My big fat family vacation - arrived at destination: Hilton Head

Chilling like villians

Over the last few years that the whole family vacationed together, we've had to rent multiple condos because of the kids. This year, we found a place that could house all 16 of us. It was either going to be a really great time or else we're going to end up not speaking to each other by the end of vacation.  I'm leaning towards the former.

This place was fantastic and had plenty of room for everybody. The kitchen was gourmet and had not one but two dishwashers which was excellent. Best of all was all the family friendly amenities there. There were two high chairs and booster seats in the kitchen. Not to mention the cribs, two pack and plays, exersaucer and other children's toys. After roaming around the mansion, we all settled in.  Hardwood floors covered the entire house but the living room had a rug on it and was surrounded by the sofas. This was where the babies would play on the floor in a nice, enclosed area.

Two high chairs! The twins were enjoying some delicious fruit in their nubies. The nubies were a great way to let them eat watermelon and cantaloupe without the risk of choking.

 

I learned to sit up on vacation! I'm so proud of myself!

 

Cool ceiling view.

 



The house had its own private pool and Jacuzzi which everybody immediately made use of after laying all the kids and babies down for the night. This was vacation.

Every day is a pool party

 

The guys decided to engage in a contest to see how far they could jump into the pool from the wall of the hot tub. Henry covered the longest distance while Chi wins for covering the shortest distance.

 

Go the distance:

 

 



My big fat family vacation - first stop Pigeon Forge

 

 

 

The twins went on their first big, family vacation this summer. It entailed a long road trip down to Hilton Head, South Carolina with a stop in Pigeon Forge, Tennesee. To prepare for this enormous undertaking, I stocked up on swim diapers and Gerber puffs for the trip. I was also looking for a car seat toy to keep Carter and Ainsley occupied. I dislike road trips and get bored on the road so I can only imagine what could go through their minds if we're in the car any longer than a couple of hours.

Two days before we leave, I found two carseat toys that attached to the handles of the car seat. It contained some play things which played music if you push the button. It felt like fate finding these on one of my few shopping excursions now. Not only were there two of them together, they were cheaper than the backup toy I had saved in my Amazon cart. As if that wasn't enough, I found one extra for my sister too when I searched through the aisles one more time.

The morning we were set to leave, I had packed 3+ bags of luggage in various modes of transport (suitcase, bendable bag, duffle bag) and was armed with two car seat toys, two DVD players with Baby signing time DVDs, puffs, teethers, baby water bottles and some of the twins other favorite toys.

We got out of the house at a decent hour but still lost an hour due to rush hour traffic. The twins did amazingly well on the road but did need to eat every few hours and cried when they wanted to be picked up. I sat in the little mini seat the entire time between them so I could answer their every whim.  Add to it restroom breaks, gas stations to refuel, stops to feed the babies and to feed ourselves, it was almost 8 hours when we finally arrived at Pigeon Forge.

The sun was still out and after checking in, we all changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool.

Carter and Ainsley getting some time on the laptop after a long day on the road.

 

Happy to be free from their car seats.

 

I love grits! First of many Southern meals to start off vacation.

 



Carter and Ainsley's first professional photo shoot

We got pictures taken right around when the twins were going to turn 6 months!

 

Ainsley and Carter switched personas for the shoot. Normally, Carter is a ham and smiles big for the camera. Today wasn't one of those days. Perhaps he was tired or the bright lights were bothering him. He stared at the photographer jumping up and down like a deer in headlights unsure of what reaction he should give. When she continued, he started to cry in protest. Ainsley, on the other hand, kept sticking her tongue out and played along. She laughed and cooed which was completely opposite of how she normally acts. Our photographer was able to get some pretty cute shots.

 

 

 

It is exhausting being a children's photographer! Ours had tons of energy and make noises and bounced around trying to elicit a smile or two. I joined in the madness to help and towards the end of the shoot gave myself a headache.

Long overdue pics with the MCs

Carter and Ainsley were so excited to see McKenzie and McKayla when they came up from Cincinnati for the Ohio State fair!



 



 

 

 Coordinating dresses...how cool is that?

 

Carter's teething...I think.

 

Ainsley using those teeth to take the mushroom's ear off.

 

Though Mackenzie and Mckayla live in Cincinnati, they have seen the twins grow up.

Here is a picture from their first visit when the twins were only two months old.

 

 

 

More solids and other milestones

The venture into solids has continued to be an interesting journey. The twin's first food other than rice cereal were green beans mixed with breast milk and rice cereal which they seemed to tolerate. After about three days of this, I was excited to let them move onto to something tastier - sweet potatoes. They enjoyed them as much as the green beans. I can't tell if they liked them or not but they ate a decent sized portion. Since then, we've introduced a new solid after three days of any particular vegetable or fruit. So far, they have tried broccoli, squash, carrots, cantaloupe, watermelon, avocado, bananas, apples and butternut squash.

Carter prefers sweet over savory and enjoys his fruits. He is the neater eater and will basically eat what you spoon into his mouth. This usually results in him eating until he gets food coma and stares off in space. Little guy needs all the food he can eat!



Ainsley started off really excited about solids and would lunge at the spoon with her mouth wide open. She would then try to chomp on the spoon with the four little teeth she now has! She would also grab the spoon with both hands and try to shove it down her throat. It's hard to tell if Ainsley prefers savory or sweets but she will definitely make it known if she doesn't like something; spitting out what you've spoon into her mouth repeatedly.

Another milestone that Ainsley has reached is being able to sit up on her own if you set her up. I didn't even think to try it until my brother's girlfriend, Stephanie, put her in a sitting position. I looked over and saw that Ainsley could hold her own body up!

"People say I look like my uncle Henry. Do I?"

3 month old videos

It's been a while since I've posted a video. As I go through transferring videos off of my phone, I fould a couple of Carter and Ainsley together where they are three months old and starting to smile.

 

 

 

 

 

First taste of solids!

The doctor brought up feeding solids at the twins' four month checkup but neither Will or I had planned on feeding them until six months. Upon doing some reading, it mentioned that there was a small risk that babies could become pickier eaters if we waited too late to introduce certain foods to them. So we compromised and started them on solids three days after they turned five months. Their first food was rice cereal. I can't tell if they liked it or not but Ainsley was definitely the more aggressive eater between the two. Carter just let most of it dribble out of his mouth and down his chin but I think he liked the experience since it was something different.

Ainsley's famous Popeye picture.

Nom nom nom nom nom.

Thrilled for something new.

 Trying to convince Carter of how yummy rice cereal is.

Carter tries to feed himself.

Even Henry got in on some feeding action.