Visiting the Cousins

We have a fun tradition of staying with Jeremy's cousin Mary and her husband Seth on the way down and back from Hilton Head. Their place is a little past the half-way mark so it's a great way to break up our trip. They bought a new house out in the country and we had an awesome time exploring the back-roads of North Carolina.

Owen and Clara Jane get along so well, this time they had fun playing toys, watering the garden and playing in the sandbox while the rest of us talked and drank beer. FUN!

Such a perfect way to end our trip!

Shannon Tanner Concert: EPIC FAIL.

We were so excited that our last night in Hilton Head was the kick-off concert for Shannon Tanners peak season. We went out to an early dinner and Owen was in rare form.

He refused to eat and threw a piece of bread across the table - which was fine because Gillen happily ate his dinner (this kid decided while we were on vacation he wants to pound table food). After dinner we headed over to the concert.

(check out that face on Owen) About five minutes in he decided to run away from us. We told him he could sit with us or go down and sit by the other kids. He wandered down by the stage where a baby was playing, picked up a handful of rocks and threw them at the baby. We scooped him up to tell him that was no okay and he proceeded to have a full-on tantrum in front of the entire crowd.

We walked out furious and dissapointed. Owen really didn't give a shit that he ruined our final night on the Island. We were supposed to get ice cream at the concert and that was clearly not happening now. So we talked about the choices Owen made to misbehave and then we drove to an ice cream place where I got a huge cone of dairy-free sorbet and Jeremy got ice cream.

When O finally realized he wasn't going to get ice cream he was hysterical. This was the first time we followed through with something (normally we would have just skipped the ice cream all together) but we wanted him to see that his actions caused him to miss out on something fun. Weeks later he still talks about how he made a bad choice at the concert and didn't get ice cream :)

Hilton Head: The Beach

Owen is in love with the beach, the sand, the ocean - all of it. He was so happy every time we set foot on the beach.

This guy too, because apparently sand is delicious!

Hilton Head: Bikes

One of our favorite things to do on the Island is rent bikes and ride to the beach. Gillen isn't big enough to ride on the back of a bike quite yet so we rented a trailer for the boys. There wasn't a helmet small enough for Gil, so we made sure just to ride slowly on the path from our villa to the beach and back. The boys loved riding together in the trailer! Jeremy was SUPER DADDY towing these two plus our beach gear on this back.

Hilton Head: Lawton Stables

Our first stop was a morning at Lawton Stables. This is one of our favorite places to visit and each time Owen sees the farm with new excitement. We remembered apples and carrots for the Clydesdale this time but Owen was pretty terrified to feed him (as was Jeremy).

There were two new Lamas in the petting zoo, a brown one and a black one who were totally adorable.

Owen was big enough to ride the pony this year and he was thrilled. This was his THIRD pony ride and he remembers the names of all the ponys he has ever ridden: Spanky, Jo-Jo and this pony's name was Cookie.

It was a really, really hot morning so we were all exhausted by the time we headed out for lunch.

Gillen was clearly the MOST exhausted of us all.

Hilton Head, SC

The beach welcomes us back, but somebody didn't want their toes in the ocean.

and another somebody did.

Our Last Day at The Beach