Annalise's Alley: The Beach

This was part of one of the pools at the resort. I put it on here because if you look beyond the fence you will see something that was probably one of Anna's most favorite parts of the whole trip. Beyond the fence was the pool bar (no, the bar was not her favorite) but the live music that they played on two of the days was. On the first day there was a man playing a guitar which set the stage for the rest of the trip. EVERYDAY about a million times a day she wanted to listen to the "man wif da guitar".

Relaxin' by the pool

Annalise loved the fact that there was a "little pool" to go in. We took her one of the bigger pools most of the time but she was so happy each time we went to the baby pool with her (which we did everyday).

One night we went to Harbourtown. The boats here were even bigger and more beautiful than the boats at Shelter Cove Harbor (mentioned in Part 1). This harbor also has a lighthouse which was really the smallest lighthouse I have ever seen in person. It almost looked fake in my opinion.

A view of the harbor in Harbourtown

My most favorite meal of the whole trip was from this restarant. The seafood was absolutely delicious and well worth the hour plus wait to get in! I highly recommend it and they have two locations on Hilton Head Island if you ever get there!

My favorite beach picture EVER! <3 <3 <3

Chomping away on those hands! She is still getting teeth and I just wish they would come in already.

Being cute and waiting to go to the pool

Leading up to going to the beach I would talk with Anna about going and what we would do and the fact we would have to ride in the car a really long time and sleep away from home, etc., etc., etc. Well, one day I asked what she wanted to do at the beach and she said "Eat pizza and mommy cut it up!" . After that each time the beach was mentioned she would say that this is what she wanted so of course one of the nights we went to Guiseppe's at the Shelter Cove Harbor to get pizza for Annalise and yes, mommy cut it up for her.

After our pizza that night they had fireworks at the harbor shot up from a boat over the harbor. Since I really stink at using our camara at night (and I think we need a better one ours is like four years old now), this is really the best picture that I have. Stan is pointing out the fireworks to Anna. Even though she doesn't like loud things she does like fireworks!

Is this my daughter or what? The activity that she liked doing most on the beach was sitting in the chair looking at ther books. One day, Stan packed the beach bag and forgot to put her books in but remembered mine. Annalise actually sat in my lap while I read 2 or 3 chapters of a Mary Higgins Clark mystery to her. She listened so intently and repeated words as I said them. I really hope that she continues to love books as she gets older.

Stan in the ocean while Anna and I are reading.

I mentioned in Part 1 that Anna didn't like letting sand on herself for too long. This image of her with her fingers spread way out staring (and shaking) her hands throughout the week was a common sight.

Fingers still spread trying to shake off the sand.

Washing her hands in the bucket. Also a common sight.

She did help Stan dig this hole and then wanted to stand in it. Of course after Anna got out she had to wash off.

And after washing off her body she needed to wash off the sand toys. She kept saying "clean, mommy!"

One night we went to the South Beach on Hilton Head which, big surprise here, also has a harbor. We ate at a restaurant overlooking the harbor. In this picture we are waiting for our dinner and Stan decided to snap a picture. We were laughing because Anna would not look at the camara and kept staring at me saying "Cheese!". My friend Kristin came up with the term "camara annoyed" to describe her son when she is taking pictures. I think it is safe to say that Annalise is also camara annoyed much of the time.