Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house.  We had 15 people total and a ton of great food!  I made the turkey, gravy and stuffing and a few other small side dishes and a dessert. Everyone else brought side dishes and desserts.  I really didn't have time to take too many pictures but I did get some of Anna playing with her cousins.

 Playing cars

 Enjoying some dessert

 The tent still providing some fun!

Stan's sister Lisa crawling through the tube!

The Beach - Part 3

One morning we decided to take Anna to a Children's Museum.  We had been saving it for a rainy day activity in case it rained one of the days and we couldn't go to the beach or pool.  By Thursday it still hadn't rained at all (it never did) but we decided to take her anyway to get a little break from the sun for a day.  It was really nice because it was completely geared towards really young kids.  The following are pictures of what seemed to be her favorite parts:

Anna really liked this little chair.

Anna liked this sand a lot because it didn't really stick to her hands at all and didn't really create a mess.  It was called Moon Sand and has a little bit of a different consistancy to it.  It may be a popular thing for kids for all I know but it was the first time that I ever saw it!

Playing in the space shuttle.  She only wanted to be a passenger so a little boy flew her around for a bit.

Again, is this my daughter or what?  This was a little store where they had pretend money and checks and an old credit card machine with fake credit cards.  Definately one of her favs!

Stan thought it was funny how much she liked this area too.  He is always saying how much alike Anna and I are starting to be.

Drawing on the white board.  Actually this was a piece of white paper with a giant sheet of plexi glass over it.  It worked just like a white board and was probably a lot cheaper!

Annalise enjoyed carrying around this poor dog by the throat.  She carried it all over the place.

She also liked to carry this alligator too!

Anna and I enjoying some tea.

Making a craft.  This was actully the first time she used glue.  I let her help me squeeze the dabs on the paper and she would put the pieces of paper or whatever she chose on the dabs.

In addition to the sand being an issue for Anna she has started this thing where she if there is any dirt on her shoe (doesn't have to be in it) she wants to take them off.  Not always but frequently.....too frequently.  We have been spending a lot of time lately talking about how it is OK to get dirty sometimes and that it is OK to have dirt on your shoes cause that's what they're for!

Stan getting the dirt off.

This night we went to Coligny Plaza and there was live music there as well as restaruants and shops.

Anna enjoyed a little after dinner dancing.

More dancing

After we listened to the guitar guy we walked a little further.  Annalise spotted something else and stopped short.

"Are you coming?"

What was she looking at?

These guys playing some music.

She was completely mesmerized by them and didn't move a muscle, even to dance.  Maybe it was the reggae type music they were playing??? Don't really know but all she wanted to do was watch them.

Enjoying some ice cream

The last and final picture has such significance to Stan and I.  On our last night we went shopping at the outlets and we let Anna ride on the coin operated toys.  This one is funny to us because she has an Arthur book that we read to her at least 152 times a day!  Even though there were at least 10 different things there this was the one she continued to talk about for a few days after.  She kept mentioning "widin wif Arfur".

The Beach - Part 2

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.

Finally she looked.

The view from our table.  There was even live music for Anna although we didn't get a picture of it!