Beach trip - part 2

We arrived in HHI on Saturday. We were nervous about the weather due to Hurricane Irene having just passed by, but Irene did not affect us one bit. Well, as far as the weather was concerned. On Monday, Irene had caused huge swells about 100 miles off shore that were finally making it to shore. With those swells, came a very strong under current. And with that under current, there were jelly fish by the dozens for two days.

Unfortunately, my little fella got stung. It was awful. He was stung on his right leg behind his knee and the tentacles went up his swim trunks to his thigh.

Thankfully, Landon didn't get stung by one of these huge ones. (For reference, that is my mom's foot, and she wears a size 10 shoe.)

But the worst part of Landon getting stung was that he became very afraid of going back into the ocean. He would stand back and watch Ella Beth play and swim. It was so hard to watch b/c he had really loved the ocean (after not liking it last year), and then he was afraid of being stung again. :(

 

Scott and the kiddos continued finding crabs. This one is just ugly!

And we found sand dollars. They, too, were brought in by the under current. We saved hundreds of them in just a couple of days.

One thing I couldn't get over was how long Ella Beth's hair had gotten. You'd think I'd notice something like that since I am the one who fixes her hair every day, but when it was blowing in the breeze in her pony tail I was just amazed. And, we had a lady ask us, "Have y'all been here all summer or is her hair always that color?" It's always white!

Hilton Head is a very nature-friendly place. There are turtles (and alligators) everywhere! At the beach house there was a large pond with lots, and lots, and LOTS of turtles that we fed every day. They were so funny. As soon as you walked up to the edge of the water, they came immediately - at least 20 at a time. The kids favorite memory of this trip was feeding the turtles, for sure!

 

And, no beach trip is complete without a cute tushy shot. ;)

And, on our last day without any encouragement.......

look who decided to give the ocean one more try!

He never once mentioned the jelly fish. It was a PERFECT way to end our wonderful week!