Hilton Head Island - best told through a whole bunch of pictures

We started off our lovely journey by staying in a hotel on our way down to the island, because the kids just wanted to swim in a hotel pool. Our stay would have been perfect had it not been for the fact that the hotel had just cleaned most of the carpets and so we had to play musical rooms for a while and then Tiger ended up slipping on the slate floor due to these wet carpets and bashed his face in a bit. After the bleeding stopped, the hotel staff was more than happy to make sure that the rest of our stay was as comfortable as possible.

Fortunately we are not deterred by facial injuries and the next day were on our way. The kids couldn't wait to get to the beach.

KK found herself a nice hole that someone had dug in the sand.

A little evening crab hunting


One of the coolest things about the beaches at Hilton Head is that the sand is quite hard and so you can ride your bike all over the beach, right next to the ocean.

Or your scooter, if you prefer.

On one of the days we headed down the the Salty Dog Cafe. I don't think that I have ever been so hot in my life. I felt like we were being cooked by the air around us.

The parentals on the dock.

Being cooked. . .um, I mean waiting for our lunch.

Anyone for a baked 4 year old?

Has my face melted off yet? Let's ditch this place and go to the pool. The pool at the house was definitely one of the highlights to the trip. Note to the committee: We must always have a pool.

The last good beach day we had ended up being really, really windy. Tiger played the best he could, but in the end the pelting sand won out and he headed back to the safety of the pool.

Two cute girl cousins enjoying a little craft time.

My kids and I posing in front of the alligator pit near our house. Unfortunately it was too dark out to get a good picture of the alligators.

Our last night on the Island which meant we had to hurry and get some sort of family picture taken.

Precious girls. Morgan was so sweet and bought this matching necklace for Kelsey. She still wears it all the time.

The whole group.
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Is it time to go back yet? I could seriously use another week at the beach. If for some reason you don't feel like you have seen quite enough pictures from this week of fun, feel free to see more at my brother's blog here or my sister's blog here.

Let's go fly a kite

The following took place at the beginning of June. Tiger is constantly asking to fly KK's kite. Well on this particular day there was actually a little breeze and so I told him to go to it. He ran up and down the street for a good 20 minutes trying to get this kite to fly.

Playing in the sprinkler - Because grandma just likes to look at pictures

Adventures in heating and cooling

Our air conditioner broke. We waited for 10 days for it to be replaced. Five of those days were spent at my parent's house because it was just too hot to live in our house. Finally the glorious day of installation came. The kids and I waited with great anticipation to move back into our house. Installation eve we enjoyed one last meal with the parentals and then we packed up the car and headed back to our home, glorious home. Spirits were high with the anticipation of sleeping once again in the comfort of our own beds. As soon as we got home I raced inside, eager to get things ready so that I could throw the children into bed as soon as possible. However, as I walked in the door, I was greeted by an extremely strong and sickening smell. At first I just thought that it was new A/C smell, but as my head became lighter and I started feeling a bit woozy I quickly ran out of the house and got the kids far, far away. UGH, Gas. For the last several hours our house had been filling up with gas. So, we very very sadly loaded everyone back up and headed back to grandma's house. It turns out that there was a faulty part to our new furnace and it was spewing gas from all sides. Never fear though, the gas leak has been fixed and we are now home and very, very happy to be here.

We're all going soft

Just over a week ago the air conditioner in my house died. DIED I tell you. Dead as a door knob. Kaput. It was a sad, sad moment for all of us which then turned into one sweaty and smelly week. We braved it the best we could but then heat delirium started to set in and so we headed to the parentals for a little extended slumber party. We were finally able to get someone to come out to look at the dead beast on Friday only to tell us what we already knew. It must be replaced. So on Tuesday we will become the proud new owners of a cute little energy efficient central air cooling system (and also a new furnace because that is about to die as well and I am NOT going through this again in the winter.) Needless to say this has not been my favorite week. Fortunately we have kept ourselves busy visiting friends and stores and whatnot, but I can't help but think about all of those people out there who don't have air conditioning and it makes me feel like such a wuss because I couldn't even go one week living in my oven of a house. Perhaps if we weren't under a heat advisory and perhaps if it actually cooled down at night, then I am sure I could have handled it but seriously, how on earth do the non-A/C people of the world do it? My heart now goes out to those people. May there always be a breeze for you.

That's one way to look at it

Tonight, after many years, I finally put a bed skirt on Tiger's bed. He was very excited and curious about what I was doing and when I was all done he stepped back, took a look at the bed, and said, "The bed has its diaper on."

This is how he rolls

Well, how did you celebrate our nation's independence?

We choose to celebrate with illegal fireworks purchased in South Carolina (even though I never did feel quite right setting them off on a Sunday).

I love the look on Sparky's face.

One of the tamer fireworks.

KK didn't like the loud explosions and chose to watch from the safety of the car.

I have no idea what Tiger is doing here, but this has turned into one of his favorite poses whenever I am taking his picture. My favorite was watching his enire body tense up in anticipation everytime we lit a firework.

Tigerisms

Holy cow is Tiger talking these days. Here are a few of my favorites from our vacation last week.

Elevator = Elegator
Hagrid (from Harry Potter) = Hammerhead
Alligator = Galligator
Commercial = Camarshmallow

Mom, are you frustrated? I'm so frustrated. I'm angry. I'm happy.

My toesie toes do flips.

I'm ready for ice creamies.

Awesome parenting moment

Sparky: You mean these fireworks we are lighting are illegal?!
Me: Uh. . . Yeah.
Sparky: You mean that if a policeman drove by we could get into trouble?!
Me: Uh. . . Yeah.
Sparky: Well then, why are we doing it?
Me: Because they're fun and really cool.
Sparky: I just don't feel right about this. When I grow up I'm never going to set off illegal fireworks!
Me: Ok, we'll see if you still feel the same way when you are 16.