HHI Day 7 (Thursday)

We started off this beautiful Thursday with breakfast at home. I whipped up a batch of brownies so we could have a sweet snack when we got back to the house. After we ate, we packed up and headed for the beach! I’m once again SO thankful that we can just open our front door and be on the beach in less than 4 minutes! The girls are just loving the ocean. Jamey and I keep hoping they find snow just as exciting :/

Abby loved building volcanoes in the sand.

 

This is looking down both sides of the beach… while there were a couple condos and the Beach Club… 95% of the beach had  houses. So when you looked around you really just noticed trees – zero hotels. So so beautiful.

Once again, bicycles everywhere. The sand is really REALLY packed tight. You would often see a couple bikes stroll by or a runner. Speaking of packed sand… We took a pack of sand toys that I picked up at TJ Max. Those plastic shovels didn’t stand a chance. The surf shop had wooden handle, metal shovels for sale. We will know next time to just wait and spend our money there. They didn’t seem over priced – and they were much more practical for the type of sand.

The mighty ocean claimed Hannah’s blue goggles. I took a few extra pair – but the extras were pretty cheap. Although they work in a calm pool,  they just didn’t have the suction needed to keep Hannah happy in the ocean. We purchased these lovely purple ones at the surf shop. They said 7+, but they worked great for Hannah!

I can’t say enough great things about Sea Pines! So so so family oriented. Craft Cove is just another great area Sea Pines had set up for the kids. Each day they offered a different craft the kids could make for a small fee. Today they were painting sanddollars. The fee was $5 per sanddollar. We thought this was a great price. The girls got to sit down and make something on vacation that could come home with them as a souvenir! Craft Cove is located right on the beach. Since our house was right there – we ran home and rinsed off real quick. But we noticed several kids that just came up and took a break from the ocean for a bit. The craft leaders labeled the projects when they were finished and the kids went back to the ocean with their families. They picked up their projects as they were leaving the beach for the day.

The girls wrapped up their crafts and we decided to head to South Beach to The Salty Dog. It was at least 125 degrees out Well, I mean, it was over 100 and with the nice humidity even the staff was complaining about the heat. At the time I didn’t think it was unbearable. Thank you St. Louis for preparing me for this type of living. I think I may have gills before this summer is over

We could be seated outside right away – but inside had a long wait. We noticed they had misters in the tents outside – and you were in the shade… Live a little! Outside we went!

Hey! Guess where we are??

Hannah loved the misters.

Abby thought they were pretty cool too!

Our waiter was kind enough to take our picture. I didn’t even have to ask!

We had a pretty good meal. We had heard that we just HAD to go to The Salty Dog — but not all of the food was that great. Someone told me to get the shrimp. They said that they had excellent shrimp. I’m not really a fried shrimp kind of person – but I ordered it — and it ROCKED! So yummy! We had the crab dip for an appetizer. The girls had pjb and a corn dog. Jamey went for the special of the day, BBQ. Really J? We are at the OCEAN

Our friend Michelle used to come to HHI every year with her family when she was younger. They still visit – but no longer own a house. She mentioned that she had stained her Salty Dog shirt and asked if I could pick her up a new one. Of course! So to wrap up our time in South Beach, we visited The Salty Dog Shop.

Whew! What a long hot day! We headed back to the house to enjoy those brownies I made earlier.  J and I took turns with a little nap. I don’t think the girls napped — but they had a little lazy time on the couch. I put together some baked mostaciolli and salad. We had a quick supper and then headed out the door. We wanted to get to Greg Russell tonight before everyone else did. Once again we decided to drive since we would be there well after dark.

Woo Hoo! Front Row!!! Here we are sitting under the Liberty Tree!

 

The girls enjoyed dancing on the stage before all of the other kids arrived.

Lotsa twirling going on!

Moss in the treesHarbour Town Lighthouse as the sun was setting.

The girls asked Jamey if they could get their faces painted. Of course Daddy said Yes

Jamey also grabbed the girls some slushies! 

Large yachts in the marina.

And just like that KIDS EVERYWHERE!! Abby had no problem jumping right in. Hannah was okay as long as she was near Abby.

He’s Here! And we can see him MUCH better than the other night!

Hannah ended up coming back to sit with us. This is the point where she nearly donkey kicked a woman in the stomach

Abby  made some friends

Hannah had a blast once the singing started!

The benches were in the sand. This was a very good thing! Hannah was entertained by the sand when she wasn’t by the music

Sometimes a girls gotta dance!

It seemed a majority of these families have been coming here for years! The kids are holding up posters asking Greg if they can sing with him. Some of the posters said, “My mom sang with you when she was a girl. Please pick me to sing with you tonight.” Others talked about how far they had traveled to see him. A couple kids were from Ethiopia!! For the record both of those signs got picked and they got to sing. Another family sang the ABCs backwards. And one cute tiny “free” year old sang Twinkle Twinkle. It was a great evening. The girls had a much better time up close! My recommendation is to get there plenty early and get a good seat!

Hannah sang and danced as long as she could… And then she was out!

We packed the girls up and walked back to our car after the show. Jamey had parked between two Palmetto trees. It was so tight we had to fold the mirrors in so he could get out safely. Nice!

We were beat when we got home. Baths and right to bed!