End of Summer 2017 Adventures and an Eclipse

During the month of August, we continued with our weekend and weekday trips to the pool. There were a few weekends that were not unbearably hot and we spent a day at a park or museum. We also made it to a concert in the park that's adjacent to our neighborhood. The big event and travel for us in August was taking a long weekend to go see the eclipse of 2017 in Greenville, SC! Rose also started soccer in August. Rose turned 3.5 in August and Zoe approached her 2nd birthday. Both girls grew like weeds all summer and it's been fun to have them be more self-sufficient and be able to communicate.

Zoe's eating her favorite peanut butter crackers at the pool

Zoe smiles when she wants to.
She loves to see the camera herself.

Rose and Zoe are running in Bond Park. 

One of the many concerts we have listened to at the ampitheatre in the park

Lunch time at Pullen Park in Raleigh,
after going on the carousel and train and before heading home.

The first of back-to-back birthday parties at an indoor playground.

To see the Eclipse in Greenville, we spent the weekend at my parent's place in the mountains of Western NC. On Saturday we made our way to a Renaissance Festival at a farm after going to a farmers' market. The girls enjoyed getting their face (Rose) and arm (Zoe) painted, seeing the costumes, and playing on the slides and in the creek. Rose also enjoyed feeding some goats. We spent the middle part of the day driving the Blue Ridge Parkway while the girls napped and ended our day with dinner and music in Asheville.

Rose's Hello Kitty face paint

Zoe getting her arm painted

On Sunday, we made our way to Charlotte (2 hours away) to get my brother at the airport. Instead of going straight back to the cabin after lunch, we decided to walk around a small museum, called Discovery Place Nature for a little bit. The exhibits were just right for the girls and it was nice to be in a small museum with the short amount of time we had before the girls would need a nap.

Spending a few hours at a museum in Charlotte where Zoe's a bug:

Monday was Eclipse day! I was really nervous about finding a place to go to see the eclipse, especially as we left Tryon for Greenville around mid-day. We had to pack everything (including Darwin) and it was a hot August Day. I was cranky with the heat and with the stress of packing what we needed to be accessible. Thankfully, we found a science/technology elementary school that was hosting a watching party through Facebook. We headed straight there and found some shade by 1p or so. In the hour or two before complete darkness, the girls enjoyed the splash pad, we ate some moon pies, we watched the moon change through our viewing glasses and through a shadow box, and we listened to some of the music from the DJ. I was most grateful for shade and bathrooms. Even just sitting in the shade I was sweating! 

Rose was really into the Eclipse, which made it more exciting for us. She did a great job looking through her glasses - which were ridiculously hard to purchase before the event. I was grateful for a friend who got some in the week leading up to our trip. The elementary school staff were giving them out at the viewing party, but we would have waited in a long line in the heat to get them.

Rose and Zoe had learned about the eclipse at school, and Rose kept giving us updates on what she saw. Zoe was more interested in maintaining her schedule, which should have included lunch and a nap. She managed to stay engaged with all the excitement despite being a bit "hangry".

The full eclipse was pretty amazing. In the few minutes just before it turned to dusk, our surroundings looked "chalky" with a tinge of almost grey. The temperature was noticeably cooler for the few minutes of complete elipse and for some of the minutes before and after. During the total eclipse, the stars came out, we could see the ring around the moon, we could hear crickets, and it looked like dusk at 2:30pm. It was so cool and an experience I hope to never forget. As we left Greenville for Raleigh, we started making plans to visit upstate NY/Burlington for the 2024 eclipse!

Because we hadn't eaten a good lunch and we didn't really know where to go in Greenville, post-eclipse was a bit of a disaster. We waited too long to be seated at a restaurant and ultimately gave up after almost 45 minutes because the girls were getting too cranky. We knew it would take a long time to get home as well. We had enough snacks that held everyone over as we slowly made our way home, and the girls napped. The four-hour trip took about 6-7 hours with a stop for dinner near Charlotte. It was close to midnight before we arrived home. Thankfully, the girls slept for most of the ride after dinner.

