Hilton Head!!

So I am FINALLY getting around to writing about our very first family vacation.....a whopping thirty minutes away from the house :)  Seriously, I think that was probably a good starter vacation for us.  I have zero clue how our friends Anne & Ryan did it with two children in tow, one being brand new.  They came all the way from TN!!

At any rate, we started off on Monday morning attempting to get 4 adults, 4 children and 1 dog out the door.  I think we started doing this around 7am when our two munchkins got up....and I think we were all 8 successfully at the beach house around 2pm.  Sad, I know.  It's utterly ridiculous just how much STUFF you "need" for a week at the beach. 

Once we were finally there, though, we had a great time!  It was nice that Carrie and Cora had each other to play with...until they both thought it would be great fun to bolt from the tent to the water without any warning.  Good times.  Seriously though, those two girls had so much fun in the water.  Later in the week Jerry got a boogie board for Carrie and she was riding waves by the end of the week!  She was such the little surfer girl, carrying around her boogie board with the leash attached to her wrist. 

Anna loved the beach and the water too.  She'd just crawl all around, eat a fistful of sand, and keep going.  She loved playing right at the edge of the waves and wasn't shy about letting you know how she felt about you picking her up out of the water. 

Lizzy came with us to the beach - thank goodness!!  That meant that we actually got to sneak in a few minutes here and there of actually being able to enjoy the beach.  And she babysat for Carrie, Cora & Anna one night so the adults and Greta went out to eat.  It was so nice to get some adult time with our friends without having to explain for the 5,000th time why someone couldn't go in the water alone :) 

All in all I think it was a great first attempt at a family vacation.  Perhaps next year we'll be a little more adventurous and go somewhere that takes a bit more planning....and perhaps not!!  I will post pictures to Picasa soon!