about the ocean, the sand, and loooved seeing dogs on the beach and searching for birds in the air.

**Ryan and Riley (pronounced by each of them as "Wyan and Why-We") called each other "best buddy" and were so excited each morning that the other person was there. They were adorable together.

**Natalie gave us so many laughs with her love of sleep (some mornings she was up just before 9:00 and taking a cat nap by 11:00), her finger point and "kkkkk" sound that got her just about everything she needed, her intense love of ice-cream (read lack of full sensor and adorably pitiful meltdown when the ice-cream was gone or taken away), and her "head shake" game that she started playing with her Aunt KK and then initiated with everyone else on the trip. She really felt like such a little person suddenly on this trip- her personality is too much fun.

**Matt's mom was SO sweet to offer to stay in during nap time and let Matt and I walk on the beach and enjoy some time together reading, relaxing, and completing full conversations. :) It was so, so nice to have that stretch of time with him each day!

**The four cousins are at the cutest ages and got along so well together. Watching them play together and talk with each all week was so much fun.

Day 1:

First trolly ride!

Please look at the hands

Ice cream followed by a dance party

Day 2:

Getting that sand off before jumping in the pool!

Board games with Papa and a visor... just in case in gets bright inside.

Spaghetti night

Day 3:

If you want to know what I looked like as a baby, there you have it :)

When the sand sticks to the ocean water- sweet love

By the way, I died laughing when I looked back at the pictures of Matt pulling the kids on the boogie board. I mean the form! 😂

The potential in this pic is just so good, right?!

She has become such a sweet snuggler in the last couple of weeks and we are loving it!

Tired buddies waiting for dinner at Skull Creek Boathouse.

I'll end there for today so I can tackle a few of those emails and household responsibilities I neglected last week before the kids wake up! Pray for me today- Daddy detox after a full week of being with him on vacation is never fun for anyone. My super-fun game needs to be strong. 👊