Hilton Head 2026

A winer break trip is THE BEST! When you don't like to fly, though, you have LIMITED OPTIONS FOR GOOD WEATHER. Ben and I have given ourselves a firm deadline to find an awesome place in the WI north woods for next year OR just book this same week in South Carolina, though, because the allure of skipping the part of break where everyone is home and bored is TOO GREAT.

(Seriously-- a big house with a hot tub and a fire pit on a frozen lake would be SUPER FUN)

ANYWAY. The drive down was lovely, and we OF COURSE stopped at a Buc-ees in Tennessee and also in Bloomington, IL to see my mom just DAYS before her retirement.

We stopped for the night in Richmond, Kentucky at a Home2Suites. We got 2 suites next to each other, and Dorothy and Minnie were the only people to share a bed. Cooper and Jack slept on pull out couches, and Ben, Harry, and I got queens to ourselves. We left before breakfast, but the pool was fine. The gym was fine. And there was excellent lobby coffee at 5am. We tired to stay in that same chain on the way home, but we opted for a Hilton Garden Inn instead because of timing.

And! Made it to the Sea Pines beach club before sunset!

Is it even your favorite beach if you don't immediately do a backflip??

At Frosty Frog (where the kids did, indeed, eat frog), We randomly ended up under a Ball Sate flag (that's where Ben got his MA)

Other highlights:

1. Dolphin Dash 5 k on Sea Pines beach

(I got my same time as Thanksgiving exactly, and Ben was faster. He could have been eve faster, but he stayed with me out of some weird sense of loyalty, but I was like dude this is my favorite place in the world and I am running alongside DOLPHINS (literal dolphins just frolicking next to us the whole time) ENJOY YOURSELF. SO he did.)

2. Day trip to Savannah

3. Our excellent Marriott condo right by Harbour Town-- steps from our favorite bakery

4. Going out without the kids 

5. NYE at Salty Dog and Harbour Town

6. BEACH

We brought Hockey Sauce, and it was SO FUN in the beach

After being devastated that there was no Brandy Melville in Savannah (EYE ROLL ALL THE EYE ROLL), Dorothy did manage to buy something she could literally buy anywhere in the world (JellyCat)

Just like we book-ended our entire year with Hilton Head (SO AWESOME), we also boo- ended our trip with Frosty Frog and randomly ended up under a Miami of Ohio flag (my MA program). Hashtag kismet for sure.

            

Also! Minnie almost made it to midnight on NYE, and the next day, she was a little bit Weekend at Bernies at dinner

She also refused to go down to the hot tub at 11 on NYE because she was worried about bats (we noticed bats in the trees when we went out on our bedroom balcony to drink wine, so it became a morning only balcony). We assured her that there were not bats down so low, but she said she was just going to go to bed. So she did, and Harry and Jack stayed upstairs with her while Ben and I took Dorothy and Cooper to the pool. WHERE WE SAW A GIANT BAT and ran screaming inside. Minnie was SO SMUG when we told her about it the next morning.

A perfect way to end 2025/ring in 2026! 

Sure, maybe the bloom wore off the rose on the journey hme, but we were greeted with Costco and Whole Foods on the front porch and were home by NOON on Saturday-- in time for Harry and Ben to prepare for the Bears game in Chicago on Sunday and the kids to head back to school TODAAAAAAAAAY!!!

That's us playing Hues and Cues in the Hilton Garden Inn lobby on Friday night-- LOVE that game and highly recommend. Even Minnie can play, and it's fin (or fun adjacent for adults, too.)