As you may recall, Roy had given me tickets for Keagan's first family vacation back in February for Valentine's Day. This past weekend Roy, Gramma, Papaw and I took Special K to Hilton Head. This was such a special trip for us all and we created so many wonderful memories that we will forever hold dear.
Hilton Head is where my family always used to go when I was a kid, and we had talked about returning there but had not yet scheduled anything. So this was the perfect opportunity. Gramma, Papaw and I got to revisit a few places that are important to us and Roy and Keagan were able to experience the joy of Hilton Head for the first time. It was an absolutely perfect trip, and even though it was only for a weekend we packed so much into those two days.
Even though the ocean and pool water were cold (but not as cold as the Polar Plunge!) I wanted to make sure Keagan spent some time in both. Keagan and I were the only ones to go out into the ocean further than just a few feet, but we enjoyed it! I told Roy we were going to go out and find a sand dollar for him as he was amazed by them and had never seen one in person. We found a few that were broken up on the shore, but I told him we would have to go out into the water to find a whole one that was alive. Well, apparently I was wrong. As I was sitting in the water taking pictures a sand dollar literally rolled right up to Keagan and I. I looked down just in time to grab it. Gramma said it was unbelievable as we both thought I would only be able to find one out underneath the sand, but it wasn't unbelievable...it was Keagan! We have bleached the sand dollar and now have it with all of Keagan's other keepsakes.
We love our baby boy so much and loved getting to create all of the memories below with him!
This was the most special part of our trip. As kids we would always go listen to Gregg Russell in Harbour Town. Just this past Christmas, my mom gave my sister and I Gregg Russell CD's which was really special to us. Now imagine, if I was excited about the CD's, how I was when I got to take my son to see him in person. He is a kid's song singer and works a lot of humor into his performances. About an hour before the concert it was pouring down rain. We were worried that he wouldn't have the concert which was one of the main reasons we had chosen to go to Hilton Head and to go on this weekend. After dinner I was thrilled to walk out and see him setting up! Little did I know that Papaw had been emailing Gregg and letting him know about our situation and that we were planning a trip. That meant so much to me! Even with his smallest crowd in his 37 years, it was still absolutely perfect and such an important memory that I now share with Keagan.
Gramma and I are adventurers so we decided to go on a bike ride around Hilton Head, as this was also something we used to do when us kids were younger. Everyone was concerned that I might fall off a bicycle, so they wanted to explore our options. One option was a surrey - it had two connected bicycles, two seats in the front and a canopy over top. It went really slow, Mom and I looked ridiculous on it, and it actually wasn't allowed on the bike paths. So instead I got a tricycle....yep, a tricycle. It was actually hard to steer, and I was pretty embarrassed to be on it as a ton of elderly people looked at me in jealousy. I must say though that I still had people honking at me as we were riding - a pregnant woman on a tricycle....attractive! :) We saw an alligator while on our bike ride, which was really neat and we rewarded ourselves with a cupcake near the end of our trip, which was really yummy. Keagan seemed to enjoy the bike ride and of course he loved the cupcake!
Another tradition for our family is taking pictures in the neat trees of Hilton Head. We definitely found a few good ones! Roy and I also played with Keagan at the Gregg Russell Harbour Town playground - teeter-tottering with our baby, what fun!
On our last night, we went to Hudson's Seafood Restaurant. When we went there as kids, I would always take a picture in front of the boat out front because it is named Miss Jennifer so we made sure to take advantage of that photo opportunity. One thing that was missing from when we were younger was a clown that made balloon animals. Our oh-so-friendly waitress told us he wouldn't be there until after Memorial Day. We still enjoyed dinner and took some great pictures with the sunset behind us. I really love these pictures!
These are just some other random pictures. (1) This was before I braved going out into the ocean. I decided to put some water on my belly so Keagan could experience the ocean. (2) Posing with a statue in Harbour Town. (3) Amazing grandparents!!! We love them so much and know they love all three of us more than we can even understand. (4) Picture at dinner before the Gregg Russell concert (5) Papaw and Daddy figuring out a path of how to get through the fountains without getting wet. We captured this on video as well...I may just have to upload that at some point. (6) We also went to the Marina to see some of the boats. Along the way we passed this crabbing boat, which again is something we did when we were younger. This boat was not going out on the water, but again a good photo opportunity.
The joyous 24 hours in the car! The largest picture is us crossing the Ohio River as we headed to Hilton Head - Keagan's first time out of state! The smallest picture is Keagan's tunnel time, as opposed to tummy time :) I was so relieved when we saw the "Welcome to Ohio" sign on the way back because Keagan was still in my belly - no out of state delivery here!
These pictures capture the memories, but don't really show the emotional significance of this trip and again I don't know that I can find the words necessary to express that appropriately. What I can say though is that we had a terrific trip, we are so glad to have had this time with Keagan and together as a family, and that we will never forget this trip! Thank you to Gramma and Papaw for everything you did for us on this trip and for Roy coming up with this idea and making it happen. Keagan's first vacation was probably the best vacation of my life!
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