Bubble Gum Cruise and Pool

We were so excited to start Friday morning by going on Gregg Russell's Bubble Gum Cruise!!!  He advertised it at his concert, and he promised dolphin watching, environmental facts, and some singing.  Jackson was pumped, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to at least do some dolphin watching.  It was a BEAUTIFUL morning!  Here is the lighthouse as we sailed away!

This is a (not a very good) picture of some of the dolphins.  We even got to see baby dolphins!!!

These two are quite a pair :)

Graham was not a huge fan of the wind blowing on the top deck :(  Standing lower down made him happier!

A little performance

Photo op of Jackson and Gregg Russell

After the cruise, Josh headed off to golf with Rick and Evan.  Jackson and I stopped to pick up a souvenir--Jackson the Dolphin :)  Then a little movie time with Owen!

Jolene and I headed to the pool with the boys after they all rested.  I love this picture of Jackson all ready for swimming with his goggles, swimmies, and noodle!

A brief moment of happiness for Graham in the floaty!  He much preferred to be held...

After pool time, Jolene and Rick headed off for their date night while Josh and I stayed home with the boys and had Giuseppi's Pizza for dinner.  It was really yummy, and even more so eaten on the balcony :)

Beach and Lighthouse Photos

Back to the beach again!  A girl can get used to this routine...  Jackson really seemed to enjoy the beach a ton this trip!  He always would tell us he wanted to go to the pool if given the choice, but he had so much fun at the beach each time.  At one point, he asked if we were going to sit in the chairs and relax.  YES, my adorable son, that is exactly what we do at the beach :)

GJS!!!

Serious bucket work in action

Busy brothers

I took Jackson to the pool while Josh stayed with Graham during naptime.  We had a good time swimming with Evan and Owen :)  After dinner, we went down to watch the Greg Russell show again.  But, first, we had some photos with the lighthouse.

Cuties!

Jackson took this one--not too shabby!

Here is Greg Russell performing.  Jackson is wearing a turquoise shirt in the lower right-hand quadrant of this picture.  You can see his back...

Beach, Playground, Ice Cream, Music!

Yesterday we headed to the beach again to start the day!  

Beach boys :)

The way the tide was going out made it perfect to just relax in the super shallow water and let gentle waves wash over us.  Both boys sat with me for a while just relaxing :)

LOVE these two so much!

We came back from the beach for lunch and a nap for Graham.  Josh took Jackson to the pool before dinner.  After yet another delicious meal by Jolene, we all headed down to town for some playground time...

Jackson LOVED having this awesome playground right across the street!

Then we headed to The Cinnamon Bear Country Store for some ice cream!  Jackson loved choosing his own flavor (some blue one named Superman, I think).  He was even more excited about the free sprinkles sitting out by the register :)

After ice cream, we headed to the big oak tree to watch Greg Russell's nightly performance.  This had been recommended to us, and it was FANTASTIC!  Jackson LOVED the songs and kid entertainment.  Josh and I loved the jokes that were included to keep the parents' attention.  Graham was a TROOPER, and he went right to sleep in his stroller for most of the show that started an hour and a half past his bedtime!  LOL  SUPER fun night!

Anniversary at the Beach :)

What a way to begin celebrating our NINTH wedding anniversary!  Jolene made a delicious breakfast of french toast, bacon and berries :)

Josh and Rick headed off to golf, so Jolene and I started at the playground, and then we took the boys all to the pool!

Happy splish-splasher!

Jumping rock

We caught Graham and Owen playing so nicely together by this big window :)

Once the guys got back, Josh and I headed out for Date Night!!!  

We had SUCH a good time!  The first restaurant we tried had a crazy wait, so we walked down the road at Hudson's.  Our food was delicious, and we had such a good time hanging out by the water and having adult conversation :) 

Here is our Facebook love back and forth:

From Dana: Nine years ago today I was waking up at my parents' house on my WEDDING DAY!!! I got to walk down the aisle to my spectacularly handsome husband who still has me so in love and laughing even more today. We spent the night with some of our best friends standing up next to us and a wonderful group of family and friends at our ceremony and reception. This morning we are waking up on vacation with our little family I love so much. 

From Josh: Family and Friends witness

Marriage to love of my life

9 years, still I do.

Dana, I still wake up each morning and thank God for blessing me so deeply with our family. i love you!

I LOVE my haiku-er!  The thought Josh puts into these little messages on big days mean so much to me :)  I can't wait to see what this tenth year of marriage brings!!!

Dumfries to Hilton Head!

Just a week after getting back from Virginia Beach, we packed back up and headed further south to Hilton Head.  We had a great driving day, and we were thrilled to finally pull into Marriott's Harbour Club in the Sea Pines part of the island.  

We were lucky enough to be invited to join Jolene, Rick, Evan and Owen in their vacation condo.  Rick headed off to the beach to surf first thing with Evan.  Josh was awesome and took Jackson and Owen to the playground across the street.  Jolene and I set about unpacking, and we took pictures of the condo before it looked lived in ;)  This is the bedroom we shared with our boys.  It was huge, and there was plenty of room for Graham to even have a little nook for his Pack-n-Play.

Sadly, we never got to use this amazing looking tub since it was IN the room, and the time we would have had to enjoy it was while our children were sleeping :(

The Sacbibits took the master bedroom.

Their big tub was also IN their room.  Odd...

Living room with beautiful huge windows!  That glass table quickly got relocated for the week!

Dining room and the breakfast bar that the kids loved eating at 

Kitchen

Our balcony looked down on some of the awesome amenities of the hotel.  There was a firepit with a fire nightly.  There was an enormous chess board as well as a Baggo court.  The pool was just through the trees.

Our balcony

Our bathroom.  It was meant to be a shared bathroom with an extra entrance to the living room.  This came in quite handy for us to still use the bathroom while Graham napped!

LOVED this shower!!!

Graham spent our first morning in HH playing in the curtains :)

The early risers--early morning electronic time

BEACH!!!

We headed right to the beach for our first full day!  The beach was beautiful, and the tide was just going out so Graham had plenty of smooth sand on which to crawl :)

This was (sadly) the picture I got of the boys in their matching trunks...

Hello, shovel!

Boys enjoying the sand

Graham rearranging furniture even on the beach :)

The afternoon was a bit of a mish-mash.  Graham didn't nap super long, so Jolene and I threw him in the stroller and walked to a little shopping area.  Josh had the other boys and kept them busy with chess and then Rick and Josh took the boys swimming.  For dinner, we were SO excited to hit our favorite restaurant from last time: The Sea Shack!!!  It was just as yummy :)

After dinner, we put the kids to bed, and then we watched the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup!!!  That was super fun, and Josh and I celebrated with a walk around the famous 18th green of Harbour Town Golf Links.  Excellent start to vacation!