Finding food and shade at an Elementary school Eclipse viewing party in Greenville, SC

Rose would check on the sun's progress often during the hour we watched

It was difficult to capture the eclipse in a camera. I didn't bother trying to get the ring.

A glimpse of the total eclipse from Greenville, SC on August 21, 2017

Because we traveled to see the Eclipse, Rose missed the first soccer game of her career. While soccer runs in our veins, an eclipse is a pretty rare and memorable event worth missing soccer to see. Rose made up for it by being an attentive participant in the practice and scoring two goals in her game that followed the practice session. That first game we attended was pretty chaotic. Kids were picking up the ball all the time and clearly didn't know what to do. We were proud of Rose's ability to pay attention and participate. There were a few games after that first one where the other team was aggressive and we struggled through those with Rose. I'll admit, it is challenging to tell your child not to take things from people or push or hit and then try to teach them to be aggressive in sports.  

Rose's first soccer practice, held for 30 minutes before her first 30 minute game.
We missed the first week because of the Eclipse, so she had to wait for a shirt.

Rose scores a goal in her first soccer game

I finally captured some video footage of Zoe talking and singing. If she notices she's being recorded, she immediately runs to grab the camera. I'm surprised she let me take video of her singing. We did have a few outtakes before capturing this longer video. The teachers at Zoe's school say that her Spanish is very good. It's amazing to me that she can switch between English and Spanish so easily. I love getting to learn the songs she sings at school and I'm also glad that Rose is my translator. While I can speak and understand Spanish, understanding toddler Spanish without context is sometimes difficult. Rose often translates for us because she knows the songs, expressions, and/or words that Zoe has picked up at school.

Lots of singing at bedtime

Stay tuned for Miss Zoe's 2nd Birthday and more September updates!

June 2017 Update

It seems unbelievable that the summer has come and gone. In reviewing the pictures and videos from June, July and August, I'd have to say that I see such big changes in Zoe. She has fully transformed to a toddler this summer. In looking at some of these pictures and videos from early June, she is so much older and more mature just 3 months later.

Zoe at 21 months

I'll start with a brief recap of June. During the month, the weather was relatively cool for that time of year. We were able to enjoy a lot of time outdoors before the oppressive heat of summer. The pool was delayed a few weeks in opening, so we had to wait until June to start our weekends of swimming. This year, both Rose and Zoe could play in the water with minimal assistance. Without a floatie, Zoe could touch the kiddie area of the pool only near the steps. Thankfully, she would keep her floatie on most of the time.

Thursday nights in June were all about listening to live music at one of the outdoor shopping plazas/movie theater. The area would be blocked off to cars and they would often have a "bounce house," face painting, bubbles, cotton candy, and sometimes popcorn. What more could a kid ask for? On one occasion, a chiropractor advertising his business brought dress-up props. Rose was in her element.

Rose with her face painted and props 3 yrs 4 months

We managed a trip to the beach in June before the pool opened. My favorite part of the day is around dinner, when everyone leaves and you have the beach mostly to yourselves. 

With the nice weather, we made our usual day trips to either Pullen Park or the Durham Museum of Life & Sciences. With the Durham museum now open Sunday mornings, it's a great time to go with not many crowds. We've been going about once a month all summer, mainly because I'm obsessed with seeing the 4 wolf pups (born in April) grow. We've been lucky to catch a glimpse of them every time we go, though they aren't the easiest to catch on video or pictures. The museum has hired a biologist to talk about the wolves, and they do an amazing job providing updates on their blog and Facebook page.

Girls swinging at Pullen Park with daddy

To wrap up the month and as part of a visit with my parents, we drove about an hour west of the Raleigh area to check out a berry festival at a farm the last weekend of the month. We picked blackberries and blueberries, got to enjoy some sweet ice cream treats, rode the tractor, and had a nice outing with my parents. It was a very nice wrap up to a month filled with many local activities, and in preparation for a long week of travel to start the month of July.

Family picture at Millstone Creek Orchard

Rose rocking on the porch at Millstone Creek Orchard

April 2017 Fun

Wow, the girls are growing so fast and I can't keep up with documenting it all. April came and went, and writing a federal grant meant mommy didn't have much of a work-life balance for most of April and May. We did manage quite a few outings in April during the early part of grant writing. Zoe's now a talking machine, and it seemed like both girls grew a lot physically and developmentally in the past few weeks.

