Hilton Head Island

     This was our welcome the evening we arrived in Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  High tide, soft warm breezes, and a rainbow!  Our backyard for a week...

    We left Friday, September 19, having booked an ocean front rental for the first time in ten years.  We only had seven children the last time we visited Daddy's home town.  Yes, Curtis grew up in this glorious seaside community, back when it was much more rural than the bustling resort town it is today.  It is still remarkably exclusive, private, and immaculately kept.  Of course, the Sea Pines Plantation, encompassing 5500 acres at the end of the island, is a private gated community in and of itself, and is the development in which Curtis spent his formative years.  He had fishing holes every block, crabbing at low tide in the marshes, and golfing on the courses left to himself after hours.  He ran, biked, and played in this surreal paradise with the ocean a stone's throw away at any given time. He attended a small private school in his elementary years, and his family attended the local Baptist church only two blocks from the sea.  

    The older children remember our last vacation here as the only one we took as a family during which Curtis actually relaxed, and enjoyed serious down time.  Other vacations included renting an RV (not our cup of tea), and visiting the Rocky Mountains, something Curtis did not particularly enjoy, as there were not nearly enough places to fish unless you knew how to fly fish in a raging river.  I'm a mountain lover, and I married a beach boy.  I like cold days with a kindling fire, warm sweaters, and hot coffee.  He likes hot weather with cold drinks, Bermuda shorts, and salt water fishing.  Amazing we're so happy together!

    After four hours of driving, most of them with babies sleeping, we stopped to eat the breakfasts we had packed.  Outdoor rest areas and roadside parks are the best places to let the kids run off their pinned up energy, and get some fresh air.  Each one we saw along the way was just beautiful!  You gotta love America's interstates.

    We ambitiously planned to pull out, fully packed and ready by 4:00am, and for the first time in Parnell history, we made it only an hour later!  Keep in mind, we're leaving the 9 month old lab puppy kenneled in the study, the Maltese secure in her chair, the goats and chickens watered with the barn in order for the Puckett girls to pick up the baton later that morning and keep up the milking routine, the car seats meticulously arranged for the most peace between siblings, the snacks and dollar store surprises loaded for the road trip mile markers, the blankets and travel pillows, the trailer loaded with the bicycles and luggage, and the coolers packed for our meal stops.  Whew!  It had taken 16 lists over two weeks to pull this thing off.

Here are the four in the morning pics:

Then, the sun rising...

    Meredith has a reputation for getting horridly car sick, even if we only drive 5 miles.  I've never had a child go through the severe motion sickness she has suffered, though she's so undaunted by it.  She throws up, then talks and smiles as if nothing happened.  No fussing.  We didn't want to deal with that for 2400 miles there and back, so I bought Dramamine, and gave her half a pill the first day.  But, I think the real miracle worker was the essential oils that Donna Miller sent with us.  They sure made the van smell good, and she never once threw up.

This was her having a nauseous moment, but nothing ever came of it.

Thank you, Lord!  She's so beautiful.

We stopped by Duck Dynasty's place in Monroe, Louisiana.

That was fun!  We're big fans!

Leaving one state and entering another, to travel a total of six!

Daddy pointing out the bridge on the right as the one he traveled when he was just five years old with his family, and they were building the one on the left.

Mississippi River park for lunch time.

Finally arriving Saturday early evening on Hilton Head.

The kids unpacked while Daddy, Maggie, and I went grocery shopping for the week at the brand new Whole Foods that had just opened in July!

The comforts of home with the baby girls watching a bedtime movie.

We had two gorgeous days of sunshine before a cold front swept through bringing lots of cloud cover, and dropping temperatures a bit.

We stayed on the beach all day both days!

My kitchen window view:

Mornings were slow and easy, coffee, windows open to hear the ocean, and Daddy checking on a job he was working in northern Georgia.  Curtis actually had to fly to Georgia the week before our trip!  He could have just joined us on the island, but he didn't want to miss the road trip.

Curtis' mother and sisters from Atlanta visited us the first weekend and came for dinner Sunday evening. We were so busy catching up and visiting that no one thought to take a picture!  Lots of fun!

They got to enjoy one of those sunny days at the beach with us.

By Wednesday, we were all ready to venture out on the town, Harbour Town to be exact.  We climbed the lighthouse stairs all the way to the top, and felt that cold front up close and personal.

How they can swim in 65 degree weather is beyond me, but they did.

One last day on the beach after temps had crawled back up into the 80's.

The largest sand castle around, complete with a moat.

We had spectators by evening taking pictures.

A favorite fishing spot some 40 years ago, now reintroduced to a new generation.

Curtis doesn't take much time to play, but with his old flame showing her pretty face again, he's decided he'll make the time now.  We're shopping pontoons.

We got in almost enough beach time, they got in some serious bike tours on the never-ending paths, but they didn't get in enough fishing.

I think he could've done it all week long, and the kids, too!

They absolutely loved it.

What an amazing week!  From the moment we booked the rental, we had threats all summer long screaming that we wouldn't make it: hospital stays, a car wreck, car repairs for Curtis Wade, and a tax bill seeming quite formidable. But, we pressed on knowing that God had spoken and would clear the path when the time came, and He did.

I wanted to plan this last year, but it just wasn't time.

This year, I knew.  It was time for the kids to see Daddy's home town, hear of his childhood memories, and see where his life began. There was a whole new bunch of them to bring along anyway, four to be exact, and Charles was just a baby.

Now they've all visited Curtis's roots.

What a place to grow up!