We took our first beach vacation as a family of four this summer. We didn’t make it to the Caribbean or Florida but we hit the Georgia and South Carolina barrier islands: St. Simons, Jekyll, Tybee and Hilton Head. So Cara got her first beach vacation at seven weeks old. The beach trip was a pleasant surprise because it was unplanned. We were driving back from my annual conference and 20 miles outside of Savannah we decided to head East toward the coast rather than toward Atlanta.
We found a small hotel to stay at in Tybee Island and took Chloe Jane and Cara to the beach. Unlike the Cayman’s last year, Chloe Jane was reluctant to get in the ocean, but she had fun chasing seagulls and crabs along the shore. In fact, after chasing a crab that first day in Tybee, Chloe Jane would point out the window every morning and implore, “chase crabs?” After Tybee, we drove up to Hilton Head stopping for lunch along the river in Savannah. In Hilton Head, we had an ocean front room with beautiful ocean and pool views. The Tiki Hut was directly in front of our room. When the kids were sleeping, we would open the sliding glass doors so we could hear the band at the Tiki Hut. Ruth and I would take turns going down to the Tiki Hut and bringing back island drinks.
Chloe Jane did not want to go into the ocean at Hilton Head either, but she enjoyed playing in all the tide pools along the beach created at low tide.
In Tybee, we had lunch at “The Crab Shack.” The highlight was that they had an area where they kept alligators. Chloe Jane got a kick out of seeing gators and made chomping motions with her hands while exclaiming, “Bite!”
With a seven-week-old and a two-year-old, there were times when things were tough. On vacation, you have to eat out almost every meal so you never know when you’re going to encounter slow service or bad timing with the little ones. But most of the time, everyone was having fun and Ruth and I were glad we threw caution to the wind.
Also, during the vacation, Chloe Jane turned two. Although we had a party planned for the following weekend when we were back home, we did want to acknowledge her actual birthday. We were on Hilton Head Island and I was able to find a small bakery where I bought her a slice of red velvet cake and some colorful cookies. I also found a small toy store and bought her a few presents. Once Chloe Jane saw the cake coming with a candle in it, she beamed with delight and knew just what to do.
VACATION SLIDESHOW:
(the following link will direct you to a site where I upload slideshows. Once there, just click on the thumbnail entitled “To the Beach” to select the slideshow. Clicking on the center of the photo will make the slideshow play. If at work, turn your speakers down because there is music–if at home, turn them up. Also, if you have never viewed a slideshow of mine on your computer, you may have to click yes to install the ProShow plugin which allows slideshows to play on your browser).
To view a slideshow of our first beach vacation, follow this link for a ProShow slideshow.
PHOTO GALLERY:
You can also view a gallery of photos at my SmugMug site.