About a month ago we took our first family beach vacation! This year we vacationed on Hilton Head Island. We loved Hilton Head! At the end of our trip Mike and I both said we would not only return to Hilton Head, but we would rent the exact same unit to stay in.
Mike and I prefer more private/isolated/quiet beach locales versus more commercialized places. Natural beauty instead of neon lights and high-rises. We felt that Hilton Head struck the perfect balance between the two. Our condo was in a very quiet community on a private beach, yet we were only 5-10 minutes from fun things to do. And Hilton Head was beautiful!
We had a wonderful time on our first beach vacation, but I will say that it was a completely different vacation experience than we are used to! Gone are the hours spent lounging with your feet in the sand and a book in your hand. Of course, the trade off was making memories with L.J. and plenty of time – glorious, uninterrupted time – with him. As a working mom, the extra time I got to spend with L.J. really was priceless.
The only (small) cloud over the trip was that it coincided with the arrival of L.J.’s first two teeth. As a result, Little Man was somewhat cranky and irritable on our trip. Ok, honestly, he was really cranky! So very un-L.J. He also only slept through the night twice the whole week, so that was frustrating. He ended up in bed with us once or twice, which is something we swore we’d never do…the things you say before becoming parents…
So what did we do on our trip?
Our first day there we were so excited to take L.J. to the beach and see his reaction to the surf and sand. We’re happy to report that he really liked his first beach experience! It also took him all of 90 seconds to shovel in his first fistful of sand.
He was content to sit at the very edge of the surf and let the tail end of waves lap over him. He sat there for the longest time! However, he quickly learned that sitting in the sand/surf resulted in a diaperful of scratchy sand…so as the week went on he ended up preferring the pool.
Our second day was a pool day. We figured L.J. would like the pool since he loves baths so much and we were correct. We had bought him a pool float, not realizing it had an age range of “9 months-24 months.” What?!? The whole point of a pool float is to enable smaller infants to enjoy the pool, is it not? So weird. The good thing was that it is a very common pool float and we soon saw another family with a baby the same age use it…with a homemade pool noodle modification so their baby could sit up better. Guess who went to Wal-Mart later that night for a pool noodle? (And the Hilton Head Wal-Mart is probably the classiest Wal-Mart I’ve ever been in, for the record.)
That evening Mike and I left L.J. in the capable hands of his Grandma and Auntie A so that we could travel to Savannah for an early anniversary dinner. I was so excited to cross “eat at Lady & Sons” off my bucket list! Savannah, however, was something of a grand disappointment. I knew River Street had lots of bars, but I figured it was a mix of bars and cute boutiques. Yeah, no. It looked and smelled exactly like downtown Athens after a big home football game. We had only given ourselves about an hour of touring and I hadn’t researched anything thinking that River Street would keep us occupied. Instead, we went an hung out in one of Savannah’s beautiful squares for a little while before dinner.
Lady & Son’s was so much fun! We ended up having to wait a little while even with a reservation, and were sitting right next to a life-size cutout of Paula Deen. Watching and listening to people taking pictures with the cutout was hilarious. The best was an older gentleman, grudgingly humoring his wife. She took a shot and told him he looked stiff. He sighed loudly and pointed out that he was standing next to a piece of cardboard. Touche.
We were seated upstairs, away from the hustle and bustle, and opted for the buffet. I knew you go to L&S half for the experience and half for the food. It was not wax-poetic amazing, but it was quite tasty! My favorites were the corn casserole, green beans and the fried chicken. Oh, and the black eyed peas were great too. I was somewhat disappointed with the mac and cheese and roasted potatoes. We chose banana pudding for dessert and of course that was good.
After dinner, in attempt to mitigate the disappointment of River Street, we drove through Savannah to see the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (gorgeous despite being covered in scaffolding) as well as the big, beautiful mansions along Forsyth Park. Savannah reminded me a lot of New Orleans in that it was very “have much” or “have nothing,” and often the two were right next to each other in stark contrast.
Tuesday L.J. and I had a “mommy and me” day and we had a great time! We went to Coligny Plaza and wandered through the shops. I found a very “Monica” shop and was delighted to be able to wander through there at my own leisurely pace. This was also the day that we purchased L.J.’s bunny.
After shopping, we drove into Sea Pines to check out Lawton Stables and their free petting zoo. It was adorable! They had at least a half dozen different animals. I was so excited to find a fun activity that L.J. wasn’t too young to partake in – he adored the petting zoo! So much so that we went back again on our last day.
He wasn’t intimidated by the animals at all, as evidenced in the photo below. I was trying to take a few photos to capture his keen interest in the animals, but wasn’t too successful trying to take left-handed pictures while holding a squirmy and excited L.J.
Have you ever pet a deer before? I have! We went up to the porch to get food, and then on our way back into the pens she was standing right there! Not two feet away. I carefully opened the gate, and she came right up to me wanting to be petted. It was absolutely surreal being that close to a deer, not to mention being able to pet her.
And I have to mention Harley. He is the resident Clydesdale and he is huge! Think Budweiser commercial-huge. He was a truly beautiful animal and gentle as could be. He came right up to us.
(Disclaimer: All of these animals were very docile and you could feed them special animal feed – except Harley who preferred apples – so I was cautious but not overly concerned about L.J. getting close to them.)
We headed back to the condo after that and were planning to go to the pool later that afternoon, but L.J. took a 3-hour nap. That has happened exactly never.
L.J. loved sitting on the wide windowsill in the condo, taking in the beautiful views. There were two cute bunnies that we frequently saw during the week.
That night we went back to Sea Pines and had dinner the Quarterdeck, at a little outdoor café in Harbortown, right by the lighthouse. The setting was great and the food was good. It was definitely a hidden gem – there was no wait. There was a guy with a guitar playing music, and daddy got L.J. to dance when he played Margaritaville. (I have a cute video that I can’t figure out how to get off my phone…)
Wednesday and Thursday were relaxing pool/beach days. Thursday afternoon Mike and I took L.J. down to the baby pool and had it all to ourselves. We put L.J. in his float and he wandered around the pool like a little crab. I’m pretty sure he thought his Exersaucer had just gotten massively upgraded.
Thursday night we all went out for seafood. We ate a place called Hudson’s on the Dock and wisely got there early. We didn’t have to wait, but by the time we left it was packed. The setting was great – slightly rustic, deck right on the water, sun low in the sky. And the food! I’m not much of a seafood person, but the fried shrimp I ordered were honestly the best I’ve ever had. They were delicious. I also recall the hush puppies being particularly tasty.
Friday was the last day of our trip and the only day with bad weather. It was no big deal…Mike, L.J. and I did some exploring instead of going to the beach or pool. We went back to Sea Pines and purchased our requisite Salty Dog shirts, and then went back to Harbortown and wandered through various shops. We also took L.J. back to Lawton Stables, and checked out the ruins of an old plantation home. The cabin footprints for the slave quarters were still in place, and it was rather sobering to realize that two families shared a space smaller than our master bedroom.
Friday afternoon was awesome because I got to see my good friend Julie and her family! They live about an hour away from Hilton Head.We had such a good time catching up and I was so excited for her to meet L.J. Her kids were so sweet with L.J., and it’s always interesting for me to see L.J. around other kids. He thinks “big kids” are so cool! Julie and I go all the way back to high school – so we have been friends for a long time! We went out to dinner at a great pizza place by Coligny Plaza that was tasty and kid-friendly. Our visit went by way too fast, but was definitely a highlight of the trip!
Saturday we headed home, and the other big bonus with Hilton Head is that we left in the morning and were home by early afternoon!
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