More Island Adventure

It is raining today on scenic Hilton Head Island, but we have truly been blessed with good weather since we arrived on Sunday afternoon. Yesterday, we went on a dolphin cruise and with an 80% chance of rain, I was anxiously awaiting an early call from Commander Zodiac that our cruise had been cancelled. Luckily, the rain held off till today and we had a great time on the water. Our "boat" was little more than a raft with a motor, but it proved to be a fantastic vessel from which to see those beautiful, gentle dolphins! We  traveled about .75 mile from shore into Calibogue Sound where two shrimp boats were "parked!" The dolphins and the birds LOVE the shrimp boats because of all the fish they catch in their nets that they then throw back into the sound. We saw at least a dozen dolphins from our raft and they are so beautiful! Our driver said that there can be thousands of birds hovering above the shrimp boats, but luckily, there weren't that many yesterday. I wasn't especially interested in reliving an Alfred Hitchcock moment on the water! After our one-hour tour, we browsed the quaint shops for a bit and then went to a sweet little petting zoo at Lawton Stables. Such precious little animals, including a deer that we were able to pet. Morgan tried to feed her fingers to a pony, who bared his teeth to her delight! She also chased a chicken and was practically nose-to-nose with a goat! Good times! We had lunch in Harbourtown at The Crazy Crab (Chris's pick) where Bailey learned to eat fish & chips. After naptime, Chris took the kids to the beach, while I read in the condo. Pure bliss! We had dinner at One Hot Mama's (another Chris pick!), which is run by Orchid Paulmeier, a Food Network Star contestant/winner/something like that. Fun atmosphere and Morgan was good the entire time! More of our adventures tomorrow!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lemmons' Island Adventure

So today is Day 2 of our first beach trip in 5 years and our very first one with Miss Morgan, age 22 months. Yesterday was travel day and we left at 6 a.m., which was the time we'd planned to leave, amazingly enough. This was Morgan's first road trip, primarily because she has not proven to be a very good traveler, but I was pleasantly surprised. I drove, Bailey sat up front (her favorite spot), while Chris & Morgan sat in the back. Chris is endlessly patient and entertained the little thing the whole way, except for the 1.5 hours they both slept. And she was surprisingly happy the rest of the time, except for a brief screech-fest. We made two stops of about half an hour each which gave us all time to walk around. Even with those stops, we still made it to Hilton Head in 7 hours. A travel miracle!! Once we settled into our precious and wonderful home-away-from-home, we threw on the swimsuits and headed straight for the beach! Bailey has been so very excited about going to the beach for months, so there was no way we were going to skip it the first day just because we'd been on the ROAD all day!! So, here's the beginning of The Lemmons' Island Adventure Trip . . .

 

Happy Independence Day!!

We spent a sweltering 4th of July inside our nice, cool house eating with my parents. The following weekend, we headed to the farm for our annual cookout. It was so great to see all the little kiddos, especially Logan, who was only 6 weeks old and super snuggly! All of the littles played so well together - it's going to be such fun to watch them grow up together!

Morgan and Abby, the most docile giant dog you'll ever see!!

Cousins!

Our nephew, Peyton

Kissin' cousins!!

Chris's dad; our niece, Eliza; and Peyton

 

Happy Half Birthday, Bailey!!

A couple of years ago, before Morgan was born, we decided to celebrate Bailey's December 27 birthday with a party around June 27, her half birthday, because it's so much easier to plan a summer  party and we have so many more options. So, yesterday, we had a pool party at my parents' house with a few of Bailey's friends. It was over 100 degrees and I nearly melted, but the kids stayed in the pool the entire time and had a fantastic time! Morgan even celebrated with us for a little while, but it was way too hot for her sweet little self. It was a great day!

YUMMY cake from Marble Slab!

Jell-O with gummy field - supposed to be the centerpiece but some of the kids ate it!!

Fountain Fun!!

Since yesterday was such a nightmarish day at home, I decided on a little field trip this morning!! We headed down to one of my favorite places, Market Square, to the fountains for a little fun. Morgan was delighted!! She had a BLAST!! She went face-first, full-throttle into the water and never slowed down even when she got a face full of water . . . over and over and over!! I can't wait to go back!