Family Reunion - Saturday

Mike's sister saw an ad for a doughnut place nearby that makes fresh doughnuts to order, so she and I made plans to get up early and pick some up for breakfast.  I woke up earlier than I needed to, so I got up and got dressed and was able to watch the most incredible sunrise over the beach.  There were lots of people out doing the same thing and it was a cool, clear morning so there wasn't anything to interrupt the view.  It was an amazing way to start the day!

We found the doughnut place and brought them back for everyone.  They were very good, but SO filling.  I felt like I needed the rest of the day to actually digest the ones I ate.  It was a cool enough morning that the kids didn't want to get in the pool, so I took our girls back to the shopping center at the end of the street to look through the rest of the stores we missed when we had to leave to get back for the boat trip.  I finally found the magnets our son needed, too, so it was worth the trip!  We got a couple of little souvenirs for them and went back to the house for the rest of the day.

The girls ended up out on the beach with Mike's sister-in-law, making drip castles, and our son went out to boogie board for a while.  When I saw that the waves were the best we've seen, I couldn't resist, so I got my suit on and grabbed a board to join him.  It was great fun and we spent over an hour out there riding whatever we could catch.  I finally got cold and passed the board off to Mike.

The rest of the crew came out to start the traditional bolo tournament.  I was paired with Mike's sister, but the two of us just couldn't manage to out-score the other teams, so we were eliminated early on.  The final rounds took place a little later in the day, after the boys returned the bike.  Once again, Jeremy and Mike were the bolo champions, retaining their title from two years ago.

Mike's sister made salad, spaghetti, and garlic bread for dinner.  After we ate, it was FINALLY time for the Cousins' Birthday, which the kids had been (im)patiently waiting for all day.  They passed out their presents to each other and opened them all at the same time.  Everyone seemed pretty happy with their gifts!  We all had cake for dessert and then started gathering our things to pack since we were leaving the next day.

Family Reunion - Friday

Mike and his brother decided that they wanted to rent a three-wheeled motorcycle for the day, so they left mid-morning to go pick it up.  While they were gone, our friend came back over for a little while before he had to head back home.  It was really good to hear about his family and learn about his boys and their life in Greenville.  By the time Mike got back, our friend had to leave, but he took a spin around the neighborhood on the bike to see what it was like and how it compares to the Harley he rides every day.

Mike and his brother and nephew all spent a good part of the day taking turns riding the bike around.  I went back to Harbor Town with Mike's parents to check out the shops, since I didn't get to see them yesterday.  I didn't find what I was looking for - magnets for our son's science homework - but I did find some ornaments and stocking stuffers for Christmas, so it was worth the trip.

We spent the afternoon boogie boarding and playing bolo on the beach.  The kids went from the beach to the pool to the house, as their little hearts desired.  We had reservations for dinner at 5:30, so we all got cleaned up and drove over to a restaurant called "Dye's Gullah Fixin's", with Mike's brother and sister-in-law on the bike.  The food was absolutely incredible - all southern favorites like fried chicken and catfish, boiled seafood, onion pie, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and a variety of other things.  It was all perfectly cooked and absolutely wonderful.  Since it was a buffet, we all ate WAY too much, but it was too hard to resist.  Mike rode the bike back to the house while the rest of us drove and we spent the rest of the evening watching baseball and digesting.  We did manage to motivate ourselves enough to take a walk on the beach after dark, which the kids thought was very cool.  They got to see tons of stars and the moon was gorgeous, making for a lovely walk. 

Family Reunion - Thursday

I got up at a reasonable hour this morning and went for a run to start my day.  Instead of going to the gym, I decided to go out on the road, which I haven't done in ages.  It's always harder for me to run on the road - I think I actually run faster when I don't have a machine setting my pace - so it was not easy to keep going for an hour.  I did manage to make it out and back, though, and felt pretty good by the time I was done.  I was really ready to be finished, though!

By the time I got back, the kids were up and in the pool.  We gave them some time to swim and I got cleaned up and then we headed out to find the Salty Dog store on a part of the island we hadn't seen before.  After checking out all the stores in the little shopping area, we all piled back into our cars and moved on to yet another shopping area, called Harbor Town.  We had lunch at The Crazy Crab there, which was delicious - the kids even asked if they could go back there some day, it was so good.  The rest of the family stayed to wander around the shops and we went back to the house to wait for a friend of ours to come visit.

