I think someone once said the good thing about a vacation ending is that you can start planning a new one.
We’re on the road again.
Today we bid farewell to Hilton Head and headed for home. Along with every other Yankee that owns a minivan or SUV.
Y’all, I95 was a parking lot.
And every time we rolled by one of the speed limit signs that said 70mph, I had to let out a big huff. Because sitting in traffic makes me huffy. I can’t help myself. It is just such a waste of time. If everyone would just hit the gas…wouldn’t we all be moving? Yes, I think we would be.
We are spending the night in lovely Louisville, KY. I do enjoy Louisville. The hotel here is fabulous. And when I wake up tomorrow I know that I will be only six hours from home.
It is always nice to get home. I hate when vacation ends, but there comes a time on every trip when everyone is ready to kill each other go home. The kids cried and said they didn’t want to leave. My eight year old wants to quit school and move to South Carolina and become a hillbilly. And my three year old told me she never wanted to leave because she love it there.
I wanted to tell both of my girls that I felt the same way, and we should indeed, stay forever, but I didn’t think that was the responsible, or very realistic, thing to say. So I told them we would come back next Spring Break. That made everyone feel much better. Me included.
We didn’t wear our shoes very much this week. We had our feet in the sand most of the time.
Sometimes we swam in the ocean. It was freezing, but nobody seemed to care.
Except for me. I totally cared, and barely dipped my toe in. Because it was cold.
The swimming pool was nice and warm. I managed to put both of my feet in.
The kids, of course, got a lot more than just their feet wet.
There was time to play games and build Legos.
And one of us discovered a new passion for ping pong. Or should I say a talent for table tennis? Whatever it is, he had a lot of fun playing every single day. As in, every day.
You know who stinks at ping pong? Has always stunk at ping pong? And will always stink at ping pong?
Me. No picture necessary. Just imagine a view of my big butt bending over to constantly pick up that dumb little ball.
Or save yourself that haunting visual and look at this instead.
The beautiful sunset.
No. They didn’t really sit there all angelic-like and actually watch the sun set. Have you read about my children on this blog? I just made them sit there for the picture. I believe I said ‘NO ICE CREAM!’ until I get my picture. Because that is effective parenting.
But I will show it to all my friends and pretend they sat there like little angels. And, of course, appreciated all of the beauty that was surrounding them.
Only I will know that as soon as they got up they decided to run ascloseaspossible to the edge of the water with their shoes on. And make a little game of who could get the closest without getting wet. And then I ruined the peaceful and relaxing setting for all the other people by yelling, “Get away from the water with your shoes on!” about 41 times. I’m sure someone, somewhere out there, is blogging about the-annoying-lady-ruining-the-quiet-sunset-by-yelling-at-the-kids-she-had-no-control-over, right now.
And I’m sorry.
Luckily, there wasn’t all that much yelling. A little bit. But not too much.
There was a lot of laughter. And fun.
Even a little salt in the mouth didn’t deter us from the fun we were having.
And even K, despite a little sunburn, was in a surprisingly good mood all week. Doing nothing really agrees with him. Oddly enough though, when I suggested we eat dinner at a place called The Grumpy Grouper, he didn’t think that was very funny. I, however, found it to be quite humorous.
There was one thing I did not find as humorous though. I had some issues in the sitting down and relaxing to enjoy the view department.
I was surrounded by beautiful views.
And every morning I was woken up early by the birds and I would go out and sit on the porch and try to enjoy those views all by myself.
This is where I would sit. It was almost perfect.
Except for one thing.
When I was actually sitting in the rocking chair?
This is what I saw. A big old railing. Hiding my views.
It was as annoying as a lady screaming at her kids during a peaceful sunset.
Posted: March 29th, 2008 under Picture Posts, Travel.
Comments: 21
Comments
Comment from Heidi
Time: March 30, 2008, 12:39 am
You are too funny, Lisa!
And the pictures are gorgeous.
When we left HH last August, we were also stuck in the nastiest of traffic jams on the way out. HATE.IT. So we stopped at the outlet mall to kill some time. Although shopping with two - make that three - cranky boys is only marginallly more pleasurable than sitting still on the highway.
Glad you had a good time. I’m now more excited than ever about going back this August. 
Heidi
Comment from Jen on the Edge
Time: March 30, 2008, 1:13 am
You have such a talent for photography. Your photos are just wonderful. I’m glad it was a good vacation for you all.
