Hilton Head, 2016

We were really looking forward to our annual fall family trip to Hilton Head. The past couple trips we made to the Island were more business than fun as we were getting the condo ready for the rental market. And since I spent about 6 days down for the count with some terrible stomach bug last time we were there, I was especially looking forward to actually enjoying myself!

I convinced Will to hit the road on Friday and break up the trip over 2 days. Will wasn't excited about having to unpack the car twice, but I argued that it would be worth it to get to HHI on Saturday in time for lunch. It also helped that I had enough points for a cheap room just south of Atlanta at a new Hilton property. (It also really helped that our hotel room was right next to the parking lot so we were literally only steps away from the car. We packed smartly so we only had to bring in the pack-n-plays, the boys' diaper and snack bag, and a backpack for Will and me. So what could normally take 15-30 minutes to unload the car into a hotel room only took about 5-10 minutes. Score for Will. Because he's the one who gets stuck unloading the car while I wrangle wound-up babies in the hotel room.)

Cooper joined us in our bed very, very early in the morning at the hotel. The turtle kept him quiet so his brothers wouldn't also wake up and try to join us.

Will admitted that the Friday departure was well worth it when we arrived on the island and headed straight to lunch. It was a perfect day to sit outside at Skull Creek Boathouse. The boys were happy as clams to be sitting outside in the sunshine, and all 4 of my boys thoroughly enjoyed watching the big forklifts moving boats in and out of the dry dock into the marina. I write this note as documentation...Will asked me to remind him how nice it was to get to the island early on Saturday. So next year when we're hemming and hawing about whether or not we should leave early or not- the answer is yes, we should! Totally worth it to have an extra afternoon at the beach.

Skull Creek Boathouse

Normally when we go down to Hilton Head with Will's family we rent a couple condos in the same complex, but this time we found a gorgeous beach house right on the ocean that could accommodate our large group. This house was perfect- if I could recreate it here in Nashville I would in a heartbeat! The boys loved exploring all the different rooms in the house, but they especially loved the screened in porch that ran the length of the house, with perfect views of the pool and the beach. It was the safest spot for them to be since the house was definitely not baby-proofed, so we were grateful that it was warm enough that we could spend a lot of time out there.

Another favorite room was the bunk room. They enjoyed turning the lights on and off in the built in reading nooks. Unfortunately Cooper burned his fingers pretty badly when he touched the lightbulb. We didn't realize how badly the burn was until we noticed he had blisters on his fingertips a couple days later. Parent fail for sure. Thankfully, the blisters never seemed to bother him at all and he's perfectly fine now!

The next few days were great- we fell into our normal Hilton Head routine of beach and pool time, walks around the neighborhood, and dinner out with the whole group. The boys l-o-v-e spending time at the beach. The beaches on HHI are perfectly flat, which makes them perfect for 3 little toddlers who really love to run around these days. We always had lots of help on deck so each baby was free to do what he wanted on the beach. Griffin is absolutely going to be our beach bum. That kid was having the time of his life! Cooper enjoyed himself quite a bit, too. Will was all good with the beach, but was not super excited to dip his toes in the water. 

Party of Five, on a walk

Party of Five, on the beach

Loving the water

Cooper loved it, too.

Will...not so much.

Water babies

Baby footprints in the sand.

Wide open space, and big tractors to watch. Perfect day for these boys.

In his happy place

Lots of digging

The boys had their first scoop of Superman ice cream from the ice cream shop- practically a right of passage for Mason offspring when visiting HHI

Watching Olivia in the pool

Reading with Aunt Sue

Airing out a bad sand-induced diaper rash

Trying on our new hats

One morning we went to a petting zoo in Sea Pines. As usual, our little adventurers Griffin and Cooper loved the trip, and tried to pet every animal they came in contact with. And as usual, our Mr. Worrywart Will was scared of all the animals and clung to us like his life depended on it. 

Not OK with the close proximity of these animals

Absolutely NOT OK.

Cooper? All good

Griffin loved it, too!

Just barely ok with riding the metal horse

His favorite part of the day- when we left him on the porch with Daddy to read while the rest of us visited the horses.

By Tuesday afternoon the hurricane we had been watching became a full-fledged threat. They ordered evacuations of the island and most of the local shops, restaurants, and grocery stores were shut down and boarded up by Wednesday afternoon. The rental company called and said that they couldn't force us to leave, so we decided to stay an extra day past the evacuation order. The owner of the house also called concerned about their outdoor furniture- we assured her that we did our best to put it all in a safe spot. 

Pool furniture in the garage

Empty pool deck

Empty porch

All the porch furniture

Stacked furniture made for excellent hiding spots

One lone rocking chair to keep them company

Breakables moved inside

On Wednesday afternoon we walked the boys to one of 2 restaurants that were still open for lunch, and then let them run off some steam at the Coligny boardwalk on the way back. It was so bizarre to have the whole boardwalk practically to ourselves. We will likely never experience that again!

These kids sure do love their accessories

We were on the road by 11:00 AM on Thursday morning, with Will's dad following behind us. We hoped that we would miss a lot of the initial evacuation rush by waiting an extra day. It served us well for leaving Hilton Head- the roads were practically empty, except for some National Guard trucks parked. Interstate 16, though, was a different story. We sat in grid-lock traffic the whole way to Atlanta. They were in the process of opening east bound 16 to west bound traffic, but we were never able to take advantage of the contraflow. It was a very, very, very long drive home. At one point I got out of our car, on the interstate, and ran back to get into Willard's truck so he could stay with us in Atlanta using the HOV lanes. It took us about 3 hours to go 70 miles from the south side to the north side of Atlanta. Three. Hours. It was a miserably long trip but the boys were total troopers. The were extremely patient and accepted my bribe offers of puffs, veggie straws, water, and apple sauce pouches with minimal complaining. We stopped for dinner around 9:30 PM, after we had cleared Atlanta's brutal traffic. After dinner the remainder of the trip was smooth sailing and we got home a full 13 hours after we left Hilton Head.

It was certainly a bummer that our annual trip was cut short due to Hurricane Matthew, but we had a good few days on the island before we evacuated. The good news is that we know we'll be back, so we have our next trip to look forward to!