Hilton Head

Warning: this will be a long post. A very long post. With a high level of detail and photos for memory-keeping purposes. You've been warned.

We planned the Hilton Head vacation back in January. It was quite a random thing that just worked itself out, really. My friend Rachel has been going to Hilton Head for years with her parents, and she posted on her blog that they would be selling their family week this year due to them moving home and preparing to have a third baby. She made an excellent case for why this timeshare and location would be a great deal and fun vacation. I got more information and casually mentioned it to Matt. He was on board and agreed we should see if the Tauntons would want to join us. I thought there would be no way he and Michael would get the same week of vacation, but wouldn't you know it, they did. The next step was to see if the timeshare was available that one particular week, and wouldn't you know it, it was. So, just like that we made our Howe-Taunton Hilton Head vacation official...and the rest is history!

Sunday, June 16th:

Happy Father's Day, Matt and Michael! For your gift you get to travel with your wives and 4 children! Ha. Poor guys. We elected to fly non-stop to Jacksonville and then drive about 2 1/2 hrs to Hilton Head, because non-stop flying with children is always better, and especially so when your connecting flight location would be Atlanta. The Hotlanta airport is a mess to be avoided at all costs. We all had seats together, and since Adrienne was still technically under 2 she landed herself on my lap (actually, Matt's for most of the flight). Though the booking agent assured me I wouldn't need her birth certificate, I was thankful I brought a copy because the agent at check in wanted to see it. The flight was bumpy (which meant nervous nelly over here was not in fine shape), and landed us in Jacksonville well past everyone's lunch time. After collecting rental cars, installing car seats, etc, we grabbed a quick 3 p.m. lunch at Panera and headed north. The drive was easy, Adrienne slept  nearly the entirety, and Jillian was in an iPad trance. We checked into the Royal Dunes, scoped out the place, assigned bedrooms, and headed out to dinner. This night we ate at Kenny B's (recommended by a colleague of Matt's who has vacationed there for over 30 years), and it was tolerable at best. The peel and eat shrimp were outstanding, but this place was a true hole in the wall. Add 4 tired cranky kids, exhausted parents, and a toddler who decided to poop her pants just as her mother got her meal, and I'd safely say it was the worst meal of the trip. We headed back to the condo, bathed the kids, and then Jenni and I left the dads to do the bedtime routine while we tried to speed shop through Harris Teeter for groceries before they closed. This is what two moms can do in a grocery store in 20 minutes. Dangerous. It required the use of 2 luggage carts to schlep it inside (because the husbands were out back on the deck away from their phones ignoring our calls/texts for assistance).

Monday, June 17th:

The kids were up bright and early, ready to hit the beach. We spent the morning there, walked back for lunch at the condo, and then hit the beach again in the afternoon. By noon we had 1 jellyfish sting (on my toe), 1 bird poop attack on a shoulder (Jenni), and 2 lost pairs of sunglasses in the rough waves (Matt and Michael). I was a bit nervous about how Adrienne would do at the beach because of her fear in Hawaii, but she acted like a crazy woman constantly running toward the water, playing readily in the sand, and giggling wildly when Matt took her out in the waves. She was in heaven, and the kids all enjoyed the day.

Poor Matt. It's miserable to be without sunglasses at the beach

Adrienne snoozing in the stroller in Michael's beach tent

Dads schlepping kids in the ocean

Jillian is becoming quite the body surfer. She loves the ocean and its waves. Floaties are necessary because she doesn't have much fear.

Our friend on the beach

Toddler yoga while trying on Rachel's shoes

beach baby

Headed out with Dad

Waiting for "the smashers"

The beach got super crowded in the afternoon

Peek-a-boo

Moms in the shade

We cleaned up and headed out for an early dinner at Catch 22 (another one of Dr. Swee's recos). It took all of 10 minutes to get there, but we had this in our backseat after about 3 minutes.

Dinner was fantastic (local cobia, oysters on the halfshell, fried pickles, scallops, key lime pie) and then we quickly put the kids to bed. Jenni was in charge of reading the bedtime story to the big kids, and I just thought this was such a sweet sight. Side note: I am so proud of Jillian, Will, and Rachel for sharing a room for 7 nights, no arguing, no talking, no causing trouble. They listened to their story, said goodnight, and immediately crashed every time. Now Adrienne (who was on an air mattress in our room) was another story.

random pic of part of our unit

As soon as the kids were asleep, we began a night of games. Jenni was designated to be in charge of games, so after we failed at a few boring-ish card games, we settled into a fun competitive game of beer pong (which really was beer pong for germaphobes--we used water glasses as targets and then kept our beers clean on the side. No way were we drinking beers that had ping pong balls from the floor in it. Can't believe we used to do that in college! Oh wait, yes I can.)

