DFD 3.6 Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas

You guys? I had forgotten what a December WDW trip does to the calendar. We haven't gone to te Festival of Lights yet (thank you, bizarre monsoon season), and when we get back we have but a handful of days until Christmas festivities begin in Ottawa. All this to say, I'm exhausted. Growing a baby might add to that, I suppose.

So yesterday afternoon? Mickey plates, popcorn, pizza, and a picnic for a Christmas movie.

It was perfect.

DFD 3.4 & 3.5

In true form (at least lately - seriously, remember when Disney Family Days were, well, something worth writing about? anyway...) our most recent DFDs were a bit, um, on the low-key side.

First, we enjoyed Aristocats together and a yummy meal... and called it a night :)

But Emmersyn and Hartley think it counted, so I'll take it.

The most recent one, just before Thanksgiving, was the perfect time for Pocahontas. Admittedly I never loved the movie, but it seemed fitting ;) The girls were very intrigued. We had a mini thanksgiving meal, and made flowers to talk about the things for which we're thankful.

DFD 3.3. Ratatouille

Our most recent Disney Family Day was Ratatouille. I wasn't sure if Emmersyn and Hartley would get into the movie at all, but they really enjoyed it!

Hilton Head - the last few days

September 9th
More beach time, more pool time. The girls were swimming like pros with their puddle jumpers and loving their new goggles. They weren't crazy about the ocean (mostly scared of sand dollars, once they found out they were alive) :) but loved spending time in the sand. We even found super cute mermaids on the beach, who were familiar with (and belting out) Ariel's most popular songs. We played and swam some more, before napping in the room.

In the afternoon, we went to Pirate Island Golf. It is not, after all, a Lawless family vacation (or a Lawless-Carter vacation) without a little mini golf! It was Hartley and Emmersyn's first time actually golfing (not including the time we took them with us in Gatlinburg, when they were pretty much just a handicap)... and wow, were they hilarious. Emmersyn chose a miniature metal putter, while Hartley went for the big gun. The big, plastic gun, that is.

Hartley whacked at it with gusto (had to measure up to the mega-putter, you know!), while Emmersyn hit it once and then pretty much just moved it to the edge of the cup each time, and hit it in from there. She won by a landslide, of course, with such tactics.

Dinner was Taco Night and the remainder of the evening was... well, you know...

September 10th
Our last full day in Hilton Head was full of lots more fun. First, we headed to Sea Pines and Harbour Town. We played on the playground, of course --

and checked out the (always underwhelming) lighthouse, which the girls loved because ligthhouses have become synonymous with Hilton Head in their minds. We found some more shells, and spotted some more dolphins...

and stopped at the Salty Dog for some new shirts for each of us. Back at the resort, we discovered our new favorite spot (affectionately dubbed "crab beach" for the hundreds of crabs visible there at low tide) that I hope to relax in much more on our next visit, and saw dolphins as close as we had seen yet!

Dinner was a little cookout with delicious burgers and corn on the grill, and it was the perfect way to start wrapping up our quick trip.

After dinner we went swimming one more time in the Big Dipper Pool, and then what Disney(related) trip would be complete without at least one Mickey bar?!

A perfect evening.

And guess what?! I even stayed up (really late, actually), and played a hilarious game of Uno Flash with the rest of the grownups. I know, impressive, right?

September 11

Our last morning we pretty much just woke up, loaded up the car, and headed home - but not before meeting up with Aunt Terrie and Uncle Rob at a DELICIOUS new (to us) restaurant for breakfast.

The drive home felt rather long but was actually quite uneventful.

The trip was a few years in the making and was entirely too short, but the memories were well worth the wait!





Hilton Head Day 2

September 8th
Our second day on HHI we woke up bright and early (of course). We hung around the villa for a while, and headed to the beach in late morning.

Emmersyn and Hartley were really excited to play in the sand, and especially excited to make their first Sand Cupcakes!

The rest of us split our time between sand play and hanging out in the ocean, before heading up to the Beach House pool. (Sorry for the lack of pictures - after about 1 minute I realized I wasn't getting sand in my several hundred dollars worth of lenses. It was pretty, it was fun, and my girls are cute. Now you're pretty much up to speed.)