During our weekends in April, we visited a farm, went to the local parks and museums, had some Easter fun, and managed a couple of beach trips.

I'll let photos and videos share many of our adventures.

Hiking from home to the Bond Park Playground in early April

Enjoying a school picnic and display of art projects

Zoe yelling to the ducks at Pullen Park in Raleigh

Zoe at 19.5 Months

Zoe brushing her teeth before heading off to school

Rose at 3 years, 2.5 months

One of Rose's favorite dresses to wear to school

Playing in the water at the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences

Zoe yelling to the pigs ("piggies!") at Reverence Farms in Saxapahaw, NC
our 2017 Piedmont Farm Tour highlight

Hayride through Reverence Farms on the Piedmont Farm Tour

Taking a break from farm tour activities to swing

Our friends and neighbors hosted an Easter egg hunt in their yard, and it was so nice to walk up the street and have the neighborhood kids find Easter eggs. Some eggs had chocolate, which was very exciting for Rose. Zoe enjoyed opening the eggs and finding out what was inside each one.

Easter weekend we rented a condo in Myrtle Beach with my parents. It was nice to spend the weekend at the pool and the beach. The weather was mid-upper 70s, but the ocean was still a little cool. The girls enjoyed floating in the lazy river, and playing in the shallow pool in the condo complex. We had another egg hunt in the condo. Zoe was more interested in seeing what was in each egg rather than collecting a bunch of eggs.

Rose enjoying the beach part 1

Rose enjoying the beach part 2

Floating in the lazy river in Myrtle Beach, SC

Easter egg hunt in Myrtle Beach, SC

Zoe opening her Easter eggs

Fun in the rain after school

Fun at home, dressing up and singing "Let it Go"

First Fort Fisher beach trip of the year

Taking the Ft. Fisher ferry to get some ice cream

Stay tuned for our May update with more pictures and videos. I'm particularly fond of one with Zoe singing the alphabet. 

Zoe's Personality Shines at 8 Months

Zoe Lucia at eight months

April was a busy month in the Miller house. Zoe's seventh month started with a trip to Boone, NC to join mommy (and daddy, Rose and Darwin) for work. We extended the trip an extra day to see the mountains and check out things to do and places to eat in/around the NC mountains. Unfortunately, the trip corresponded with a cold spell, and record low overnight temperatures, so we took our time getting out there and limited the activities we had planned outdoors. Both girls did great (better than Darwin), though they had a very late bedtime the first night. Thankfully, they proved themselves capable of sleeping through the night with lights on and through each other's sleep noises. They did most of their napping in the car, but that was to be expected. Since I had to work one day, Colin was able to manage both girls and Darwin while I was busy.

Except for that one cold weekend in April, most of the month has been very comfortable temperature-wise. There have been several weekends that have called for high chances of rain, but few have been wash outs. We mostly stayed in and around the Triangle, getting to: check out some local farms one weekend with the Piedmont Farm Tour; going strawberry picking another weekend at a Cary, NC farm that also had some kid-friendly activities; visiting the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences (where we have an annual pass); going on train and carousel rides at Pullen Park in Raleigh; listening to music and bouncing in the bounce house at Park West Village in Morrisville; and having picnic dinners with some events at Waverly Place in Cary.

The Miller ladies on the train at the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences

I have lots of pictures to share from many of our adventures and will try to post some over the coming days and weeks. Most of the pictures and videos are of Rose because Zoe often falls asleep while being worn in the baby carrier. She's on a schedule of napping about 3 times a day and could take or leave a pacifier. Sometimes it is used to calm her, but she has no problems falling asleep without it. Her first nap is usually 9 or 10am for an hour or so. The second one is mid-day (1ish) for about 2 hours, and the third is usually around 4 or 5pm. This final one is difficult on school days because I am often picking her up just after she has fallen asleep, or she falls asleep on the 5 minute ride home. Thankfully, she continues to sleep through the night, from about 8pm to 6am (give or take 30 minutes). She wants to eat at 6am, and sometimes goes back to sleep with me (if I nurse her in the bed), or gets up and hangs out with daddy. They sometimes take Darwin for a walk together, and Zoe usually watches daddy make breakfast in the kitchen while I get Rose ready for school. At night, Zoe sleeps all night on her back, but it seems she sleeps on her belly at school and at home during naps. As she becomes more mobile, she has started pulling herself up in her crib. It's almost time to drop the mattress a little farther down.

