Hilton Head - part one

Friday morning we packed up the car and headed to Hilton Head.  We managed to leave the house by 9am, thats early for us!  We wanted to make the most of our time there, especially as the weather was not looking too great.  We stopped for an early lunch, and the kids watched plenty of films on the way. We were making such good time, that we decided to take a detour through Beaufort.

Beaufort is the second oldest city in South Carolina, and is the home of the Marine Corp Air station.  We drove right past the front of it, and the boys loved the planes on display

We got to Hilton Head early afternoon and had a little drive around.  Most of the island are resorts, there is even a Disney resort.  We found a public beach, Colligny beach, and some free parking a short walk from it.  

My first thought when I walked on to the beach was Wittering.  It really reminded me of the beach there, with a little shallow pool before you enter the water when the tide was out.  Apart from the dolphins.  We had been on the beach about 20 minutes when we saw one.  So amazing to see them up close.  Typically I had looked at the weather, seen thunderstorms forecast, and not brought any beach stuff, apart from a towel.  The boys took one look at the sea, and off they went.

It was only going to be a matter of time before one or all of them were completely  soaked.  Seb and Isaac.  Despite the sky looking very grey in these pictures, it was really very warm.  

We managed to drag the kids off the beach, with the promise of coming back the next day despite the weather report.  We headed to our hotel, which was pretty central on the island.  We booked this hotel through a Living Social deal.  We got 2 nights for under $80 in a suite that slept 6.  We checked in to the Park Lane Hotel. The receptionist was very helpful, told me about a local restaurant, and that the pool was open, but not heated, though there was a hot tub.  We travelled to our room, on the ground floor in the block away from the pool.  It was sufficient, though they had forgotten the travel cot for Seb.  A quick visit back to reception sorted that.  We put away all the food in the kitchen area, and let the boys play their kindles while we decided what to do for dinner.  

We went with the restaurant the receptionist had recommended, The Smokehouse.  It specialized in BBQ, and it was delicious.  Everyone did really well with their dinner, so we took the boys to Frozen Moo Ice Cream for dessert.  

It was just trying to rain by now, so we headed back to the hotel to indulge of that lovely thing of all five of us sharing a room.  To be honest, it's never too bad.  Seb and Isaac get put to bed first, while Oliver reads, then he goes to bed, and Paul and I continue to read or play games on our phones.  We had a fairly early night, all ready for the next day