Matt in action

Tuesday, June 18th
Jenni and I had a court time for 8:30, so we left the men in charge of the kids and enjoyed a fun  hour of tennis, a bit of shopping in the Racquet Club, and then met the men and kids at the beach. We came back for lunch at the condo, the boys took the kids down to the condo's ice cream social while we tidied up the place, then we hit the pool briefly at the request of the kids. The pool was crowded on this date, and there was too vast a difference in the level of child supervision among parents present, so we didn't stay long. It was a bit chaotic. Michael took this funny pic of Jenni and I in the pool. It seems we were wearing our annoyed faces...

We hoofed it back to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Adrienne managed a couple little naps in her stroller this day. The beach can really tire a toddler out!

We went out for an Italian dinner that evening at Trattoria Divina (halibut, caprese salad, baked brie with pears), and made another Harris Teeter stop for more beer, more sunscreen, and supplies to make the famous coffee ice cream sodas. The dads headed out on our rented bikes for a cigar on the beach, and then once the kids were in bed (which was a very long time for Adrienne. Every time I left the room she'd say, "Mommy get in your bed!!"), we played dice and did laundry (we did at least 3 loads of towels/swim suits per day--so thankful for the in-unit washer/dryer!)

Matt on his sunset "dad date"

Wednesday, June 19th.

We decided to take a break from the sand for a couple days, as anyone who has ever taken kids to the beach knows that it is a lot of work to "deal" with the sand after awhile. While this sand is great for playing on (nicely packed so it doesn't blow everywhere), it was a bit like glue and very hard to remove. So, we headed over to Harbor Town in Sea Pines on this particular morning to take a ride on the "Black Dagger" and have a pirate cruise experience. The kids were excited, and we had a beautiful morning for a boat ride and adventure.

The Black Dagger

Three of our pirates

When the crew asked Jillian what she wanted her pirate name to be, she said "Just Jillian". So it was.

Pirate Matt, sporting his fun red sunglasses he picked up at Wal-Mart after losing his rather expensive pair in the waves.

A blue crab literally running for his life (there were crabbers all along the dock)

The pirates gathered around for their instructions

Captain A on the ship, playing with a water cannon

Aha! We found 'Stinky Pete', the pirate who was trying to steal the treasure!

Stinky Pete got what he deserved from a lot of young pirates

J behind a water cannon

Conga dance line in celebration of defeating Stinky Pete

Ahoy! We found the sunken treasure!

Waiting to see what was in the treasure box

It was a REAL treasure!

All the little pirates

After the cruise, we walked up the lighthouse steps for a family photo op, and then hit an outdoor beach restaurant for a crabcake sandwich lunch (and more peel and eat shrimp...can you really have too much?)

As we were heading to the car at Harbor Town, I spotted Jerry Springer walking around with his wife. I told Matt and he shouted, "Hey, Jerry Springer!". Jerry turned and waved. Matt was chicken to ask for his autograph/picture, but it would have been funny considering how much of his trashy talk show we watched in college and that we flew to Chicago for the day(my birthday gift to Matt our soph year) to see a taping of the show, but were rerouted to Cleveland for a few hours due to fog. I digress....
It started raining at the end of lunch, so we made the dads walk to get the cars and these 4 little darlings waited patiently for their respective chariots.

We drove around in the pouring rain while A napped (Tauntons did a similar drive, and then played at a park) and then had a bit of a quiet time at the condo. I got a power nap in while Matt taught the girls a dice game they thought was pretty fun (Left Right Center)

This night was the designated Howe Date Night of the trip. Michael had gone to the trouble of making two reservations at the Jazz Corner (another one of Dr Swee's recos) for the week so that we could each have a date night. While the Tauntons picked up NYC Pizza for the kids, Matt and I enjoyed an incredible evening at the Jazz Corner. I had the best cosmo (well, two of them) of my life and enjoyed a fantastic meal of grouper with basil/lemon infused potatoes, tomatoes and olives, ginger and coconut crusted shrimp, fried green tomato salad, and caramel custard cake while we listened to some awesome live jazz. It was a really neat place with a fantastic atmosphere and wonderful food.

David Ryder, one cool cat who could play 2 saxophones at once!