Getting ready to have breakfast

On the topic of being mobile, Zoe is getting very close to crawling, and is fairly sturdy at pulling herself up to standing. Sometimes she forgets that she can't stand on her own and she'll grab a ball or toy with both hands while standing (and let go of whatever is holding her up). Sometimes she cries at the fall and other times it doesn't bother her. She is able to crawl "backwards" where she gets on all fours and can go in reverse, but hasn't figured out how to coordinate hands and knees to move forward. A few times she has tried crawling forwards with one knee down and pushing herself with her other foot. She often gets from point A to point B through a series of maneuvers, but it is not yet efficient.

A few days after our trip to Boone, Zoe developed a spotty rash all over her belly that did not look like her typical ezcema. When it didn't go away after 3 days, we took her to the doctor, who was baffled by her lack of itching. Since the rash did not spread beyond her belly, she didn't have a fever, and she didn't scratch at it, the doctor assumed it was viral. But, there was a possibility of it being chicken pox, and all we could do was watch it to see what it did at day 5 (when it was suppose to blister, or "pox"). On day 5 Zoe did develop a fever and her appetite was pitiful, but the spots never changed or spread. When they didn't go away after 10 days, we were back at the doctor. He had to bring in a colleague for a second opinion and both doctors thought an antibiotic cream was the best course of action. They believed it still was viral, but it is uncommon for a viral rash to last more than a week. Thankfully, after just a day or two of the antibiotic cream, Zoe's skin cleared up. At the same time Zoe had the rash, Rose was also battling a rash on her bottom. My suspicion is that one of them picked up something on our trip and passed it to the other. We had to keep Zoe out of school for a week (on what would have been her second week of school) but thankfully she has been back since it cleared and hasn't had further problems.

Once we got her past the belly rash, her entire skin has looked much better. It seems the weather is the #1 factor. When the weather turned warmer and more humid (which it has been for most of the second half of April and early May), we noticed the eczema improved. I've even brought dairy and food baked with eggs back into my diet (yay for cheese!!), and she has remained mostly clear. She's even been more smiley (even for the camera).

She's so happy her skin is less dry

For most of her seventh month, Zoe was pooping once a day, except for the week she had her rash. During that week, we went 5 days without a poop, which has been the longest she's ever gone. With her eating a combination of solid foods and breast milk, her poops are smelly, soft and sticky (sorry for the description for those who'd rather not know). We continue to cloth diaper, and this is the phase when a diaper liner works well to provide a barrier between the diaper and the poop. Some people like the diaper sprayer, but we've pretty much given up on that. Zoe wears a disposable diaper at night, and cloth diapers the rest of the time.

The solid foods Zoe now consumes include soups (with onions, carrots, celery, beans and a meat like chicken or sausage), chicken, beef, hummus, carrots, cauliflower, lentils, oatmeal (plain or with fruit like bananas, raisins, or strawberries), sweet potatoes, and avocado. She loves bananas, and does pretty good on her oatmeal, carrots, cauliflower, and beef.  We basically blend what we are eating and try to introduce a new food item every few days. At school she broke out in a rash after eating hummus on two separate occasions, but we did not notice it happen at home. Both times, the rash cleared as quickly as it came. In addition to foods, Zoe can also drink from the straw on our camelbak water bottles, drink from a sippy cup, and she can drink from a regular cup (with one of us holding it). A lot of the water lands on her shirt, but it's good for her to learn.

