We're home!

We made it back to Little Rock around 1 a.m. Saturday morning and have taken the past few days to recuperate from our amazing vacation in Hilton Head. Our journey home was not that much fun- NEVER again will we plan a late night flight home with babies. They did as well as could be expected of them after enduring more than 4 hours at our lay over in Charlotte, NC where we waited for our plane until 11:15 p.m. Finally they both fell right to sleep after a screaming episode as the plane took off Little Rock bound. They were tired girls, we were tired parents, but thankfully we were just coming off of a restful week of vacation- so it was ok. :)

We had a blast in Hilton Head with the Hobbs- I wanted to update and jot down some of our trip highlights while I had a few minutes. Niki has all the fabulous pictures on a cd which should be coming my way any day now. I will share those with you when we get them.
- Caroline and Emily both did a fabulous job traveling and enduring busy airports, etc. (Minus the meltdowns on the way home)
-Caroline was eager to see Nana, Papa, Nik Nik, Uncle B, and Aunt Sassy. She was in heaven when we finally got there and she got to give all her sugar to them.
-The girls woke up at the crack of dawn most mornings to enjoy every minute of their vacation. We finally got smart the last night there and moved Caroline's crib into the big walk in closet in her bedroom to block some of the sun from waking her up...and it worked. We called it her "fort" and she was excited about it. It worked, she slept later that morning, and we kicked ourselves for not doing it earlier.
-The girls swam in the pool and enjoyed playing around the house with all the "new" things and toys from Nana's house. Most entertaining though, were the people around waiting to play with them.
-Caroline got to experience the beach in a new way this year- and she LOVED it!!! She started a high pitched squeal of delight while we were there and she would shriek with excitement as she sprinted as fast as her little legs could carry her to the beach. She loved the sand- would dig in it, roll in it, throw it, and bask in it. She carried her bucket and shovel to the water and back a million times (don't even think about trying to help her carry the heavy bucket...she had it on her own). She played forever. She chased seagulls up and down the beach at a ferocious pace. Nana grabbed some goldfish and they were able to feed them a snack. She saw a shark that a fisherman caught (scared the pants off of me....it was a baby shark and they caught it right were we were swimming!!) she saw dolphins jumping in the water, and she got to play with a million sand dollars that daddy and Uncle B were finding. She was a beach baby all week and we got some great pictures and video to share eventually.
-Emily enjoyed the beach too. She got to experience the water, the sand, but spent most her time on the beach blankets under the tent to protect her from the sun and keep her as "clean" as possible. She would have eaten shovel fulls of sand had we let her loose. We probably stretched her beach visits to about an hour or hour and a half before she let us know she was done. :)
-Caroline and Emily went to a petting zoo and horse ranch in Sea Pines. It was beautiful. Caroline rode her first pony, "Romeo", and she tried to kiss a little fawn goodbye. Precious memories.
-Nana and Papa took the girls to an indoor play place- with slides, ball pits, etc. Caroline had a blast enjoyed it a lot. I think she'll love it even more when she is a bit bigger.
-They were fabulous on most occasions when we went out to dinner. Caroline now shares here preference for her food- "Do you want chicken? No. Do you want a hot dog? No. Do you want shrimp? YES!!" She enjoyed her seafood while we were there too. Can't blame her. :)
-Caroline and Nana had some serious lizard and squirrel hunts out side during evening walks, and she learned that you can blow grass and it will make a funny noise. I have to learn how to do this bc she is constantly putting grass in my mouth trying to make me do it.
-Emily continued to grow and change at such a fast pace this week. She is sitting so well and started to resist sitting by sticking her legs out straight and keeping them that way when you try to sit her down. She wants to stand so bad but still needs a lot of support. She loves to bang on things and use her hands to splash and move things around. She is all smiles and a little flirt at most times. She is such a sweetie. Next year, she'll be joining in all the seagull chasing and sand flinging. I could see her soaking it all in this year, watching big sis.
-I got to spend one afternoon shopping at the outlets and another afternoon at the spa. It was so refreshing to get some "alone" time and actually focus a few minutes on myself! I am so thankful for everyone that helped watch the girls so that I could lay out a tad, rest, and enjoy the week with out 100% of my attention on the girls.
-Brad loved every minute of the trip as well. He got to play golf with his dad and brother and learn a few recipes/cooking tips from Ben. Ben brought his green egg grill thingy from home and cooked us some EXCELLENT meals. Amazing. Ben is truly talented in the cooking department. Such a good hobby...that we all benefit from! :)
-We went out with Sarah and Ben the night of the boys birthdays (the 13th) and enjoyed dinner together. We also went out with Niki another night to play putt putt...the beach is not complete without a trip to play miniature golf, right? Brad came in 1st, followed by Niki, Sarah, Ben, then me. Just for the record...Sarah plays a great mini golf game.

The list could go on and on, but that will do. I'm pretty sure no one really cares that much about it but me. But now I have it recorded and the girls can look back and read about it one day down the road. Our computer is still mending...but I may try to upload a few pics that I have on my camera now. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully now that "normal" life has resumed I will start blogging more diligently now. My girls are amazing and growing and changing everyday. Caroline is now 22 months and Emily is approaching 7 months. Amazing.