Official date night photo

Michael was waiting up for us when we returned and the three of us were up late playing dice. Fun, full day.

Thursday, June 20th

We decided to all pile in the Taunton's massive SUV and take the 2 hr drive north to Charleston. Just before we left, I ran back in to grab something and heard water running in one of the bathrooms. I assumed someone just left the sink on after washing their hands, but soon realized it was pouring out of the toilet onto the floor! I screamed out the door over the ledge for the guys to come back up and help. I called the front desk while Matt and Michael shut off the water to the toilet and grabbed a plunger. Maintenance came right away and dealt with the toilet/ mess (thankfully, it was "clean" water that was spilling out) and we were then on our way. Thank goodness I went back inside the condo, or we would have had water everywhere by the time we returned. Whew!
We carefully thought out seating arrangements and shifted car seat/s boosters around. We were about 20 minutes into the trip when it became clear that sitting in the third row would not work well for Jillian, who tends to get a little car sick. So, we pulled over and had she and Will trade spots. She struggled most of the ride, and ended up puking in my empty coffee cup in the last few minutes as we were bumping through the streets of downtown Charleston trying to find a parking spot. Matt and Jenni hopped out with her and walked the last few blocks (since we were headed to a restaurant they had been to before) and I stayed with Michael and the rest of the kids. Thankfully, J recovered quickly and we had a yummy lunch (complete with an awesome bloody mary) at Fleet's Landing (yes, more shrimp. And then pink snapper, fried green tomatoes, red rice, fried okra...Lord, help me.)
We purchased tickets for a mule-drawn carriage ride and then walked through the Charleston market and around the streets for a couple hours trying to shop with the kids. They were tired and it was not our best afternoon in terms of whining (Jillian definitely wins the award for most and dramatic whining of the day), but we managed to purchase a few souvenirs and snap a picture of the girls on Princess Street.

The Palmetto Carriage tour was worth the wait. After waiting in the barn, we boarded and headed off for an hour through the streets learning about the buildings, culture, and history of Charleston. The tour came at a time when my kids were pretty tired, so outside of Adrienne repeatedly changing her mind about wanting Mommy vs Daddy, it was a pretty quiet and enjoyable ride. We made it back to the barn just as it started pouring.

Three amigos waiting in the barn

We hit the Hominy Grill for dinner (pimento cheese, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, corn bread, homemade applesauce, cheese grits, coconut custard pie...oh my...and a cookbook that gave me all the recipes!!) and then headed back south. It was late and J slept for awhile before waking up. She was acting fine, but then suddenly started crying in a weird fake tone I couldn't decipher, and then before I could grab a cup or something, she puked all over herself (and Will's booster seat). Thankfully we had just crossed the bridge to the island at that time so were close to home, but we were giggling at Jenni, who kept saying "I'd love to help, I feel so bad, but I can't do vomit". Poor Jillian. We regrouped after vomit cleaning, put the kids to bed, and enjoyed another evening of dice and laundry.  Side note: I loved Charleston and must go back. Without children.


Friday, June 21

We were ready to hit the beach full force again today after our two-day hiatus! We spent the morning there, enjoyed lunch at the condo, and then Jenni and I made yet another grocery run (with a Starbucks stop, of course) while the kids and guys "rested". This meant that one of them sat in the condo, the other sat on the patio (each dad with their ipad) and they let the kids run between them. Pretty standard and clever dad supervision. We beached it again later in the afternoon, and the waves were pretty rough--Matt and Michael each lost ANOTHER pair of sunglasses (Matt's cheap ones this time, and Michael's expensive ones)--then the Taunton's enjoyed an evening at the Jazz Corner, while Matt and I ordered NYC Pizza for the kids and shared bedtime duty. We waited up, and then sat up talking for a bit before the guys decided to take the bikes to the beach (at midnight) with their final cigar. We did not endorse this decision, but had fun tracking their location with an app Jenni had on her phone. Some pics from the day...

Sisters shelling

shell-crusted bum

Beach football

A and Mommy selfie

Kindred spirits

On their way to lose some sunglasses

Adrienne thought she could get away with this. She was pretty fast.

Another stroller nap in the beach tent.

Saturday, June 22

Jenni and I decided to play tennis one more time, so hit the courts at 8:30 again. Jenni will tell you I made her play after our late night so that I could beat her, but as usual, that didn't happen. I did make her, however, pose for a picture to commemorate our fun tennis time on vacation and so ensued what we all agree is the funniest series of pictures on this trip.

