Vacation Day 4. 5, 6,7, 8

Hey loves. I am back sharing all the details and pictures from our vacation to Harbor Island, South Carolina. I shared about Harbor Island and Vacation Day 1,2 and 3. Be sure to check them out if you missed those posts. Sorry not sorry for picture overload

Monday June 20

Audrianna is just living her best life. She woke up went to the kitchen, grabbed the bag of goldfish and went out on the porch with her papaw.

After breakfast our little family (so just the 5 of us). They are exploring nature and the ocean at low tide. I joked this was their science lesson of the day. They had fun looking at little snails.

We saw this big shell and thought it was empty. I picked it up and found there was a live hermit crab inside. I showed my kids, took a picture, and put him back. We only took empty shells. My sister bought each of the kids these mesh bags. They were perfect to picking up shells.

We were out 1/4 mile into the ocean at low tide. There was no one in sight. So relaxing and neat.

We saw this horse crab sitting in a small puddle of water.

Then we found a "pond" that hand at least 50 horseshoe crabs swimming around. I named it horseshow island.

Anna loved being free to roam and be free.

I used map my walk to see where we walked. The red line is our path. It is crazy to see that we were in the ocean and how far out we were if it were high tide.

One of my "must do" was to see an alligator before we left. It was suggested to us to visit Cyress Wetlands. We drove the 20 minutes to check it out. It has .56 paved trails through the wetlands, all handicap accessible with chances to see lots of wildlife. We saw a bunch of turtles, 8 alligators, and a lot of different birds. These blue birds were kinda cool.

I saw 4 alligators, this one being the biggest.

There were a lot of white birds sitting on nests.

Ella found a little frog that the kids played with for a few minutes and let him go.

Another alligator

Austin was cute about this kids fireman hat that was in the water at the marsh. He said that an alligator ate the fireman. He said we need to say a pray for the fireman. It was the sweetest thing.

At the wetlands there were also a lot of turtles, really little ones like above and big ones too. I think the kids counted over 20.

In Port Royal Right outside the wetlands is a cute little walking area with a few shops and restaurants. We stopped and had lunch sitting outside at the Old School House. They had the best sweet tea.

After lunch we headed back to the house, took naps and relaxed. Then had dinner. After dinner we were off to the pool again.

Beautiful sunset over the marsh

She is looking at birds.

Enjoying a margarita on the patio before bed.

Tuesday June 21

Another day another morning walking to the beach at low tide.

This time my parents wanted to see horseshoe island.

This morning we also saw fishing boats.

Lots of horseshoe crabs, there were probably a good 100 and they were very active.

And pelicans. They are so graceful and relaxing.

Anna and my mom walking on the beach back to the house. I went ahead of them because I tried digging up a hermit crab shell and ended up cutting my finger.

Back at the house we relaxed. We ended up driving around the island all loaded up in our van. We put the 3 older kids in the back of the van and left the hatch open. (Anna was in her carseat). The fastest speed limit on the island is 10 mph. The kids loved it.

Then had lunch before we drove the hour to Hilton Head. Can you guess what adventure we are going on?

Did you guess the mermaid tour? Ella and Anna are obsessed with mermaids.

They are ready in their life jackets just waiting for the boat to come pick us up. We also took my sister and niece, but my niece had an attitude and didn't want her picture taken.

Anna was excited for the boat ride and to look for a mermaid.

While searching for the mermaid of Hilton Head Nina they tell you a story and they make it really fun and interactive for kids.

Then you find mermaid Nina, the kids get to ask her questions. Then as the story goes a small boat comes to capture mermaid Nina and you have to scare the boat away with bubbles. (that you did not get to keep my kids were very disappointed) It was a fun tour for the kids.

They advertise seeing dolphin's but we didn't see any and the captain wasn't pointing anything out.

After the mermaid tour we went to Hilton Head Ice Cream. It was delicious and so many options.

and had the cutest bathroom ever.

Now I don't recommend giving a kid who gets car sick ice cream after an hour drive, followed by an hour boat ride, and another 2 hour drive with stop and go traffic. Especially blue ice cream. This was the only time said child got sick our whole trip. (compared to last year which was a lot)

After a long day, some fun at the pool was much needed.

