For Mother's Day Weekend, Will had a four day so he planned a trip to Hilton Head Island, SC for us. There is an organization here called Operation R & R that offers military families a free vacation at Hilton Head. People who own condos/townhomes in the area offer up their place for a free stay. Businesses and restaurants in town also offer discounts as well for your weekend trip. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to get out of town for the weekend and spend it at the beach without having to worry about the cost! We arrived Thursday evening and walked out to the beach after grabbing a bite to eat.
The place we stayed was a small one bedroom condo that converted their hallway closet into bunk beds. The put a door in the hallway to be able to close off the bunk area from the family room that way we could watch t.v. and not worry about disturbing Grayson at night. We weren't sure how easy it would be to get him down that night, but he stayed in bed and fell right to sleep! There was the ladder to the to bunk that helped keep him from falling off as well which was handy! The owners of the condo, Don and Lisa, actually live part of the year right next door to the one we stayed in and were still there that weekend. It was wonderful to meet them and get a chance to know them a little bit during our stay there!
The next morning we headed out to the beach after breakfast. Don and Lisa had the condo supplied with toys, chairs, and a cabana for shelter from the wind and sun for Ryley. It was perfect! I had forgotten to pack our chairs and big umbrella so it was a wonderful surprise to see that they had these things there for us to use! Grayson loved playing with the multitude of balls they had in their bag of toys! First things first though was to build a sand castle with Daddy!
Once Will got the cabana up and I laid Ryley down he fell right to sleep! He seemed to sleep all weekend while we were outside! Not sure if the sound of the ocean just lulled him to sleep or if it was the warm sun!
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| Jumping the waves! |
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| The little crabs all wanted to take shelter from the wind under our cabana |
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| Off for a walk with Daddy |
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| Time for a swim! |
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| Fast asleep again at the pool |
After spending the morning at the beach and pool, we went into town for dinner and ice cream after naps. Saturday was another morning out at the beach and pool. It was also Will's 30th birthday!!! Grayson and Will built another sand castle and this time Grayson helped Daddy fill up the buckets with water for the moat before he knocked it down. :) Each day we were there Grayson would be hesitant of the ocean at times. Never really knew if one minute he'd like the water or not. Haven't quite figured out what it is that scares him because he'll be perfectly fine one minute, then another wave comes along and he goes running back to the chairs saying "all done... all done!"
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| Ryley awake for the time being... |
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| Ready for another nap! |
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| Thanks for the sun hat Grandma Sand! |
After naps on Saturday, we took advantage of the free dolphin cruise one business gave with the Operation R & R weekend. Grayson loved seeing the dolphins and jellyfish. However, we would have been happy if the cruise had been about 30 minutes shorter. Grayson just got very antsy on a 90 minute boat ride and was hard to keep him from running around. We went out to dinner for BBQ that night for Will's birthday and I think we both fell asleep on the couch that night at 8:30! Guess we are getting old! :)
Sunday we went out for breakfast in the morning then walked around the downtown area waiting for stores to open up. At the front of Coligny Beach is a fountain that we let Grayson play in to kill time. Of course that meant getting his clothes all wet but I managed to get his shirt dry at least under the hand dryers in the bathroom. :)
Once the stores opened up we went in search of a pair of red Toms as part of my Mothers Day present! :) Will ended up getting a pair as well for his birthday and we have since them come to find out why people like them so much! They are so comfortable and don't make Will's feet sweat as much as all his other closed toed shoes!
Don had recommended we try "The Boathouse" for dinner while we were there so we headed there that evening for dinner. While we waited for a table Grayson wanted to play around with Daddy's phone so we took a couple pictures. :)
Monday was our last day, but Don and Lisa said there was no rush for us to leave. So after breakfast we went out to the beach one more time. Don and Lisa joined us out there as well so we got to spend some more time getting to know them. Of course it was sunny when we first got out there, but by the time Will got the cabana up the clouds moved in and it started to drizzle. On top of it it was windy. Thank goodness for that cabana! It did a great job of keeping me and Ryley dry while Grayson and Will played in the sand. :) The clouds eventually moved away and Grayson was ready for the pool in just a short amount of time. We all packed up and spent some time laying by the pool while Grayson had fun playing in the kiddie pool with his new frog floatie we found him at the Piggly Wiggly the first day. :) After a bite to eat at the condo and some showers, we said goodbye to Don and Lisa and introduced Grayson to mini-golf. He had fun, but Daddy got a little frustrated with the 2 year olds lack of attention or desire to learn how to putt :) Oh well!
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| He loves to push the buttons on the elevator |
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| Rolling it down the slope |
We had a wonderful birthday/Mother's Day weekend before Will head to leave for a month! Now it's just me and my little men, but we have managed to keep busy in the days since Daddy left! We have already spent a day going to the zoo with new friends and another playing with our friends the Hebnes'! Pictures from the zoo adventure will be coming soon! Just need to get pictures from my friend Hilary since I never pulled out my camera that day. We hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!
Over the last 6 months or more, I have come across different blogs from moms who either home school or do "lessons" at home with their young kids. One of them calls her toddler lessons "Tot School" -http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/ On there she shares all the different activities she is doing, or has done with her kids going from babies up through primary. You can download her worksheets for free, or she has other teaching supplies you can buy as well. Another blog that I love to go to for ideas is - http://www.icanteachmychild.com/ Then of course I have been finding lots of great ideas on Pinterest! :) If you haven't joined Pinterest I suggest you check it out! It's a place you can search for all sorts of things and organize different things you find online with "pins". Your pin consists of a picture that will link you to that website. You can follow other people who have joined and see what great ideas they are "pinning" as well. My two addictions for pinning on Pinterest are when it comes to activities and crafts to do with the kids as well as recipes! It is probably my saving grace when it comes to menu planning for the week which helps me to actually cook... which I don't enjoy doing so much! Anyway.... off my Pinterest soapbox! 