Typical Malia intensity

Typical Jenni rolling her eyes at me

Bring it!

After Jenni handily beat me, we hit the beach for the rest of the day and tried to soak it all in one last time.

The 4 chairs/umbrellas we reserved daily

Making sand creations with my biggest girl

Happy girl dancing in the water

The start of the biggest hole probably ever dug on this beach. The Tauntons are serious beach diggers.

I love the tall sea grasses

Protect the turtles!

Will and Jillian spent nearly the entire afternoon playing happily in the fort/maze

And then when it was time to fill it all in and call it a day, they convinced Michael to let them bury him. He was a good sport.

Our last dinner on Hilton Head was our best, which is hard to believe given that we had such amazing food all week. Michael was designated dining guy, and he did a fantastic job of making reservations each night so that we had no stress/decisions to make (key when we had 8 people eating together). He read reviews about A Low Country Backyard on yelp and called ahead to be sure there was room for us (no reservations accepted). Despite what the hostess told us on the phone, we arrived to a 45 minute wait. We discussed and decided to wait, and we are so glad we did! The food was awesome (cornmeal crusted flounder, cheddar grit cakes with tomato basil cream, mac and cheese, fried green tomatoes with homemade sweet pickles, corn bread, baked crab dip, and homemade banana pudding that was so divine I nearly cried), the place was darling (and served homemade moonshine cocktails), had live patio music, and the kids were somehow all magical well-behaved creatures. Adrienne even pooped in the potty while we were there! It was definitely a home-run and a fun way to spend our last evening on the island.

A pre-dinner show while everyone got ready

Ring around the rosey while we waited at the restaurant

We had a good laugh at these two--both in Sperrys and matching shorts. Total nerds.

Someone was getting hangry....or actually the word we coined on the trip "thangry" (not just hungry and angry, but tired, too!)

Dancing with Daddy while still waiting

Sunday, June 23rd.

We managed to get all packed and out of the condo by 9:30, and we hit the road. Our flight didn't leave Jacksonville until 7 p.m., so we thought it would be fun to spend the day in Savannah, GA. Matt found a restaurant, The Pirate House, that appeared to be fun so we stopped there for lunch. We ate in a spooky looking room in a huge house that was said to be the oldest room in Georgia. The lunch was traditional low country food, with pirates who came around at the meal. We quickly learned that Adrienne (who had no trouble on the pirate cruise) was not a fan at all of the more realistic-looking pirates. She was so fearful and inconsolable that she spent the entire lunch on my lap.

It started out as fun and games

And then the fear set in. You can see her puffy face and red-rimmed eyes

The oldest room in Georgia!

J and Matt exploring the Pirate House

We hit the streets of Savannah and split up to do a little shopping. Jenni and I took A and enjoyed sampling local honey and spices (while the boys took the bigs to get ice cream), before it starting pouring. Thankfully, we were next door to a cool coffee shop (the Coffee Fox), so we sat and got a treat and waited for the boys to pick us up curb side. I snapped a pic of s poster on the wall there that I want to have recreated and placed in my home somewhere.

Amen

We had a quiet drive to Jacksonville with sleeping kids, a smooth check in at the airport, and then enjoyed a leisurely dinner (a seriously good veggie burger at this place--totally unexpected) and a little liquid courage before boarding our flight.

We had to laugh at ourselves. Each parent with a beer, and each child with an electronic device. You do what you have to do, people!

The boys apparently hadn't had enough liquid courage, because they ran off to the Delta lounge to grab a beer quickly before we boarded. They weren't quick enough, and Jenni and I decided it would serve them right to go ahead and board without them. It was a tense yet humorous decision. They made it on and somehow Matt and Jillian enjoyed a relaxing trip while I tried to calm my nerves (the flight was beyond bumpy) and manage A, who of course majorly pooped her pants at 34,000 feet. You can bet an airplane bathroom is not my favorite place to take care of that business.

Snoozin'

Trying to pass the time with a squirrely girl!

We landed 20 minutes early and rode the shuttle to the EZ Park lot. We bid our friends farewell and had a quiet ride home with sleeping kids, who didn't get tucked into bed until 11 p.m. What a marvelous vacation for us. I love everything about Hilton Head--the foliage (nothing like the mix of palm and pines), the beach, the food (um, clearly I enjoyed the low country food to the fullest)--and really do enjoy the charm and history of that part of the country. I am so grateful we got to experience it with our dear friends and that we were blessed with safe and healthy travels.