Wednesday June 22

The life of a two year old on vacation. She went from her bed to the couch.

Austin slept in a bunch of different rooms and beds on this vacation.

The plan was for the girls to share a bed all vacation, they only shared one night. Otherwise Ella had the big bed to herself and Claudia slept in the little bed.

Breakfast and shake bowl breakfast on the patio.

We took the kids to the gift shop that is right outside our gated community.

We then headed to the beach. We took the boogie boards with us, but the water was still low and far out and not much waves. Which doesn't make for much fun boogie boarding. Anna had fun playing. Then she became very huggie. We sat in the water and the ocean rocked her to sleep. We didn't bring an umbrella with us so we made her a napping spot with the chairs and beach towels. We were sure to move her and the towel when the sun moved so she wouldn't burn.

After the beach I went back and took a nap. That's what vacations are for. Then Brian and I got ready for our date night.

But first we decided to walk the beach at high tide. We took a different path to the beach, that I am thankful we never took with the kids. There was a small shacky boardwalk then sand with no path. We saw this cute little guy just chilling where we walked.

What the heck is this? It looks like a vertebra or something.

Where we were the ocean runs into a river that goes into the salt water marsh. At the low the water flows into the marsh at high tide it flows away and with force. There is a good 6 feet drop at low tide, I wish I would have taken a picture then to compare.

Remnants of a jelly fish. We never saw a full jelly fish just parts like this.

It was also very windy. I didn't need to blow dry my hair and it did wonders for my curls.

Date night. My parents agreed to watch the kids at the house for an evening. They planned a movie night with pizza and snacks.

We had a delicious dinner at Black Marlin.

After dinner we headed over to Hilton Head Lighthouse. The sunset was so quick. Somehow Brian tricked me into walking up the lighthouse which had a lot of stairs and it was hot.

It did have gorgeous views though. We ended the night grabbing a drink, walking around, people watching, and listening to music before we drove the hour back to the house.

Thursday June 23

The morning started off eventful. I started a load of laundry and the washer flooded the laundry room into the hallway and to the cars underneath the house. We called the rental company and they sent a guy out quickly. Then Brian, our kids, and I drove 2 hours to Charleston. I wanted to see Rainbow Row, which is not what I expected but did research it much either. The day was also with temps about 100 and it was hot and I had a bunch of crabasses who were hungry and hot.

We found parking and walked to find food. We found this cute bbq place that was open, and there wasn't a wait.

OMG the best cornbread skillet ever. My kids are most of it we could have just eaten this and they would have been happy.

Anna was excited to be out of the car and stroller and happy as can be.

The kids got mac and cheese. We could have gotten one to split between the 3 of them it was a decent size and they weren't that hungry with it being so hot.

Brian and I each got sandwiches but we could have shared one too. The fries were delicious.

I went to the bathroom for 2 minutes and I come back to Anna having a huge bump on her head. Anna and Ella got into a fight and she hit her head on the table.

After lunch we walked the beautiful shoreline and tried to stay in the shade as I forgot to grab suntan lotion and the heat.

Then the kids played at the playground for about 15 minutes.

The main reason we went to Charleston was Austin wanted to see the USS Yorktown. Really Brian wanted to see it and said Austin want to go see his huge ship and he agreed.

Brian has the habit of wanting to see military stuff when it is crazy hot and the kids and whiny and not at the ages to really appreciate it. Plus with it being a ship that is not handicap accessible having to carry Anna up and down ladders was not fun in the heat and just being a straight up or down and she wanted her mommy and not her daddy.

We ended up having a good time. We didn't see everything but still got an experience.

On our way back to the house we drove past a military base that was doing flight runs. A loud jet flew right over our van a little above tree height. Now Anna is afraid of plans that she can't see.

Back at the house we had dinner and went swimming at the pool before bed.

Friday June 24

I woke up to watch the sunrise and in hopes to see the 5 planets but it was to cloudy.

After breakfast all 9 of us went out at low tide.

Anna playing with a snail.

After our low tide walk, Brian and I walked the beach the other way we hadn't been. There are more houses down this way so the beach was busier, but still by no definition as busy. There were a few houses that must have been hit by a hurricane as they were on the beach, damaged, and boarded up. This house was on the beach and occupied. It my attention that at high tide the house would literally by on the water.