During my work days, Zoe continues to drink more milk than I pump, so I am going through my freezer stash of pumped milk, but not yet stressing on it getting too low. She takes about 3 bottles of 5-7oz each, and sometimes a 4th bottle with 3-4 ounces. I'm hoping we can introduce more solid foods this month and get her to eating fairly well by 10 months so I won't stress when I get close to the end of the frozen milk. Occasionally, I will have an opportunity to pump an extra bottle of milk on the weekends to store for future use, but it isn't enough to make up for the extra bottles she takes during the week. In addition, she still has not cut her first tooth. She rubs her gums all the time, salivates often, and acts like she is teething, but I don't feel any teeth coming through her gums, nor do I see any starting to show.

As Zoe grows and phases out of a the infant stage, her personality continues to present itself. She is a very shy girl and often hides her face in my shoulder when new people greet her. I've started seeing a few glimpses of separation anxiety at school, especially at the start of a new week. She is startled by loud noises and I can tell when she's unsure/afraid of something because she will cling to me. She is extremely tolerant to her sister's roughness, and will protest when someone tries taking away something she wants. Just about every evening at dinner, she tells us she is ready to be done and to get in her pajamas. Once she is changed and ready for bed, she's a happy girl again.

I love this age. Zoe is the chubby baby that can sit up and stand holding on to things. When I nurse her, she fits so perfectly in my arms and feels solid, but squishy. She reacts to us, and knows who we are. She loves laughing with her sister and giving mommy and daddy big smiles. One of her latest favorite things to do is to make bubbles and lip-flapping noises with her mouth. She gets very excited and squeals with delight when she is successful. She likes flipping through books, figuring out how to make noises come from the various toys in the house, banging utensils on the table, and putting everything in her mouth (including sticks and sand). The silicone water bottle mouthpiece is one of her favorite things to chew on. She also loves petting Darwin and grabbing at his paws.

Rose pushing Zoe in a cardboard box

Rose loves taking her picture with Zoe

Rose and Zoe seem to love each other, though I often have to teach Rose to be more gentle. Rose also likes to be the mommy and be the teacher. Sometimes it is helpful, like when she comforts Zoe and plays with her. Many other times, however, she tries to discipline Zoe or take toys away. We try to encourage and praise the positive behaviors. It is really hard to discipline and/or correct the negative behaviors. Rose sometimes gets very jealous of Zoe, especially when I need to care for/nurse for Zoe (which happens often in the evening). We strive to model good behaviors and actions, hoping they are picked up by the girls.

We don't have any new stats for Zoe's growth from the doctor. They didn't do height and weight measurements for her visits this month. Her next checkup will be in June.

Stay tuned for pictures and short recaps of our spring fun adventures and an update on Miss Rose!

Christmas Fun

One of the really awesome things about where we live is that there are so many holiday events for families and kids that are affordable. There are parades, visits with Santa, electronic light shows on houses, light displays on farms, Polar Express rides, and holiday shows.

I wanted to do so many things, but since we were out of town the first couple weeks of December, we missed several of the events. The only things that were on schedules were the parades and the Polar Express rides. We missed all the parades since they were held early in the month, and almost didn't get to do the Polar Express ride at Pullen Park. Tickets went on sale in July and I happened to notice that day. I'm so glad I bought tickets right away because they sold out in a day (yes, in July!).  There are only 6 days (two consecutive weekends) when the park opens up in the evening for Christmas celebrations. Only ticket holders can get into the park after 4pm and a ticket gets you a ride on the train. The train, which Rose loves when it's not the holidays, rides the same route around the park and has Christmas lights on it. You can only ride once, but there are other events and things to do in the park. You can ride the indoor carousel as often as you'd like and it plays Christmas music. There's also a scavenger hunt, visits with Santa, carnival games and art stations for the kids, and the normal park items (slides, swings, etc).

Back in July, I bought tickets for the second Saturday. When we made plans to travel north in early December, I realized we were going to miss it, getting back to Raleigh on Sunday and not Saturday. The other nice thing about our area is that there are a bunch of local Facebook sales pages and mom's groups. I posted on several of these sites to see if anyone wanted to switch their tickets with me and someone did! We just had to make sure we were back in Raleigh to catch our ride around 5pm.  In a previous post, I mentioned that we drove back home from Albany at 2am. With just a few stops, we were home around lunch time, giving us plenty of time to get to the park in Raleigh.

