HHI Day 2 (Saturday)

Here we are at day 2! We woke up in Atlanta. The first thing I heard was Hannah saying, “Hey! How do we get out of here?!?!” She was talking about the hotel room. I guess she went to sleep in the car and was quite confused about the big fluffy bed She thought we were going to leave through the vent in the wall. I don’t guess she noticed the big door on the other side of the rom. Abby’s first words in the morning were, “This hotel bed is awesome!” I do have to agree! It was quite a comfy bed!

Check-in at Hilton Head wasn’t until 4 PM. We weren’t really in a rush to leave Atlanta.

We looked around the hotel a bit…

 

 

 

 

Then we headed downstairs for some breakfast. We decided to just do the buffet. It was really good (and the girls ate free)! I’m sure Lynn is laughing right now – she knows that our girls don’t really eat anyway. I have no clue how they continue to grow At breakfast Abby thought her cloth napkin was a hat. Hannah joined along.

We thought we might do the aquarium or something fun like that – but actually, by the time we got everyone up and moving and fed and the van reloaded it was nearly noon!

 

We had just a little bit of a shower as we were loading the car. We weren’t soaked… just a little damp.

You might remember that yesterday I said I would probably just get a coffee on the road… Well, no luck! So today I made it a priority to get one on the road! We used my trusty Starbucks app and found a store!

Hey! I’m on vacation! Yes that is a venti. Yes that is cream and Yes, it has caramel!!

We also picked up a bag of ice for our cooler at Walgreens. I did most of our shopping for the trip before we left St. Louis. I didn’t get milk and eggs – but I did get a few things that don’t need to be — but are better chilled.

And off we went! We started our trip today right around noon. Our hotel was actually just a hair north of Atlanta. We were finally making our way through.

The Olympic Torch of Atlanta (1996 Summer Olympics)

A little south of Atlanta Hannah declares that she needs to pee. This was exciting news to Jamey. He wasn’t happy with his tape job from yesterday and was really hoping to “reinforce it” in the hotel parking lot. I think the misting rain made him put his plan on hold. However this was the perfect time! We took the girls to the bathroom and then got them set up with some ice cream bars on a picnic table while Daddy went to work!

 

 

Oh! Much better!!! :/

Look! More construction!

Georgia was quite pretty – but I did notice as we passed a couple corn fields, “knee high by the 4th of July” must not apply there. Either that – or they are having a really rough year

Hannah took a nap and Abby took some time to check out the View-Master.

The drive from this point on was just beautiful! I guess it was so beautiful I forgot to take pictures :/ We did have to stop for gas and a late lunch (at Burger King) right before entering South Carolina – so I grabbed a couple pics there. I LOVED these bright pink bushes/trees! They were all over! Even down the median of the interstate! Everything was so pretty!

Yay! South Carolina!

Finally!! A sign!

All you Southern Illinois people will appreciate this one!

It is an island right? We have to cross some water soon!! Yaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!!

 

I rolled the window down to take the previous pictures and I have to say – I think I felt a chill in the air! Yes yes! The temperature was under 90 degrees!!!  Don’t worry – it only lasted until about wednesday – when the heat index was 115. Excellent! :/

 

We knew that the island is quite crowded on Saturdays. Everyone is leaving AND everyone is coming! We moved pretty slow — but then we saw it!! The Hilton Head Island sign! Holy Cow! We did it!!! We made it!!!!

Once you are on the island, you have to enter the Sea Pines Resort gates to get to the houses. It was right about the time that we were entering the gate that we realized we missed the Welcome Center where they issue you a pass to get through the gate Apparently we are not the only ones that have made this mistake, because right through the gate is a paved road that can circle you back to the Welcome Center. Soooo, back we went. The girls and I waited in the car while Jamey ran in to get our passes/keys and info. He came back out with tons of maps and info and our keys – but most importantly – our gate pass

We were in! We followed our directions (dodging lots of bikes) and made it to our house! I mean, our TWO houses. Um… And we noticed our bikes waiting for us too!

We knew we asked for a 2-3 bedroom house while doing our searching. We knew we got a three bedroom. We knew we probably wouldn’t use one of the bedrooms. What we failed to read was this paragraph:

In an adjacent, separate guest house, on the other side of the courtyard, are two more bedrooms each featuring twin beds with tropical blue spreads, and their own bathroom. One bathroom features a shower, and the other a tub/shower combination.

Yeah. So, we didn’t really think having our 3 and 5 year old in “an adjacent house” was such a good idea. :/ We reserved our house only weeks before our vacation — not months. We knew all sales were final. But Jamey insisted on heading back to the Welcome Center to see if anything could be done.

He said that he explained he knew it was our fault. He figured nothing could be done. But he didn’t think it would hurt to ask. The Sea Pines agents were more than understanding. They were surprised he wasn’t mad – but once again – he said he knew it was our fault. They looked to see if any other places were available in the resort. There were two. They gave him the keys and said to go back and get his family and see if either of the properties would suit our needs better. We quickly drove to the other locations. They were more of a condo type — in big buildings, on the other side of the island. In the end we took the keys back to the Welcome Center and thanked them for trying to help us. We decided to keep our villa. The rooms were huge and the location was unbeatable.

Oh! One other thing — we noticed one of our bikes was missing the tag-a-long portion. This was what Abby was going to ride. It was a necessity! Jamey made the call and they told us they were pretty sure it would be fixed in the AM.

Once we got back we carried two of the mattresses out of the “adjacent house” and into the dining room/family room of the “main house”. One of the features of this house that we loved was the location. We grabbed our key and walked out the front gate, crossed the two lane road, and walked down the path to the beach. This was perfect!

The girls were so excited to see the ocean!

 

 

 

Daddy found a frog on the way back to our house!

 

Once again, all of the reviews we read lead us in the correct direction! They said that dining on saturdays was horrible. Way too many people trying to find food the first night there. They recommended ordering a pizza and calling it a night! I brought some food with us – so the girls had pbj and yogurt sticks. Jamey ordered us some pizza and headed back to the store for a few items. The grocery store closed at 10 PM. But once again, Walgreens saved the day! He came back with some drinks for us and milk for the girls! They could have a glass of milk and a bowl of cereal in the AM!

Day 2 was a success!! We made it to the beach. We had a house. We had a beds. Perfect!