Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

I knew Ryan had a conference in Hilton Head and I originally declined going since I was afraid I would still be super sick from being pregnant.  But then he sent me a picture of the resort and I quickly changed my mind!

I'm so glad that Lucy and I went.  It has been a long winter and I was ready for some sun, warm, sand, beach, etc.  It was the most perfect weather the entire time, totally sunny and between 72 and 77 degrees, which is warm enough to swim and be outside all day but not die of heat.  Perfect.  We got to the resort Monday and left Thursday morning.  Ryan's meetings were all day Tuesday and then until 3pm on Wednesday.  Ryan had 15 minute breaks here and there throughout the day and always came out to the beach to hang out with us for a few minutes, which was fun to randomly see him throughout the day.  Lucy and I really spent the entire day on Tuesday out at the beach, with the exception of lunch and nap time.  Despite putting on SPF 50 sunscreen every hour, the harsh sun still got to our skin and Lucy and I both got a little burnt on our backs, which is why she is wearing her little towel dress thing in most of the pictures.  Nicole and her kids drove from Beaufort to join us at the beach that afternoon, which was fun to see them again!  Wednesday, Lucy and I headed back out to the beach until Ryan was done.  When he joined us, we hit up all of the different pools and hot tub in the resort and even splurged on one of the fancy smoothies that I was craving!  We then went to the beach one last time with Ryan before heading in to shower.  The amount of sand on all of us was incredible and it did not want to come off!  We ended the evening with dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  We had eyed some local Hilton Head Island restaurants but eventually my pregnant mouth could only think about Outback (which was odd since I've only been there once in my life when I was younger, but it really hit the spot!).  Since we were in no rush to head out on Thursday morning, we slept in until Lucy woke up and then packed up and left.  It turned out to be SUCH a fun trip and I was so glad we tagged along because at least Lucy and I got to enjoy the full resort/beach experience the whole time.  I wish I was still there now that it's back to cold and rainy Columbus. :)

This was how we spent our mornings: eating cereal and yogurt on the bed.  Lucy felt pretty special.

Ryan took this picture on his ipad looking out over the resort and to the ocean.  It was such a pretty view.

I'm so glad Ryan showed up on his breaks and was able to take a couple of pictures.  I didn't dare take our camera out to the beach with the way we (read: Lucy) got sand everywhere!  The funny thing was that every time we went to the beach, Lucy would be apprehensive about the sand at first and be upset when it stuck to her hands and legs and stuff.  She only wanted to sit on the towel and not touch it.  After a short while though she warmed up to it and eventually ended up literally rolling around in it and running around saying hi to everyone.  She even bent down on her hands and knees at one point and stuck out her tongue to lick the sand.  Yuck! haha.  This girl keeps me laughing!

She loved her beach toys... especially raking the sand.  I had to laugh at one point though because I was trying to show her how to fill her bucket with sand and she ended up just picking it up and putting her arm through the tiny handle and carried it like a purse. That and the fact that she demanded a bow be in her hair even at the beach made me laugh.

 Ryan was standing at the hotel's beach entrance with some coworkers when we were coming in for naps.  Right then, Lucy decided to have a nice little meltdown in the sand and stuck her face right into the sand.  She then took a whole huge handful and plopped it right on top of her head.  Needless to say, she required a good bath right before nap.

But don't worry, she was happy again a few minutes later when we let her climb up the stairs.  This girl is quite the drama queen sometimes!

This was when Ryan finally got to join us for good on Wednesday afternoon.

I hadn't seen Lucy this relaxed the whole trip. :)

 Ryan was nice enough to get in the pool with Lucy for a long time.  She was in heaven.

Lucy did not sleep more than 50 minutes on our whole drive down and we didn't know why because we gave her a blanket and made her all comfy.  Then we figured out that it was because she didn't have her blanket that she sleeps with as it was packed away.  Once we gave that to her, she snuggled up and slept for 4 hours!  She's got her preferences, for sure. :)

And we made it home safe and sound.  Lucy has been begging to go outside all day and now I'm dreaming of being back on a warm, sunny beach. :)