After the beach we spent some more downtime in the villa while the girls rested. In the afternoon, we made our way to the Broad Creek Marina for our reserved Dolphin Tour. Emmersyn has been obsessed with Dolphins for months now, and who doesn't like a little boat trip? We were all pretty excited, even if the one we had originally planned on (leaving from within walking distance and on a much cooler boat, with rave reviews) was closed unexpectedly for some seasonal maintenance.

We saw our first dolphin pretty quickly... and proceeded to pretty much follow him around. For an eternity. I was really concerned that this would be the extent of our "tour" (circles around the marina), but eventually the captain - who was quite funny, I might add - snapped out of it and we were on our way. We didn't quite make it as far as we should have which was a bummer, but overall the cruise was a lot of fun. Lots of dolphin sightings, lots of wit, some beautiful home spotting, and a gorgeous day.



Oooh, and some excitement! There were, after all, "Strong Danger Currents" in the area! Not to mention a pirate ship, and a sketchy (but also very cool) concession stand. Or the skeleton of one.

The girls even had an opportunity to be captain of the boat - which, for some reason, only Hartley took. And she was super cute --

That evening after dinner at Fuddruckers, we headed to Community Hall for some Goofy Bingo. Everyone won either a bingo game or some of the intermission trivia, and we left with lots of candy.

Another fun night, and I think everyone else had even more fun later. I wouldn't know. (See Day 1). :)



Hilton Head

Our drive to Hilton Head in September was pretty uneventful. We left just before dinner (and stopped at Cheddar's on the way through Florence - yum!), then drove through the night. The girls did relatively well, waking up - wide awake - with each gas station stop but otherwise sleeping as much as we expected them to. I was terribly uncomfortable with all that fun pregnancy bone/joint pain, but wasn't very sick and made it through with little complaining. Though I did say once again that we will NOT be driving to Florida any time soon.

We arrived on the island ahead of schedule, and ate some breakfast in the parking lot (literally) before checking in at the Live Oak Lodge at Disney's Hilton Head Resort.

Because it was super early and a room wasn't ready (the cast member tried very hard!), we got our key and headed overt the beach. It had been years since my parents and sister had been to the ocean (Cassi didn't even remember, it had been so long) and all of us were itching to see and hear those relaxing sights and sounds. We were among the only few on the beach, which was a beautiful way to start the morning.

We played and explored for just under an hour (finding TONS of wildlife (or evidence of) - including horseshoe crabs, jellyfish, sand dollars, etc). We dipped our feet in the Atlantic, and were just thrilled to be there for a few days, away from the rest of "real life". :)

After a while, we headed up to the beach house for a little ping pong and foosball, and for some of us, relaxation. Sitting and doing nothing, which is - in my opinion - what Hilton Head is best for.

Eventually, it was time for the kids' craft time back at the Shelter Cove side of the resort. We made our way back, played on the pier, and made adorable little wooden fishes.

And played shuffleboard, of course, like any normal young people.



Since we still weren't in our room by lunch time, we decided to hit up Giuseppi's pizza and the Piggly Wiggly. Just in time for naps, our room was ready. It was one building over from where Zach, the girls and I stayed last time, which was perfect (and the area we had requested). The accommodations are identical, so it was as incredible as expected. The unexpected surprise was cards and balloons waiting for us to celebrate Cassi's (Cassy's) graduation and my dad's birthday!

After naps we spent some time at the pool, and chowed down on some Skyline for dinner.

We had arrived on Campfire day, so of course we were there for the fun (and free s'mores!) when it started. Emmersyn answered a trivia question correctly and got to be the bell ringer to start the festivities! It also meant that - after the "spectacular" campfire songs - our family got to start the S'mores line. Score!

Everyone was exhausted by bedtime, and I'm pretending we all went to bed at about 8. In actuality, just the girls and I did. This would be a recurring theme, so I'm letting you know now I have VERY little to report after about dinnertime each night. Yay, first trimester. ;)

It was a perfect first day though, and we couldn't wait for more