The Beach!

Ok! Better late than never.

While on maternity leave, we had our first family vacation of the year. We have been so busy this year. I also was not allowed to go on vacation to the Smoky Mountains due to being 38 weeks pregnant in July. We went with my family to Hilton Head during the second week of August. It was great. We spent a whole week there. Garrett was just 4 weeks old, but he managed to handle it all well. We packed our whole car up, literally, and left for the beach. It's tough packing up a family of four (not to mention a newborn).

My family has a timeshare. It's a nice little condo in a marsh area. I guess you could say a little inlet area. There was a huge dock on the property where boats came and went as they pleased picking people up and dropping them off. We heard a few guys talking about how they went out fishing on the dock at night. They said they caught a few sharks and stingrays! Crazy. Brooke's boyfriend , Kurt, said his grandparents lived down the street from the timeshare. The community they live in is on a beach/ marsh area. He said people aren't allowed in the water off the beach because of a hammerhead breeding ground. Ok, that's scary. That's horror story waiting to happen! Although, the craziest thing about this property we were on is that there was at least an 8ft alligator living in the pond outside the condo. Izzie thought this was the greatest thing ever. I, on the other hand, had nightmares all week of Izzie getting a little too close. She was so excited every time she saw the alligator. She would go around our condo yelling "Alligator! Right There! Outside!"

Anyways, the whole week was full of relaxation. We went to the beach a few times. This was Izzie's first time ever at a beach. She loved it! She couldn't get enough of the water or the sand. She loved getting dirty. "Getting dirty" is rare in this house due to me being completely OCD about cleanliness. She also loved the water. She has no fear of water. It scares me, but I used to be the same way. She would just walk right out into the ocean, not even realizing that the water was coming close to going over her head. We had to keep a very close eye on her. I didn't get to play with her too much, because Garrett was stuck in a tent. It was way too hot for him to leave it. He did alright though. I took him to the beach twice. We lasted about an hour and a half each time before it got too uncomfortable. The beach was also having a jellyfish issue. I didn't mind not going in the water ;). I was a little scared about Izzie being in it, too. Luckily, none of our family got hurt. I saw several others run up to the lifeguard station though.

The rest of the time we spent eating, napping, swimming in the pool, and we did a little shopping. Perfect. Just my type of vacation.

One night, we went to a little shopping area on the beach. They had a live band playing some oldies. Izzie had so much fun. She loves to dance. Even with a pretty decent crowd around, Izzie was showing off her dance moves as she stood on a bench. We like to sing and chant "Go Izzie, Go Izzie, Go Girl!" She loves it and even shouts it back to us. Yah, my daughter is pretty awesome. I posted a video to facebook for all friends to see :). Her dancing basically consists of marching fast, normally in circles, while throwing her hands up in the air. Every once in awhile, she will try to shake her hiney or shimmy her shoulders.

The week flew by, of course, all good things do. My babies are growing up so fast. I can't believe Izzie will be 2 in almost a month and Garrett is almost 2 months old. It makes me want to cry. Happy tears and some sad ones, too.

I love the picture below. I took this one on the beach, the same night Izzie had fun dancing in the crowd. Isn't she beautiful? Mimi, my mom, has appropriately been nicknaming her Shirley. See all those curls? Blonde, too!