Even though we were tired, it was still fun to enjoy the Christmas fun as a family. Rose loves the train and carousel, so even if she didn't engage in anything else, it would still be worth the $8/ticket ($24 for all of us). Surprisingly, she did some of the carnival games and enjoyed getting treats on the scavenger hunt. Zoe got to enjoy her first ride on the carousel. She was awake for most of the time we were there. The weather was warm, so we didn't have to bundle up much and the food was pretty good.

Waiting our turn for the carousel

Rose and mommy on the carousel

Family picture at Pullen Park's Polar Express

A tired family on the Polar Express train ride at Pullen Park

We have an artificial Christmas tree, but decided that we were going to get a real tree this year. With just a little over a week before Christmas, many of the cut-your-own tree farms were sold out of trees, or only had weekend hours. Instead, we picked out our tree at the North Carolina State Farmers' Market. There was one vendor trying to get rid of the rest of his trees and gave us a pretty good deal on one that was about 8 feet. The weather continued to be crazy warm leading up to Christmas and we were out shopping for a tree in light sweatshirts. I was not complaining!

Picking out our Christmas Tree

While we were up north the first few weeks of December, we did go to a few holiday light displays, one being the famous (and free!) LaSallette Shrine and another at the first or second Winterfest at Diamond Hill State Park in Cumberland, RI. Even though the weather was mild for northeastern standards, it was still very cold and we were all bundled up in heavy winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. Winterfest was our first time seeing the new laser lights, which were really cool in some of the forest areas of the park. I thought their $10 admission was a little pricey for having to walk around the event ourselves. There was also lots of open spaces without much to see and do, and no place to get warm.

In North Carolina, we had a little cold spell right before Christmas, but it meant that we needed hats and gloves once the sun set. There were several options for checking out large holiday light displays in the area and we opted to go to the farm where we spent a very long day in the fall. Hill Ridge Farms was where Rose enjoyed a hay ride, train ride, tunnels, farm animals, and more a few months ago. At Christmas, the tractor ride takes you through a very large light show, with Christmas music blaring in the wagon. They also run their train around a big open field (with a few lights) and keep many of the farm features available into the evening. Rose is too small for their large bouncing ball and huge tunnel slide, but she enjoyed swinging on the large log, seeing the farm animals, and drinking hot chocolate. They have a few fire pits and sell kits to make smores, but we didn't do that this year. Entrance for their "festival of lights" is reasonable, at $10 per person for the tractor ride, and only an additional $3 for the train. The only downside was that we sat at the front of the wagon and inhaled lots of exhaust during our ride.

Visiting Hill Ridge Farm's Festival of Lights

Heading to the wagon ride inside the farm

Selfie in the caboose of the train

Rose and daddy riding the swing at Hill Ridge Farms

Rose and daddy swinging on the log at Hill Ridge Farms

In addition to our ticketed events, we also did our annual driving around to see holiday light shows, this year adding a trip to try Duck Donuts and pick up hot chocolate for our drive. I probably love the light shows more than anyone else, but hope that both girls enjoy it with me as they get older. There are some very impressive synchronized light shows in the area, with a map to the addresses available online. I posted a video with one of the light shows two years ago and this house continues to be the best in the area.

For Christmas this year, my parents joined us in North Carolina. With rain and mild temperatures predicted for the whole week in the Raleigh area, we opted to spend the holiday in Hilton Head, SC, a place none of us had ever been. I found a reasonable rental through VRBO.com and we set out, packing everyone (including Darwin) into the 7 passenger 4-Runner on Christmas Eve for 3 nights and 4 days. 

The 5 hour trip was uneventful, the rental property was bigger than we expected and the weather remained warm for the 3 days. On the flipside, the weather was damp down there too, and while we didn't have rain, the beach was foggy pretty much every day.  We were able to check in to the property early, but by the time we got settled, went grocery shopping and ate, there wasn't much time to enjoy the beach on that first day. With it being Christmas Eve, we had to get our shopping in for the next day before everything closed. It was late in evening before we realized we forgot to pick up a few essentials (like coffee!!). We had a few adventures with finding an open store, but eventually got our coffee, milk, and bottled water before returning back to the rental. 

