Em’s school transitions classrooms based on the school year, so it’s closed for two days of teacher training every August. She started in September last year, so this is the first time we’ve had to think about those two days. I knew I’d take the days off to spend with her, but a few weeks ago, Mick said he’d take them off too, so we decided to spend a four-day weekend in Hilton Head. We really hadn’t been to the beach all summer, and Em has talked about it nonstop, so we thought we owed her at least one good sand castle.
We left Thursday morning and arrived around noon—the hotel had our room ready, so we checked in early and headed down to the restaurant by the pool for lunch. She got to meet the Omni dolphin right away, and wasn't shy about giving him a hug!
Em's attitude was going downhill pretty quickly at lunch, so we knew she needed a nap since we had plans for that night and she would be up late.
She slept for a couple of hours, and when she woke up, we headed to Harbour Town for our
Pirates of Hilton Head cruise. We arrived a few minutes early so she could have her mustache painted and her tattoo applied. She got her sword, bandana and vest and decided on Evil Eye Emily for her pirate name.
The cruise was about an hour and a half long, and she stayed in character the whole time! At one point, she got a turn on the water cannon to shoot at Stinky Pete, who had stolen the key to the treasure chest. He was defeated and handed over the key, which the pirates then used to open up the sunken treasure chest that we pulled up onto the boat. All the pirates had a turn to get a big handful of treasure—Em asked “can I take my treasure home?” and was really excited to hear that she could!
Here's a picture of all the pirates on our ship, The Black Dagger.
We had dinner on the water that night, watched a juggling act, and stayed around for a show with
Greg Russell, who is apparently a Hilton Head legend.
He’s been playing in the same spot for over 30 years, so people come with their kids especially to see him. Part of his show is bringing kids up on stage to sing, and after several kids got a turn and Em was passed over, she was determined to be the closing act. He said he was looking for one more singer, and instead of raising her hand, Em got up and walked right over to him.
After the show was over, she was so proud of herself, and told us she was the star of the show! She has so much confidence, it’s unbelievable.
Friday morning, we got up and had breakfast at the café in the hotel before heading down to the beach. We stayed about half the day and built sand castles, and then went to the pool (tough life on vacation!). We had lunch and stayed at the pool for a while before going up for a nap. Mick went and played golf that afternoon while Em rested for a few hours.
There were butterflies everywhere, and this one liked our beach umbrella.
I think Em would have built sandcastles all day every day.
The hotel was really nice, and had two family pools--we didn't visit the adult pool, of course, but these were all we needed.
That night, we went down to the
Salty Dog Café—there are several restaurants and shops right on the marina with live music and kids’ entertainment. Em met Jake the Dog (pretty cool legend about him if you click the link above), got her face painted, and had a great time picking out costumes and dancing before we had dinner. It was nice that she took such a late nap, because it allowed us to stay out way past her bedtime.
This was her first costume choice--there was a kids' DJ playing music outside, and she had drawers full of different costumes.
Jake stopped by to see Em again while she was having him painted on her face!
She LOVED all the music and dancing!
Em and Daddy acting silly at dinner.
We couldn't leave without souvenirs!
Saturday, we went back to the beach in the morning and then to the pool for a little while.
That afternoon, we tried to go for a trolley ride in Harbour Town, but when the trolley never showed up, we decided to climb the lighthouse, eat a late lunch, and take Em for a pony ride instead.
At the top of the lighthouse!
We also found a playground that Em had to try.
The weather got a little cloudy, but never rained on us the whole time.
She loved the see-saw!
We found
Lawton Stables since we missed the trolley, and stopped to see the horses and let Em ride a pony. She loved Dusty, the white pony, and talked to him the whole way around the farm.
When the ride was over, she gave him a big hug and thanked him for letting her ride.
Saturday night, we spent some time downstairs on the patio at the hotel listening to live music, and went back out to the beach at low tide so she could pick up seashells. Since Em skipped a nap
that day, we knew it would be a pretty early night—she slept great the whole weekend, but played so hard that she seemed to stay tired.
Especially tired after all this running around chasing seagulls!
She got out of the bathtub and played for a little while in her baker's hat (shower cap), making cakes and goodies before bed.
Em is fascinated by taking pictures with my phone, and here's one she took of us.
These are a couple of my favorites from the night at The Salty Dog.
I think this is the only one we got of all three of us--Mick isn't much for pictures!
Sunday morning, we were sad to get up and leave, but knew we still had two girls at home that probably missed us pretty badly, so we got on the road by about
10am. It was a great long weekend
