Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Meanwhile Our Summer Continued....

With nothing but time on our hands, we made the most of our summer.  We drove to Hilton Head Island, SC, and for a week we rented a house with my sister's family and my parents.  Hilton Head is a gorgeous place.  You can make it as low-key or busy as you like.

The house we rented was just outside the gate to the Sea Pines Resort and provided us access to the plantation amenities.  For our little family of four, we were content with days at the house pool and the beach.  My sister's family was more adventurous and rented bikes and went kayaking.  We made dinner at home several nights and even sought out an authentic Carolina BBQ place (which happened to be connected to a gas station!)

One morning my sister, my parents, and I went paddle boarding in the Sea Pines Resort.  The day was overcast, but the peace of the morning was wonderful.  I think my dad really enjoyed paddle boarding; I could see that he enjoyed taking his time to navigate the sea grasses and admire the waterfront homes.

Hilton Head is a winner.  You should go.



When we started our drive home from Hilton Head Island Matt jokingly shared that it would only be two hours to Jacksonville and then just a short two more hours to Orlando.  He gave me the "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" look.  I knew what he meant - Disney World.

We went into immediate plan mode.
  • What appointments do we have this week that we can change?
  • We did laundry before leaving Hilton Head Island
  • We have some snacks 
  • Does Matt have some hotel points that he can use to offset the cost?
I texted my college pals to get their opinion.  One summed it up perfectly - Of course we should go to Disney World, we are moving across the ocean!  When is the next time we will be so close?

That question sealed the deal.  We were going!  Two days at Disney World would be a sweet ending to the family vacation.

We arrived right around dinner time on Saturday.  Instead of burning a day on our park tickets, we spent the evening at Downtown Disney.  We all enjoyed the opportunity to stretch our legs from being in the car most of the day.

On Sunday we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom until the park closed.  Youngest Kiddo is at a great age where he was game for any ride we tried.  It seemed like after he got off each ride he wanted to ride it again.  His favorites were Buzz Lightyear and Goofy's Barnstormer.  Oldest Kiddo's favorites were Space Mountain and Mission Space at Epcot.



Monday's fun was slightly hampered by an obnoxious heat index of 112 degrees.  The blacktop sure does not help that situation - we actually melted onto the sidewalk.  We spent a few hours at Disney Studios then had to go back to our hotel for a little swim.  After internal body temperatures and attitudes improved, the family took the boat to Epcot.

Knowing what our future held, we ate dinner at the Rose & Crown Pub in the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday morning we knew a super long drive was ahead of us.  We packed up the car and hit the road back to reality.



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