Life with the Lauffers

Hilton Head...the end (finally!)

Ten posts later, I'm finally at the end of our vacation. :)

What a great week we had, and I have to say that traveling with 2 kids under the age of 2 1/2 could have been a recipe for disaster. Our last flight with Micah was last December, which ended in us coming home early, and I really didn't want a repeat this time around. Thankfully that didn't happen, and aside from Reid's night time sleep (or lack there of at times - the last night there he was up for 3 hours straight :( ) and Micah's periodic melt downs - par for the course, and we are figuring how to handle them a little better, it went as best as could be expected.

This is random in this post, yet such a fun picture, as Micah just went and hugged Reid while Reid was crawling around. Micah tends to overwhelm Reid with his love ;)

Capping off our vacation was S'More night at the resort. It just happened to be the last night we were there, and Micah was SO excited to go camping, like "Ew Ah" (curious george, for those of you that don't speak Micahease). There's a story with CG camping, and Micah constantly talks about wanting to camp with Ew Ah, Daddy and the man with the yellow hat. Next year Christian has promised to take Micah camping...I think that will be a fantastic father/son memory!

S'Mores were the perfect way to end a pretty great vacation...

Back to the airport, praying for another positive traveling experience. Believe it or not, it was better than the flight out! Partially due to Reid's being up the night before, I think he was just so exhausted, that he literally slept the entire flight. So much easier to keep the peace with sleeping kids:) Prior to the flight, however, I snapped these pictures of the boys looking out the window at the planes taking off. Reid, with his new mobility, opens him up to a whole new world of exploring.

And there you go - first vacation as a family of 4 - SUCCESS!

Coligny Beach, Hilton Head Island

Our last full day on vacation was beautiful! We hadn't been able to see Coligny Beach yet, which was supposedly the "town center" if there was one in Hilton Head, so off we went for lunch and discovered a beautiful section of town with a fountain and rocking chairs and swings and wooden benches. I decided to try and get the boys together again, just in case I wasn't pleased with the pictures from our Sea Pines day.

I'm definitely glad we did - I just can't get enough of my two kiddos :)

I love the faces of both Reid and Micah in the next sequence of pictures. They are so expressive and just totally look like brothers to me!

Not even planned (obviously) yet the same facial expression. Love.It.

Finally off to the beach. Micah was so excited, but would not let go of his milk, haha.

Gotta love a boy and his milk :)

Photoshoot with My Boys

Christian's mom has been asking us for a picture of the two boys for some time now, and we just haven't been able to get a good one to give her. My goal during vacation was to try and get some good shots of the boys as well as a good family picture...and while we didn't get a great family picture, I do think we got some good one of the boys. Reid is such a sweet, happy go-lucky little baby (until the night time comes, haha) and Micah, when he wants to be, is the sweetest, most kind-hearted, loving little boy. Micah, as most know, has very little middle ground...you really don't have to question what he's feeling, and we were able to get the happy Micah while taking these pictures.

I just love my little family and am so blessed to be able to go through life, day in and day out with them all!

Cheese.

Completely unprompted, Micah leaned over to give Reid kisses.

These brothers truly love each other; melts this Momma's heart.

Happy boy!

I love Reid just taking me in - he loves his Momma :)

Micah was losing interest at this point. I can't imagine why - Christian and I hardly take any pictures...

Sweet smile! I love this picture.

And this is our family picture attempt...could be better, could be worse... but either way just confirms how blessed I am!

Sea Pines, Hilton Head Island

After a couple dreary days, we finally had another picturesque day and traveled to the toe of Hilton Head Island known as Sea Pines. Reading up on it, Sea Pines apparently is the happening place that is active from sun up to sun down. We weren't able to do all we wanted to but took advantage of the time we had as well as the beautiful day to be outside and sight see.

One of the highlights we wanted to do was climb the lighthouse below but it wasn't open when we arrived so we had some time to kill. Unfortunately Micah was in one of his cranky moods for half the time, so we made the most of it... ;) Reid slept on me, we chilled in some awesome red rocking chairs, and then visited a park after Reid woke and Micah played (last post). On the way back to the lighthouse, we stopped at the red rockers for a photo shoot with the boys (next post) and then finally did what our initial intent was...climbing the lighthouse!

The lighthouse we came to climb.

Taking in the beautiful view in front of us...Micah didn't want to be bothered so he was in the rocking chairs by himself.

Some amazing yachts to be found in Sea Pines.

Reid napping while I relaxed.

Micah showing the mood he was in for the first half of the morning.

Finally climbing the lighthouse - Micah did great going up and down the many steps!

View from the top.

After we left the lighthouse area we stopped by Lawton Stables for some petting zoo fun. Found in the zoo were your typical animals with the addition of a very aggressive deer that was roaming free. It was pretty amazing at first, and then annoying and anxiety producing as you had to be on your guard to keep the deer away if you wanted to have any chance at feeding the other animals. I had on a scarf, and the deer 2 or 3 times literally snuck up on me and tried to eat my scarf...but aside from that, it was a fun adventure!

We had planned to go back in the afternoon after nap times and take in the sunset since this is really the only spot on the island to get a great view, but Reid was having a rough afternoon and we decided doing take-out that night was a better plan :) I guess we'll just have to make a trip back to Hilton Head Island in the future to see that sunset!