The unit was very accomodating to our needs. There was one master bedroom with a patio and full bath, and a second spacious bedroom with a double and twin bed that was attached to the second full bathroom. The sleeping quarters were separated from the main living area with a door and each bedroom also had it's own door. Rose slept in the twin bed in the second room with my parents while Zoe slept in her "beach bed" in the master bedroom with me and Colin. The kitchen, which also had a washer and dryer, opened to the dining area and living area. Cathedral ceilings added to the spacious feel of the apartment. We were super comfortable and about a 10 minute walk to the beach. We didn't notice many amenities offered through the resort complex and all of the outdoor resort pools were closed for the season.

I found the water to be a little too cold for my liking, but had the sun been out, I may have done some swimming. Rose had a great time enjoying the pools of water that formed at low tide. We managed to have Zoe dip her bottom in the ocean, but as you can see in the video, the water was too cold for her as well. The day we left for the beach and the whole time we were away, the skin on her face cleared up and looked amazing. I think it's a sign that we need to live at the beach! :) 

Enjoying the foggy beach in Hilton Head, SC on Christmas Day

The day after Christmas, we managed to explore a little bit of the island by car and we did get out again for some dessert after dinner. It was the only time we did much outside of the rental property/resort complex. We just assumed most of the attractions were closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Rose holding Zoe at the ice cream parlor in Hilton Head, SC

On our final day of the trip we had to be out of the apartment by 11am. The morning was spent packing the car, cleaning the apartment, and making sure we didn't leave anything behind. Rather than spend the day in traffic (which we assumed we would get on I-95), we decided to spend the day in Savannah, GA. Colin and I had been on a trip before having the girls, but my parents had never been.  

Savannah was less than an hour from Hilton Head on back roads, so we arrived just before lunch. Knowing the city has many good restaurants, we used Yelp to find one and managed to find a good parking spot near Chippewa Square, between Forsyth Park and the waterfront.  We ate at Fire Street Food, a restaurant that could appease a variety of palates, and then walked around the city, taking in the historic sites, hanging moss trees, and the overall hustle and bustle of a city.  By the time we got to the waterfront, we were ready for some dessert and picked up beignets at Huey's. Since Zoe's skin has been better when I don't eat dairy (more on that in another post), I did not indulge in any, but took everyone's word that they were delicious. With our bellies full again, we continued back towards Forsyth Park (and our car), stopping at a playground to let Rose enjoy some kid time. We found a cute little playground near a huge cemetery that was not crowded at all. At that point we were debating when to leave, seeing that traffic continued to be bad on I-95, and knowing good food options would be slim once we left the city. Rose was getting tired, but fighting a nap as we continued on to Forsyth Park. At the park, we took a few photos at the fountain, saw a man propose to his bride-to-be, and found the very busy toddler and preschool playgrounds (but didn't stop to play here). With it approaching dinner time, we decided to find a restaurant close to the car. Unfortunately, Yelp didn't provide us with many ideal options, so we settled for a little coffee shop near the car. They had a very tasty hummus and pita platter and some salad/sandwich options. At the time, we were slightly disappointed that we didn't get a better meal, but in hindsight we all had a more pleasant ride home with the lighter fare.

Walking down to the waterfront in Savannah, GA

Rose playing with other kids on a waterfront boat

Enjoying the hanging moss trees 

Some toddler fun at a playground in Savannah, GA

After getting the girls fed and dressed in their pajamas (I hate that cities rarely have changing tables in bathrooms!), we got on the road around 7pm. Rose didn't take long to fall asleep and even Zoe slept most of the way. She only needed a bottle once during the 4hour and 45 minute trip. Yes, we managed to skip all the northbound traffic, and were home around midnight. 

It was a nice and relaxing Christmas holiday, filled with love, laughter, and peace. These are the best gifts we can give and receive. 

Dressed up on the eve of Christmas Eve

At some point we will all look at the camera

Impossible to get them to look at the camera
And my poor rashy Zoe!

Opening Christmas presents on the eve of Christmas Eve 

Yay! Another doll

I hope your holidays were enjoyable and that your 2016 is off to a great start. We celebrated the New Year by the backyard fire pit with friends, family, and smores.