Finally Back in Hilton Head

 

We stopped for lunch on the way to the beach . . but didn't think that literally the entire town would be stopped at Wendy's too.  UGH!  It took forever, but hey, we were just thankful to be headed to a much-needed vacation!!!  Unfortunatley, it was super slow traffic getting into Hilton Head, but we did finally make it!

We stopped at the Piggly Wiggly to get some milk and ice cream!  Of course, these dodos had to take a picture with the pig. LOL

We were all up early and had the tent set up by 9am on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed many hours of sand and ocean waves.

We rented bikes and challenged ourselves to bike to the mini-golf after a day at the beach.  It was a LONG trip, but we made it!  

On Monday after another gorgeous day on the beach, we ventured to South Beach for some adventures around the Salty Dog!

We enjoyed dinner out and shopping around the little area too.  Preston was so excited to finally get a skim board to try out on the beach.  I have to say he was determined and by the end of the day on Tuesday he had it down!

We had so much fun and definitely enjoyed unplugging and getting away together as a family before the craziness of school and soccer restarts.  We opted to head back to Charlotte late Tuesday night so we could have a day to recover at home before Dave went back to work.  BUT, stopped by Coligny plaza to get our favorite ice cream before heading back.

It was a blessing to spend this time together.  Hilton Head, thanks for another fun adventure!

Preston's Pool Time

 

We finally were able to get these three boys together to hang out.  I picked Preston up early from camp and headed to the pool right away.  Cole and Hamilton met us there and these boys had a super fun time today.  I have to say I enjoyed catching up with each of their moms as well. :)  Savannah joined in the mom section and according to her "mom gossip is almost as good as soccer gossip".  LOL

Brian's Birthday

 

Our family was invited to celebrate Brian McCulloch's 60th birthday today with a surprise party! It was so much fun catching up with lots of Carmel people and celebrating Brian.  I do have to say that talking to Maddie (Brian's daughter), our *little* flower girl who is about ready to be a SENIOR in college made me feel quite old. But it was still a super fun day!

Lake James Adventure with the Poats

 

Savannah left on Tuesday for her Bible study group adventure to the lake. She has been waiting months for this special time with her small group at Mrs. Poat's lake house.  So after her dermatologist appointment, we met up at Chick fil A and the girls all headed to the lake.  On Wednesday I was at the pool with Preston and his buddy when Savannah texted saying that Mrs. Poats invited the moms and boys to come up for the day on Thursday.  Of course, we were SO excited.  It took a little wiggling of our plans, but it all worked out!  Preston ended up skipping his coding camp and going to the Marion's mountain house Wednesday night so they could arrive at the lake early on Thursday.  I had a couple orders to do Thursday but arrived at the lake well before lunch.  

It was such a fantastic day chatting with Kristin, Stephanie, and Mrs. Poats and also watching our kiddos have the time of their life on the water.  We were on the boat for at least 5 hours before heading back in to pack up and head home.

We are so blessed to have such amazing friends . . and also to have Savannah so connected to such a godly woman who encourages, challenges, and loves on their core group so well.  

Just the Girls/Guys Time

 

Friday morning Dave and Preston headed to GA to take Papa to an Atlanta Braves game; it was his Father's Day gift. :)  Although the Braves ended up losing in the 10th inning, the boys still enjoyed a fun day at the ballpark.  Today they were able to enjoy a little time in their neighborhood pool before lunch and heading home this afternoon.  

While the boys were away Savannah and I enjoyed a fabulous (quiet) Friday with dinner out at Duckworth's and then watching Ever After.  Not sure why it's taken me this long to let her watch one of the best movies ever, but we both enjoyed it!  Today we started our morning at the Market to get some baked goodies from Cakeable's stand.  Then we went shopping and also managed to squeeze in a few shipt shops before heading home to enjoy our last bit of quiet before the boys returned.

It was such a fun weekend and a great way to enjoy some one-on-one time with the kiddos!!

A Reward for My Assistant

 

So this week Savannah and I are running a few errands (okay, a LOT of errands) and doing a little Shipting in the afternoon while Preston is in camp.  Every time we have been to Costco she has mentioned wanting this ceratin pack of highlighters . . so today I surprised her with actually buying them!  I have never seen anyone so thrilled over getting highlighters, but apparently, the purple ones are rare. :)  So glad one little purchase could make her happy; it's a small price to pay for having an assistant this week!!!

Lack of Zen Tubing

 

After many discussions about when and where to meet up, we all agreed that Zen Tubing in Asheville had the best reviews and was a good option for tubing today.  Although it was a bit tricky getting there due to heavy traffic and a few accidents on the interstate, we finally made it just in time for our 2:15pm reservation.  However, we quickly discovered that there was no way we were going to be tubing anytime soon.  

First of all, the location was totally full, with ZERO parking available.  They directed us to a church about a half-mile away to park where they set up an overflow parking/check-in.  Only when we tried to check-in they said that we had to wait for tubes to be able to check us in?!  Okay, so we waited until it was finally time to get life jackets for the little kids and get checked in . . . only then there was no bus available to shuttle us to the start of the tubing.  So we waited some more.  Finally, we boarded the bus and headed to the start of the adventure.  I'm thinking thank goodness this chaos is over and we can finally enjoy some Zen on the river.  LOL 

 Much to our surprise (anger), when we arrived at the start of the trip and got off the bus we discovered that there were no tubes available.  They continued to bus people to the start and the line grew longer and longer of people waiting to get a tube to start the journey.  Finally, over 1.5 hours after our reservation time, we were stepping into the river.  The sky was beautiful and the temperature was great  . . and we were all so thankful to finally start our 3-hour tubing journey.

However, after about 75 minutes down the river, the sky got really dark and we could hear thunder a bit away.  Trying to weigh our options we realized there was really only one . . to keep going and get off the river as quickly as we could, but we knew we had at least another hour plus to go.  We paddled hard and tried to navigate through the intoxicated people and rocks as quickly as we could as the storm grew closer and closer.  Then it started to rain, a cold rain too.  I was a bit panicked, but thankfully we made great progress and safely exited the river in just over 2 hours.  Of course then we had to wait for another bus to take us back to our car and there was no place to change at that point.  So we said our goodbyes, quickly jumped into the car with our wet suits and headed to the nearest Chick fil A for dinner.

There was absolutely nothing zenful about this adventure and I'll definitely be leaving my online review to make sure future guests are prepared for the disaster that may await them.  BUT, it was fun to be able to see the Weninger crew and Corey for the afternoon!