The trip out was fairly smooth - as smooth as it can be traveling with a pre-schooler and a toddler! Boy, getting through airport security is a whip, though...
The kids did fine on the plane, though it is a lot of work keeping Keeley entertained enough not to scream!
We flew into Jacksonville, FL on Thursday the 12th, and had an almost 3-hour drive to HHI. The kids napped in the car, yay! They got to watch a movie on the portable DVD player when they were awake, so it was a decent drive. We drove through 3 states in 3 hours! This was Keeley's first trip!
We got to the hotel and checked in. We had been crossing our fingers that there would be a suite available for upgrade, but the hotel was fully booked, so we were quite cozy in our room!
Here is Luken showing the rollaway bed he slept in. We were at a Westin, so his bed was a Heavenly Bed, woohoo! (It's kind of a terrible picture, but I only took one, oh well!)
Keeley got a Heavenly Crib, as well! She was not impressed at the time of this photo. Nor ever, really, but she managed. It was considerably smaller than her crib at home.
We ordered room service a bunch of times, as the kids were not especially restaurant-ready, being pretty tired throughout the trip. Here is Luken with his dinner on the first night.
Exploring the hallway!
I didn't get quite as many pictures as I would have liked on this trip. It's kind of hard to be the Mommy and the photographer while traveling - there's so much stuff to manage. At the beach it's especially hard, with the whole water safety issue and all! :)
After Todd worked Friday morning, we headed down to the beach, at long last!
Keeley shows that her thumb is delicious anytime, anyplace!
Luken and Daddy, checking out the ocean!
Keeley found some sticks to play with.
She wasn't too fond of the sand, and every time she fell down and got her palms covered with sand, she'd cry until one of us brushed it off! It was a bit better closer to the water where the sand was more dense.
Brother and sister, enjoying the beach together!!!!
Keeley and Mommy! At first Keeley was a bit apprehensive about the water, but soon she was enjoying sitting in the small waves as they lapped up to the shore!
Saturday was more of the same - Todd worked in the morning, then we hit the beach! It was looking like storms in the afternoon, so we stayed 'til it started sprinkling.
Keeley in her new UV suit!
And Luken in his, digging in the sand.
Daddy and Keeley, taking in the beautiful scenery.
Luken hates to be without socks, so I'd picked up these lovely bright green water socks for him!
Daddy and his kiddos!
Building a sandcastle.
Taking a Cheerio break!
Beach Babe!
On Sunday, we had a leisurely morning - breakfast, then packing up. We checked out of the hotel around 11am, then drove about 45 minutes away to Savannah, GA. We strolled up and down the riverwalk and found a place for lunch. It's a beautiful city - Todd and I want to go back sans kids for a weekend sometime! We were there just long enough to get a taste of the city before we had to jump back in the car to get back to Jacksonville for our flight home.
Again, the kids napped during the drive, yay! As we neared Jacksonville, the skies got dark, then it started pouring like nothing we've ever seen before - and that's saying a lot after the Spring we've had this year! On the freeway, the cars had to slow down to about 30mph to be able to see the road. Lightning was cracking up ahead, and the thunder was rumbling. It was nerve-wracking, and we were worried what a storm would do to the flight schedules. Fortunately, it passed fairly quickly, and didn't delay our flight more than 20 minutes, phew!
Airport security was even MORE fun on the way home - geez, you feel rather violated when you're done. And it is such a joy to do while holding a tired toddler who just wants to get down and run around like a madwoman!
One small blip after we settled down to wait at our gate - I couldn't find our boarding passes! They'd been in my back pocket with both our ID's. I still had the licenses, but the passes were gone! Todd went up to the gate desk (I couldn't see it because we were actually sitting in some chairs in the adjacent hallway) to see if we could get reprints. It took FOREVER for him to get back, and I called him 7 times on his cell, but he never answered (because it was with our carry-on bags, having been emptied from his pocket during security.) It turned out that someone had found them and turned them in, and Todd could see them on the desk, but the desk agent walked away as he was walking up, and was gone for 20 minutes! All's well that ends well, right? I couldn't complain - the flight to Miami in the next gate was cancelled because of "crew fatigue." Those passengers were NOT happy at all...
The flight home seemed a LOT longer than 2ish hours - the kids were restless and tired. But we survived! The kids were SO happy to see our car at the airport - Keeley was giggling and wiggling all around. I think she was worried that we'd moved away and into a tiny room far away from all her stuff!
And Westin's Heavenly Beds have NOTHIN' on our own beds, hee hee!
We enjoyed our trip, despite how exhausting it was, but were really glad to be home!
More pictures are up on Photobucket - didn't want to overwhelm the blog, so click here for more: http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k38/lukeeley/2007-07-July/2007-07-12-Hilton_Head_Island/?action=view&slideshow=true
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