vacation vacation VACATION

I made Kyle promise that our first vacation of 2nd year would be a beach trip for just the 3 of us since all 4 of his vacations last year were spent with family/having a baby.  And he kept that promise.  :)  Of course I did all of the research and planning and booking.  I would do it even if he wasn't a resident.  Its my thing.  So I chose Hilton Head Island for its price (compared to Charleston) and relatively close proximity to us (since Myles has never been in the car longer than 2 hours... even less since getting out of that newborn sleeping phase).

daddy gave standing lessons on the beach and proper falling technique lessons in
the condo. something I am extremely grateful for now that we are home.

Myles had a play date evening with Eliza while Kyle and I had a date to see Guardians of the Galaxy the Friday before we left.  We knew we wanted to get a date in before we left for the week since no one would be there to relieve us.  The movie did not disappoint.  At all.  I laughed the whole time.

the one hour of the whole week that he would wear a hat.  

We packed up, went to church, and got on the road Sunday.  The drive without stops was 4 hours, 4 1/2-5 with stops.  We got to our condo in HHI around 5pm and then we headed to the grocery to get a few things for meals that week.  Myles was a real trooper.  We couldn't have asked for a better traveler.

I knew our condo wasn't going to be the Ritz or anything; it was obvious from the online listing that the decor hadn't been updated in a while but we weren't looking for luxury, just a short walk to the beach and pool.  Both of which this delivered.  I was surprised though to find out that the mattresses were the oldest things in the condo.  There went my plan of great sleep while away from the cats.  But I would say that if a crappy mattress is the worst part of the trip, then we were doing pretty good.  Myles slept like a champ in the provided pack-n-play the whole week.

The complex that we were staying at was surrounded by nature preserve so it was a really "natural" beach.  Not much white sand, and it was really flat so low tide was really far out.  There were also little fiddler crabs EVERYWHERE!!!  They were so funny to watch run from us when we walked at low tide.

yup all those dots are crabs

We never felt like we could stay on the beach very long since it was so miserably hot when it wasn't raining so we ventured out quite a bit to look around the island.  We did a little shopping, a little fudge sampling, a little wine tasting, and a lot of driving.  We tried to make it fun for Myles and get out of the car quite often.  Thankfully we found some swings!

We ate out at least once a day and had a few "just ok" meals and some really good ones.  Kyle and I are opposites when it comes to the beach.  I LOVE seafood and want as much of it as I can get while we are gone; he is fine with some fish, but would rather get normal food.

I LOVE the beach and all it entails (sand, sun, smell of the salt water, sound of the waves) ; he hates sand (something he confessed in the middle of the week...apparently I still don't know my husband!) so a baby covered in wet sand that can't just be brushed off is his worst nightmare.  He was a great sport though.

All in all, we had a great time as a family of 3.  We both really needed to get away.  HHI might not be my all time favorite vacation spot but it didn't disappoint either.  And obviously, Myles loved everything about the trip as well.  Except for the extra long ride back because of all the traffic we ran into.

It definitely would have been nice to have had a stay-cation and had Kyle help me do some projects around the house or let me run out and browse my favorite stores while he watched Myles, but I can not emphasize enough how much we needed to get away.  I think it really helped Kyle get to know Myles better.  I didn't realize how much of his schedule/abilities Kyle didn't know about until this trip but I guess its pretty normal with Kyle only seeing him for a few hours a day during the week.  Kyle had no idea that I froze homemade baby food and so was confused by the colorful stuff in the ice cube trays in the freezer... as he put it "you go into the kitchen and magic things happen and I feed him what you bring me".  Thats right good sir; I work magic.  It was definitely good for all of us. Even if Myles will never remember it.  Thank goodness for photos!