Hilton Head, Day 3-- Our Anniversary!

3 years.  Words cannot express how much I love my husband.  I am so incredibly blessed to be his wife.  And ever since we got married, we vowed to make going on an anniversary trip a priority-- no matter how big or how small.  Some time that we can enjoy ourselves... make memories... relax and have fun with... share adventures outside of our regular, every day life.

August 1, 2009

Our honeymoon- Savannah, GA; Disney World (FL); Nassau, Bahamas

1 year- Atlantic Beach, NC

2 years- Gatlinburg, TN

3 years-- Hilton Head Island, SC

On our third day in Hilton Head, our anniversary, we had planned to go horseback riding.  Every year since our honeymoon, horseback riding has been a tradition.  We've gone in Savannah, GA; Cedar Island, NC; Gatlingburg, TN; and now Hilton Head Island, SC.  Our ride was at 9:00 in the morning and we had to arrive 30 minutes early, so we showed up at Lawton Stables around 8:30.  The farm was definitely the most well-maintained that we have ever been to.  It was gorgeous.

On our trail ride, we went through part of the 603-acre Sea Pines Nature Preserve.  We were able to see and experience the LowCountry with Palmettos covering the ground and mossy oaks hovering over us.  It was gorgeous.  

Lawton Stables also has an incredible petting zoo where you can go and visit with the animals.  I was astounded at how well-kept the pins were and how well taken care of the animals were.  At their petting zoo they had a llama, donkeys, pot belly pigs, goats, chickens/roosters, bunnies, and an extremely friendly deer named Callie.

Callie-- the deer who walked around and licked your legs!

Here is a hilarious video of Jacob--

So after sweating to death in SC heat/humidity and petting the animals, we went back to our room to get changed.  Then we headed out to Harbour Town where we walked around the little shops and got our annual Christmas tree ornament.  This year we got a white, painted starfish (since we were catching them in the ocean) with small sea green, sparkly swirls on it.  On one of the legs is painted "Hilton Head Island, SC".

   

If you've ever been to HHI, you know about the incredible shopping.  So, Jacob sweetly agreed to let me do a little shopping ;)  Honestly, I drug him around most of the day to tons of different stores.  But, in the end, I only bought a pair of shoes for me ($10), a pair of flip flops for Jacob ($25), and a purple sweater ($50).  Not too shabby to be surrounded by so much temptation, haha!  While we were out puttsing around (as my mom and grandmom would say) it started pouring rain.  So, it was a good thing that we weren't trying to relax and be carefree out on the beach-- just sayin'!

After shopping, we went back to our room and got ready for dinner.  Since I shopped all day, Jacob got to choose our dining location.  And (drumroll please)- he chose a steakhouse.  Surprised?!  Not me!  We went to Longhorn Steakhouse, one of our favorites.  Jacob got a ribeye and I got the crab stuffed filet minon.  Delicious.  We had a really cute picture of us in our matching outfits (me in a light blue floral dress with my new wedges and Jacob in his light khakis and a light blue collar shirt) but alas, not anymore.  And what does every person need after dinner?  DESSERT!  So we headed off to Sweet Frog for a little frozen yogurt.  We both enjoyed Cake Batter yogurt, mine with mini M&Ms and Jacob's with Reese's Pieces.

I am so thankful for all of the great memories that Jacob and I have been able to make together.  Here's to many more!

 

Hilton Head, Day 2

We intentionally planned to sleep in on Tuesday because-- we were on VACATION-- and we could!  So, we ended up rolling out of bed around 9:30.  One of the ways that we planned to save money was by eating breakfast on our own.  Just as a side note, there are very few hotels doing complimentary continental breakfast these days.  So we got ready and headed out to our most familiar store...Wal*Mart.

For our breakfasts we got Froot Loops, milk, and Maple Brown Sugar pop tarts.  We also got some Cheese Nips to snack on and of course, Diet Pepsi.  While there we bought Jacob a 14-day SC fishing license and some squid.  When we got back to the room, we had some breakfast and got ready for our first day at the beach.

After lathering on the SPF 30, putting drinks in a cooler, and getting the beach cart packed up with Jacob's fishing supplies, we headed out to the unbelievably incredible Coligny Beach.  It was definitely crowded- people as far as you could see- but spacious and relaxed at the same time.  Let's put it this way... we had more than enough room to play a game of Bocce ball without interfering with anyone else's space.

For the most part, it was overcast during the day which was actually a nice turn of events.  The sun wasn't constantly shining in our eyes and it wasn't blazing hot.  After getting spanked in Bocce ball (Jacob- 15, Candice- 8), we headed out to do some fishing.... which we later found out was illegal.  But that's beside the point!  The ocean was so calm...hardly any waves.  Needless to say, a few hours of [illegal] fishing later, Jacob was the talk of the beach.  He caught:

a stingray, 

a small sand shark (about 1.5 feet)

a small croaker (about 7 inches long)

While Jacob was fishing, I was doing some "catching" of my own too.  Everywhere... I mean everywhere you walked in the ocean there were sand dollars.  We must have found 50.  In addition to finding sand dollars, we also found starfish and live conchs!  It was SO cool.
    

Since we had a late breakfast, we ended up sharing a chicken fingers/curly fries basket from The Shack, one of the hotel's outdoor beachfront grills.

 Around 7:00 we headed out to dinner at The Crazy Crab (which I referred to as The Crusty Crab) at Jarvis Creek!  Oh.my.goodness.  Our dinner was incredible.  For starters, we had a coupon for a FREE 1/2 lb. of steamed shrimp.  They also brought out some of the best hush puppies EVER.  For dinner, Jacob had the Fried Shrimp/Fried Oyster plate with double fries and I had Crab stuffed Flounder with corn-on-the-cob and french fries.

Headed out to dinner

The beautiful view (to the right) out of the window we were sitting in front of.

The beautiful view (to the left) out of the window we were sitting in front of.

After eating at "The Crusty Crab" we returned back to the hotel and rode our bikes that we rented for the first time!  It was very dark out and slightly frustrating when we would get stuck behind walkers or big groups of people so we decided to head in for the night.

Again, we watched the Olympics (men's gymnastics) before falling asleep.