After our last trip to Hilton Head, I got in touch with a friend of ours from high school, who happens to live in Greenville, South Carolina.  I let him know that we were going to be back, so he decided to come over to visit for the afternoon.  We spent some time hanging out on the beach and in the pool, catching up, since we hadn't seen each other in twenty years.  He joined us for dinner - enchiladas made by Mike's siter-in-law, which were wonderful! - and then hung out with the family while the kids made s'mores in the backyard for dessert.  He then went back to his hotel for the night and the rest of us ended our day.

Family Reunion - Wednesday

The dads were scheduled to play golf for the day, so they got up and out early to have a chance to go to the driving range for a bit before hitting the course.  I decided to sleep in instead of getting up to work out - it is vacation after all!  As soon as the kids were up, they had a bite of breakfast and were ready for the pool.  I had to foil their plans, though, and insist that they get some homework done.  It was not a popular decision, but they did it anyway and then headed for the water.

Just before lunch, I got my kids out and took them shopping.  They needed some time out of the water during the middle of the day since they were all getting a bit burnt no matter how much sunscreen we put on them.  The last time we got together, we did a "cousins' birthday", where the kids all drew each other's names and then got that person a birthday gift.  All of the kids (except our little one) remembered this from last time and really wanted to do a birthday celebration again, so we needed to get gifts for the cousins they picked. 

I took them to lunch at McDonald's, where our oldest remarked about the cashier, "Mom, she's so nice and friendly, not like at home."  I had to explain that customer service is a bit different in the south and that he should remember what it was like to have someone be so polite when helping him.  Hopefully it made at least a bit of an impression.  After that, we headed to Target to get the gifts and a few other things we needed, like pencils since our older daughter didn't bring one and needed it to do her homework (she had to borrow her cousin's) and everyone got a new book.  We then came back closer to the house to wander the little shopping center at the end of the street that has a bunch of gift shops.  Since the kids were incredibly patient for that, we all got ice cream at a little shop called Frozen Moo - I love that name!  It was good ice cream, too.  I realized while we were sitting there enjoying our ice cream that I was supposed to go out for a photo tour/boat ride that afternoon with the other moms and Mike's niece - I had completely forgotten about it!  I gathered the kids up and made a beeline for the car to try to get back in time to leave with them.

I did make it just in time and ran inside to gather my things to go, after making a quick phone call to set the details of a visit from a friend of ours the next day.  In the chaos, I managed to grab my camera, but forgot to take the battery out of the charger.  Of course, I discovered this on the boat as we were pulling away fron the dock.  It was a bit disappointing, but in the end turned out to be a good thing because I was able to look around and pay attention to the scenery instead of thinking about taking pictures, which often makes me miss out on the bigger scene.

The guy who runs the tours is a photographer who takes small groups out in his nineteen-foot, flat-bottom boat.  He has an outboard motor for getting places quickly and a little electric motor for getting up close to the birds or other animals without scaring them.  We headed into the inland waterway and almost immediately Mike's niece spotted some dolphins.  It turned out to be two mother-calf pairs, along with a male who stayed on the outskirts. The mothers and babies were swimming around and playing together, so we spent a long time sitting and watching them.  They would come within a couple of feet of the boat, so we got to see them really well.  We didn't want to leave, but we did want to see more of the area, so we moved on and motored further inland.

I got to see my first oyster beds on this trip.  The tide was going out, so they became more exposed the longer we were out there and they are impressive structures, with the shells all building on top of each other.  There were some wonderful birds out feeding, including willets, grackels, royal terns, great egrets, and two of my favorites, the great blue heron and the snowy egret.  We heard the hooting of a great horned owl, but didn't see it.  At our furthest point inland, we saw another pair of dolphins, a mother with an older calf, who were feeding.  We could see them herd the fish by pushing a wave of water ahead of them and then they'd swim up from underneath and grab the fish.  It was an amazing thing to watch and really fascinating to see how the mother was teaching the calf to do this.  After watching them for a few minutes, the dolphins swam off and we started back toward the dock since the no-see-ums were starting to come out.  My sister-in-law and I weren't getting bitten, but the others were, so it was time to get back.

So even though I didn't have a camera, it was a wonderful trip.  Our guide was great, the animal life was fantastic, and it was a gorgeous evening.  It was definitely worth the time and money!

When we got back, the guys had dinner started.  Mike's brother had ordered caviar from a friend of his, so we had that for our appetizer.  We introduced Mike's niece and nephew to it, since they had never tried it before and we have been determined to get them to try new foods on this trip.  One liked it and one didn't, but they both at least gave it a try.  For dinner, we had Korean beef in lettuce cups, with fried rice and noodles from a local Chinese restaurant.  A mixing of cultures, but it all tasted really good together!  After cleaning up, I put our kids to bed and then a bunch of us took a walk on the beach.  It was still beautiful out, so we had a lovely stroll.

