Hilton Head Island Beach Trip 2009

We've been married over four years. In that four years, we have been to the beach a total of ZERO times. THAT is crazy! (And we've got the tan lines --or lack of-- to prove it!) Since we have the mountain house in Maggie Valley, that seems to be our vacation destination for most family trips. I would say that overall, we are Mountain people. We LOVE the mountains! There IS, however a balance in things such as these and we were really wanting to make it to the beach sometime this summer.
Benson's Nana and Papa (My dad and Mrs. J) generously rented a condo for the whole family in Shipyard Plantation on HHI and we had such a great time!
Here's some of my favorite pics followed by a slide show of all of them for those of you (grandparents:) ) who care to see them :)

And if you're REALLY looking to burn some time-- see the following post with all of the videos from the beach. :) The first annual 2009 cartwheel competition on the beach is a must see! :)

I printed out an 11x14 of this one to hang in our room. I just love it! What a fun memory!

Benson LOVED the sand-- but this was just about enough water for him... He was not a fan of the great big ocean!

Of course the best smile of the whole week would be captured when he has a PULL-UP on his HEAD! Such a boy!
Don't you love the B shirt kell gave him for his birthday?!

Just readin' a bit on the beach...


Here's Mrs. J with nancy, the sweet friend who let us rent her condo for the week! Her daughter Leigh Ann is a dear friend and is involved with the Navigators in New Mexico and Nancy helps with an amazing charity called Hilton Head Heros-- I was seriously crying on the beach about some of the stories she told about this organization.... SUCH a cool fam!

Yeah.. these two HAVE been to the beach... and the pool... and are not blinding like B and me :)

Ash turned 21 while we were at the beach!
here she is showing her ID..

And with her first strawberry daiquiri....






Group Pic on the Docks...



This was where Benson slept all week.. he had his own little nook with a pallet in it.. he slept so good in it! We're considering taking down his bed in his room at home!


I mean, wow.. what a good lookin' couple!

I love this sunset!!

This totally looks like an engagement picture, but.... it's not.

Hilton Head has a lot more packed sand than say, Myrtle Beach-- there were people riding bikes on the beach all over the place and the Jogging stroller worked great for our long walks on the beach :)

Sorry to the Grandmothers that these pictures worry-- Benjamin has very quick reflexes and I fully trust him to throw our child high up in the air... Plus Benson thinks it is just the COOLEST THING EVER... you should hear him laugh....

Ok, yeah, we need a tan... admittedly so...

OH SO COOL!! We found a real live starfish!!! The only starfish I've ever seen are in formaldehyde in a biology lab-- this was a totally exciting experience for the science teacher in me :)

We picked it up and found it's mouth and counted its arms... very neat indeed!

Givin' papa some dap..

This boy loves his Nana and Papa!!

I love how he's cutting his eyes at Mrs. J right here..

This was Benson and I walking to the beach the day that Ashley and Chris said they had gotten too good of a parking spot to leave and come get us (after Benson's nap) Real cool guys! :) It was like a ten minute walk-- not bad at all!

Of course I had to take a picture of base camp... The EZ Up Tent is the ONLY way to go on the beach! We could stay out there all day without getting fried like a piece of bacon!

And Benson's Great Aunt Bonnie gave him this little tent for his birthday which worked PERFECTLY for naps on the beach! We'd just adjust it so that the wind was blowing in it... and he was OUT..

I mean.. really OUT.....


Dad kept referring to us as The Clampets. Listen.. anybody who knows me, knows I like to be "prepared" for whatever may come my way! :)

Sooo.. big football player guy Chris got stung by a stingray out in the ocean in waist deep water. He was in some SERIOUS pain from the venom-- the life guard took him, in their little beach patrol jeep, back to the car. The barb went all the way through his toe. It was aweful. I was about two feet behind him walking out into the ocean. If I had stepped on that thing. I think I might have just laid down and died right then and there. He was tough though.. here he is giving his "thumbs up" while wincing through the pain! OUCH!

Our little monkey...


I love this group pic. We went to see Greg Russell at Harbour Town-- an experience I would recommend to ANYONE of ANY age! It was HILARIOUS!!! I'll definitely be downloading some of his songs from itunes!!! The icecream was de-lish as well :)

Benson wasn't so sure about this clown... but Papa helped him warm up to her..

Seriously awesome pic!

Cool dude..

Benson, trying to prop his feet up like us...

On the way home, he slept from the time we put him in the car in HH through a 30min. stop at the outlets on the way home all the way untill we pulled into our driveway... About 3 and 1/2 hours! This boy was POOPED!!! What a fun time we had!!

Packed in like a sardine...

2009 Beach Videos

A little explanation about these long videos and the abundance of them...

I recently purchased a program that allows me to put all of the videos I take with Benson on my camera onto a dvd and watch them as a rolling "home video" on the television! I think this will be such a fun thing to watch in the years to come-- and the format of just letting it play (versus clicking on different computer clips) is nice!
I did discover, that blogger's little 1 minute limit videos just weren't cutting it when we're watching it on the tv-- It's just too quick to go from video to video..
SOoooo
I'm starting to take longer videos, but blogger doesn't allow me to upload anything over a minute-- So I've uploaded the videos to YouTube and linked to them below.

While I like the option of watching the videos on the TV, we have great fun going back and looking at past videos on the blog as well.. so I'm documenting those here..

If you're really looking to burn some time.. hit play below :)


Most boring, yet still cute, blog post ever!
This is seriously how he falls asleep-- squeezing his eyes tightly until he's out-- he does this for naps, nighttime-- obviously in the car-- Crazy kid! :)


Oreos on the Beach


Benson Playing in the Tide Pools with Nana and Papa


Benson Discussing Sailboats and their Proclivity for Falling Over


Benson and Daddy Running Through the Tide Pools


Benson Reading Aunt Ash's Book on the Beach-- and finding "o's" ... one of is FAVORITE pastimes lately...


The First Annual 2009 Cart Wheel Competition on the Beach


Benjamin's Front Handspring


"The Wheels on the Bus"
A not-so-enthusiastic rendition of a classic.. with random commentary about boat motors by the guys in the background

Benson's Second Birthday Party

"Benson, How Old are You?"
(we've been working really hard on holding up the fingers for "two")

Check out the cool invitation matching banner in the background as well as "I'm here to celebrate Benson's 2nd Birthday" Stickers-- both courtesy of SugarLump Stationery!!! :)

Sweeties

Sweet Friends... Kell, Brooke, me and Stephabulous

Benson got his first tricycle from nana and papa!

This boy was lovin' him some cake! He was SO PUMPED about getting to eat cake-- he kept talking about it all day long!



CHHEEEEESSSE! What a goof! :) A cute goof! :)


Cute Cousins..


The guys of the party-- They were troopers to come! thanks, guys! :)


Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Christa and Will

Aunt Becca

"Lash" I'm not quite sure where the "L" came from, but Benson has re-named Aunt Ash, "Lash" I think it's cute :)


This could be my favorite picture of the whole day-- Benson and Papa sliding down the slide.. click on it to enlarge it in order to see their faces-- SO CUTE!!

We went to the fire station after the party and Benson, Hannah and Addie Grace got to play on the fire trucks! Cool idea, Grandmama!

Here's a slideshow of all of the 261 pictures our wonderful photographer, Kelli, so graciously took at Benson's Birthday party so that I could enjoy the day instead of trying to capture the moments! Thanks, Kell!

Click on "view all images" in order to see all of the pictures in a non-rotating fashion!

Click the Plus+ to speed up the slides or -to slow them down...