Hilton Head

We just returned from a 7 day trip to Hilton Head, our first family vacation since the Hawaii experience and we are glad to report this one was better.  Emma LOVES the water...the pool and the beach.  On the second day of pool swimming, she found her kicking stride and was able to scoot all around the pool in a water ring.  By the end of the week, she was climbing out of the pool with the water ring and jumping into the pool, unassisted.  Emma never really learned to keep her mouth shut when entering the water, but she kept her eyes closed.  Once she discovered she could maneuver the entire pool in the floaty, we were no longer allowed to assist her...as she says, "I'm big... I don't need help...I do it".  Yesterday, when she went swimming, she walked into the water and stuck her head under 3xs all on her own...not sure what possessed her to do it, but she liked it and I'm glad she isn't fearful of the water.

 

While on vacation we rode bikes, swam, and did a little shopping at the typical touristy stops.  One day we visited a children's museum called The Sandbox, which is an interactive museum, but on a smaller scale than our local Children's Museum.  It was a nice place to go as a break from the sun where Emma could run around, do crafts and have imagination time.  We stuck to our at home schedule, to keep Emma as happy as possible in a new place.  We probably won't go back to HH until Emma is a little older when she can ride a bike on her own and do more of the stuff she was too little for on this trip.  The bike paths in Hilton head are amazing and Emma loved riding on the bike with Doug, while I rode behind them.  She appeared kicked-back and relaxed, absorbing the scenery on the bike rides.

Emma is trying to make up for sleep we lost...she slept until 9am today and yesterday she wouldn't get out of bed, even when I said she was going swimming.  There were a few night crying episodes on vacation and she didn't sleep like she should on the car rides to/fro HH... Some kids car nap, Emma will not, but she did not get carsick which is a big HOORAY since the trip was 11-12 hours long.  I averaged 4 hours of sleep per night, so I'm catching up on sleep too, so this week we are taking it easy and getting back to normal. 

 

 

Take your order please?

Last night, Emma decided she was a waitress.  She followed me all around the house, with a notepad and a blue crayon for about 30 minutes, asking to take my order.  Chicken nuggets and a milkshake were all that were on Emma's menu however and I wasn't allowed to order anything but these two items as hard as I tried. Yesterday her Neeney Karen came to visit and I suspect maybe they played waitress, because this is a brand new imaginary play scenario...or Emma just came up with it on her own...she comes up with a lot on her own lately.

During waitress time, there was a bat catching in progress, in the basement, which unfazed Emma...she wanted to go in the basement, while taking orders of chicken nuggets.  The bat was finally captured and placed in a tupperware container for us to see...gross.  Emma was wary of the bat at first glance, said something about, "bat no eat or bite me" and when I reassured her the bat couldn't get out, she said, "I like it, I want to keep it".  Right.