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Time: March 30, 2008, 1:25 am
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Comment from Jan
Time: March 30, 2008, 7:23 am
Sounds like a dream vacation. Love the photos, keep up the good work. The No Ice Cream Gambit, is an age-old, effective solution, one not really “heard” by anyone over 10, so it probably bothered no adults; and it was worth it for that great shot. Thanks for the update.
I wanted to add that my daughters are in your generation, and my youngest recently thanked Bob for teaching them to play Poker, Ping Pong and Pool/Billiards, you know the guy things. She said it always elicits surprise from her peers; and she like that.
Comment from nottryingforaboy
Time: March 30, 2008, 7:38 am
The pictures are gorgeous - well aside from your rocking chair view. And your kids look just like angels. You should frame that picture and display it proudly in your house.
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Time: March 30, 2008, 8:18 am
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Comment from Kari
Time: March 30, 2008, 8:20 am
Great pictures, Lisa. I love the one showing your kids from the back sitting on the beach. I did one of those a few years ago in Florida and it’s probably one of my all-time favorite pictures of my kids. Hey, you were in my neck of the woods, stopping to spend the night in Louisville. Hope you had a nice stay. Did you stay downtown?
Comment from Rebecca
Time: March 30, 2008, 8:39 am
::: clapping wildly :::
I’m so glad you had a nice time. And the pictures. So. Awesome!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Comment from Jdude
Time: March 30, 2008, 8:45 am
I’m so glad your kids are the same kids all of us other yelly mothers have! It looks like you had a wonderful time. I wish you safe travels and I wish me more blogs from you when you get home and settled!
Comment from Kelly @ Love Well
Time: March 30, 2008, 11:36 am
Looks like a GREAT vacation. I know what you mean about coming home, but man — I’m longing for a getaway for myself right now.
Comment from Leslie (snaphappyinkymomma)
Time: March 30, 2008, 12:22 pm
Looks awesome! How warm was it? We vacation at Kiawah Island, SC every other summer, but I never thought about going to SC for spring break . . . hmmm . . .
Comment from Ann G
Time: March 30, 2008, 12:28 pm
sounds like a nearly perfect vacation….and you just gotta yell at the kids sometimes during a vacation or they think their parents have been replaced by aliens or something! Hope your travels home are uneventful and safe…
Comment from Darcy
Time: March 30, 2008, 1:18 pm
I want to go there.
Glad you had such a fabulous vacation! The pictures are great.
Comment from Queen B
Time: March 30, 2008, 1:18 pm
I am so glad that you had a wonderful vacation! The best trips are the ones that you don’t want to leave!!! As opposed to the ones where you stay a few days too long…yikes.
Comment from Thea @ I’m a Drama Mama
Time: March 30, 2008, 2:51 pm
Posed or not, that picture of the kids during sunset is beautiful. So glad you had a great time!!
Comment from Becky @ Boys Rule My Life
Time: March 30, 2008, 7:52 pm
Glad you had a wonderful time! The pictures are beautiful!
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Comment from Mary@notbefore7
Time: March 30, 2008, 8:38 pm
Oh such fun! I love vacation…but it is hard to be back home. Ihope you get situated in to real life easily, but go find a rocking chair this week with a view and take a vacation from vacation!
Comment from staciesmadness
Time: March 31, 2008, 1:54 pm
your pictures are amazing and have me longing for a beach and warmer weather. So glad you had a good time!
Comment from Sharon Kurnett
Time: April 1, 2008, 7:20 am
Looks like you were almost at Disney! Disney Hilton Head! It is a great resort…..very relaxing! Glad you had a great time.
Comment from Carolyn
Time: April 1, 2008, 8:17 pm
Loved this post. Loved the pictures! So glad you had a wonderful vacation. Everyone looked like they had a good time; no matter what effective parenting you had to use! Raising kids requires lots of creative thinking quickly.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Comment from Autumn Dahlia
Time: April 7, 2008, 12:37 pm
“You’ll sit still, watch the beautiful sunset and LIKE IT!!” Ah, so you’ve vacationed with me? WE do the OBX and it’s the best vacation ever. Ever. Ever.
The screaming didn’t bother me one bit! Now the whole not-being-in-Hilton-Head thing bothered me immensly.
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