Hilton Head Island

Okay, before posting about our vacation several weeks ago I was trying to figure out how to upload video to this site, but that is proving beyond me this week. So without further ado...

Hilton Head was wonderful! Everything that we needed and wanted in a vacation... some thoughts:

- We took the El to Midway again. I thought Eric was nuts as it was difficult at the holidays, but once we got moving, I realized that it really did work very well. And we confirmed that our Maclaren stroller was a great one for public transport. I could pick up the stroller with Brooks in it and confidently climb a flight or two of stairs when needed. Wahoo!


- This was an easy trip for a first vacation with baby... familiar and comfortable housing, friendly neighbors (thanks to Jerry and Joann for the pack n play) and all the beach gear we'd need in the storage room right outside. With a separate living area, we were able to put Brooks down at night and catch up on some movies we'd been meaning to watch. Plus the use of a washer and dryer really helped - we did lots of laundry!!

- The weather was perfect. In the 80s, sunny with puffy white clouds, and a nice breeze, particularly when we were on the beach. We both came back with a bit of color, but Brooks didn't even have a freckle - we were vigilant about the spf 45+ sunscreen and shade for him.


- Brooks loved the ocean, the sand in his toes and the extra play time with Mom and Dad. I'm not so sure that he loved the pool. When we dipped our toes in, it was really cold, so I can only imagine he didn't just love that, but he was interested in looking at it. Maybe next time.



- Renting a car from Jacksonville and driving up worked well for us for lots of reasons. We used SWA Rapid Reward coupons to fly down, the trip was all easy highway miles, and it gave us time to decompress going up to the island and ramp up for an airport adventure as we were leaving. We enjoy road trips a lot and with Brooks at this age we can discuss whatever we like while he sleeps in the back!


- We didn't realize that the car rental company was only going to have convertable car seats, not the convenient "infant bucket with base" kind. Brooks still naps beautifully in his car seat at restaurants here, and we both were counting on this for our evening meals out. When we didn't have that option, we went with a highchair and some extra padding and one of us just kept a hand on him the whole meal. It actually worked out pretty well and of course Brooks charmed all our servers and the other patrons each place we went. I was so proud of our little traveler.


- Unfortunately, Brooks didn't sleep as well as normal which was difficult at times. We've now realized it was probably his teeth bothering him. Poor Little. We did lots of "wee hours" rocking with him in the second bedroom ... and lots of napping at the beach.



- We had a great time with Aunt Hope & Uncle Don our last night there. They took the three of us to a lovely dinner at Alexanders and we enjoyed hearing all their news and sharing about London and our lives as new parents. I feel very fortunate to have married into such a warm, wonderful extended family. I didn't have the chance to meet Eric's Grandma Joy, so I was thrilled to get to know her sister Hope a bit better. And Don is just too fun - watching him entertain Brooks across the table was a highlight.

- We paid lots of new attention to nap times and meal times and sunscreen and shade and blustery beach breezes. We didn't take the usual long stroll along the shore together or finish any of the books we brought or didn't sleep in any morning that we were there. We didn't linger over a glass of wine at the end of a meal and we came home early every night. It certainly didn't look too much like our vacations together in the past, but we enjoyed almost every minute. And most importantly, we realized that, yes, vacationing with a baby can be a lot of fun.