It was a long and busy day, but fun in a lot of ways.

Family Reunion - Tuesday

Today was the ultimate vacation day for the kids - nothing but beach and pool all day.  They weren't interrupted for anything silly like shopping or sight-seeing.  All they had to do was go from the water to the sand to the water as the spirit moved them.

I got up early to head to the gym for a cycling class, which was barely worth the effort, but I ran afterwards to make up for it.  Mike's sister, our youngest, and I did do some grocery shopping since brats and burgers were on the menu for the evening.  Other than that, it was all about enjoying the water!

Family Reunion - Sunday and Monday

Two years ago, Mike's family all got together in Hilton Head, SC for a week.  It was the first time in four years that everyone had gotten together, we had had another baby since then, and the kids had all changed tremendously and barely knew each other.  We decided at that point that we all needed to make the effort to get together more often, and picked every two years as the time frame.

So here we are, two years later, and we've rented the same house for the week.  The kids have all matched themselves up again as if they'd never been apart and the adults are all loving the opportunity to hang out and relax for a while.  The weather is gorgeous, the water is warm, and the house fits all of us comfortably with room to get away from the crowd if we want.

We flew into Savannah, Georgia yesterday (a really lovely little airport - I highly recommend it if you get the chance to fly out this way) after leaving the house at 4:00 in the morning.  It was a long day, but everyone did really well on the trip, with the exception of our youngest wetting her pants on the plane (I did actually pack a change of clothes for her, so it wasn't tragic, just seriously annoying).  The kids were in the pool as soon as we'd let them and stayed in until we dragged them out for dinner.  We all went to bed very late, but considering the time change, it wasn't surprising.

The kids were all up early this morning and in the pool right away.  I think they had breakfast, but I'm not really sure since I got the chance to sleep in - yay!  Mike's brother-in-law, nephew, and I went to a local gym after we had all eaten and got memberships for the week.  I ran five miles while they did weights.  It was a great way to start the week and I'll hopefully be able to keep up with my workouts for the rest of the week.  When we got back, the older kids were in the ocean boogie-boarding and our youngest was still in the pool.  I think, in all, our kids were in the water for about six hours today.  They should easily have gills by the end of the week.

Today was Mike's brother-in-law's birthday, so we all went out to dinner to celebrate.  It's always interesting to go to a restaurant with fifteen people.  The kids all did well, though, and there weren't any "incidents" over the course of the meal.  I do have to say, the hushpuppies were awesome and my escargot was really tasty.  You just don't get hushpuppies at restaurants in California, so it was fun to revisit my memories of eating out from my childhood.  The kids all went to bed right after dinner - the big  benefit of them swimming for most of the day!

And we've just had the opportunity to watch the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs!  Being the Giants, it had to come down to the bitter end, but it was incredibly exciting to see them pull it off!

Just A Note

I'm finally getting the posts from our vacation up.  I wrote them all while we were gone, but have just now gotten to adding the pictures.  Pretend you're seeing them 2 weeks ago!

Tom Ka Gai

I made tortilla soup for us and chicken noodle soup for the kids the other night and wanted a way to use more of the stock afterwards.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and gave it a try tonight.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken meat (I used the leftover roasted chicken, but this would be excellent with shrimp, scallops, mussels, or chunks of a mild white fish.)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (14 ounce) cans coconut milk
2 cups water or chicken stock
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
1 stalk lemongrass, cut into 2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce (or combination)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) If using raw chicken, cut chicken into thin strips and saute in oil for 2 to 3 minutes until the chicken turns white.  (Skip this step if using seafood.)
2) In a pot, bring coconut milk and water or stock to a boil.  Reduce heat.  Add ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce or soy sauce, lime juice, and cayenne pepper.  Add the chicken and simmer until the chicken is done, 10 to 15 minutes.  If using seafood, simmer soup for 5 minutes, then add seafood and simmer an additional 5 to 10 minutes or just until seafood is cooked.  Add sugar in small amounts to taste - it really brightens the flavor of the soup.
3) Serve over cooked rice.  Sprinkle with scallions and fresh cilantro and serve steaming hot.

This is extremely easy to make and really good!  The flavor is fantastic, with just enough spice to really warm you up from the inside.  Mike liked his with slivers of fresh garlic on top, too.  We ate it with sugar snap peas and leftover garlic cheese bread and were stuffed afterwards.  I will definitely do this one again!