Winter Break Boat Trip

Four days off with "no work, no school"! Winter Break was here, and we totally took advantage of it! Papa was here enjoying the beautiful weather, and it was not hard to talk him into a boat trip south. The boys and I loaded up, left the Southeastern Wildlife Expo behind us, and took off for Hilton Head.
Our first stop was Beaufort on Friday afternoon. It was an amazingly beautiful day, especially after all of the cold and icky weather we have had. A great run, a fun visit to the playground on the waterfront, and a yummy dinner... a perfect day.
Saturday morning was just a quick ride into Hilton Head.
Now, I have to admit to you that I am obsessed with taking pictures of my childrens' faces. I love the expressions that the camera captures, and I love looking at all of them, knowing each of those expressions. I love that I am capturing each little smile or smirk so that I can look back someday and remember clearly who they were at this moment in time. That being said, I am posting way too many of them...

(Yes, he can touch his tongue to his nose... definitely a trait inherited from my dad!)

Sunday took us back to Charleston. When we left Hilton Head, it must have been 10 degrees colder than the day before, and it was windy and gray! Such a change from the warm sunny days previous. The boys and I rode snuggled up in a blanket for the majority of the ride back. We were not about to complain, though, as we were out on the water and having a great time.
Thanks, Papa, for the quick getaway. It was much needed (especially by me!), and it made a long weekend into an adventure! You will always have at least three willing passengers for future adventures ....

Straight From the Blond Boy's Mouth

After building a Lego cruise ship: "This is the romantics area. This is where you get to be romantics."

"What's romantics, Harris?"

"It's when you like someone a real lot and you don't know what to say."

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"Mommy, are we dating?"

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"Mommy, why can't boys make babies?"

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"Mommy, were you born in the black and white days? Were Nana and Papa?"

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Myrtle Beach Road Trip

Jason has had to spend several weekends away from home recently, leaving the boys and I on our own. With the weather being so cold and nasty, we were getting bored and tired of being cooped up inside. So, after a little research, I decided that we would head to Myrtle Beach for an overnight road trip. While my view of Myrtle Beach hasn't changed, it was the perfect time to go (it was cheap and dead) and awesome for the boys.
I was able to get a room at the Breakers for super-cheap. When we checked in, we were told that we had our choice of any floor (there were 21 to choose from). I let the boys choose, and we were the only people staying on the 16th floor!

They were so excited to be somewhere new... I really think we could stay in a hotel down the street from our house and it would be just as exciting for them as staying in Myrtle Beach! It was kind of an "anything goes" kind of trip, and I was a little extra-indulgent. Milkshakes with dinner at Planet Hollywood? Sure!

Night swimming way past bedtime? Awesome!

Eight pancakes with butter, extra syrup, and powdered sugar? Perfect!You want to take pictures with funny statues? Can't wait to see the pictures!
Besides just getting out of the house, I had only two plans for the trip... swimming and a visit to the aquarium. Thankfully, we were able to do both. The hotel had a large indoor pool complex with two hot tubs (I think sitting in the hot tub was the first time I have been warm since October!), a large heated pool, and a lazy river. They swam for hours and loved every minute of it!After checking out, I was conned into a trip to the Build-A-Bear Workshop... how they remembered it was there was beyond me. As I said, I indulged a bit more than usual, and we are now the proud owners of Furry the Dog and Michael the Woolly Mammoth.

After a crazy lunch at Margaritaville (I would pass on this one next time), we finally made it to the aquarium. We all loved this aquarium... so much to see and do. The sting ray touch tank and the people-mover through the aquarium tunnel were definitely the highlights.
This sting ray jumped up out of the water at Jackson... I have no idea how I was lucky enough to get the picture, but it was crazy. The poor guy was finished with the sting rays after that!

We had such a great time. We had some much-needed time away from home, and our time was much better quality than some of the other weekends we had spent without Jason. I loved our special adventure and their excitement for everything we did. I am actually looking forward to doing it again. Next time, though, I will probably stay for two nights and hopefully con some friends into going with us!!