Hilton Head, Day 1

Our second day on the road passed quickly because all of us loved The Martian so much.  I can't believe we have been all over the country so many times in our minivan of screams before discovering the magic of an audiobook we all love.  Crazy.

Even though we were sick of each other and the car, we all perked up when we crossed the bridge onto the island and saw lush palm trees galore and all of our favorite restaurants and activities.

 At the resort check-in desk, the kids scrambled outside to stand by this huge old tree.

Then we threw our luggage into our condo, snatched up our swimsuits, and hightailed it to the beach.

THE BEACH!  I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Dorothy was especially smitten with the sand and the water and the waves and the sensory experience of all of it together.  She might have had the very best time, and I mean, all of us had a good time.

 Basically, after being cooped up in the car for a 2 looooongs days, the kids just frolicked.

 And we watched them, hoping everyone wouldn't be too sandy for dinner.

 Jack in this picture is the best.

 The kids were moderately to not very well-behaved at dinner, but who could blame them?  They'd been sitting in the car forever, and there was an amazing beach just a stone's throw away.  Also, good thing there were no stones because they would have definitely thrown them.

 View.  OMG.

 Our first island drinks.

 The food totally sucked and was way overpriced.

 But there was the view.

We ended up going back down to the beach after dinner and staying until dark, giving the kids 4 solid hours of beach time.  The weather forecast was not awesome, so we decided we would spend every nice moment in the water in anticipation of scheduled storms.  More about how that worked out later.

 She spent two full days covering herself in sludge.

It was just too beautiful to leave.

 Eventually, though, we went back to our condo.  It was a 2 bedroom (2.5 bath thank god) place, and the kids were kind of pissy about staying all together in the same room (2 queens).  But!  They were so tired that they fell asleep within seconds, and Ben and I got to go downstairs and drink wine on the couch while watching a movie which is basically our ideal night and what we do everyday at home.  EVERYBODY WINS.