Day 8- Fun long day at the beach!!

We got up, got on our bathing suites and headed back again to the dreaded HHPrime for our complimentary breakfasts. This awas about 11 am as the restuarant closes at 11:30. As you can tell we did definetly sleep in!  We made sure we ate a full vegan breakfast as best as we could with our choices that were presented. Nothing cooked was complimentary so that made it easier! We all ate, toast, oranges, oatmeal with hot water and raisins and brown sugar. The kids loved the bagels with jam and drank a lot of OJ. Trevor and I enjoyed our own individual tea pots of Earl Grey and we let the kids fill plates up of tattor tots! Yummy! Filled up our belliles and out the door we went to find a great spot on the beach for the remainder of the day!

Trevor and I knew we'd get scorched as you do staying in the sun for a full 8 hour day so we rented an umbrella and chairs and made camp. The kids being kids could care less and ran to the water!! It was low tide and there was a ton of sea dollars all over the beach floor. We got our bukets and filled them up with these cool sea dollars as a fun thing to do for the entire day!! Don't worry at the end of the day we threw them back in! Just some fun and an adventure finding the sea dollars under your feet and digging them up.

We ate our muchies of wheat thins, fruit, ordered french fries, drinks from the bar, juice for the kids and tons of water too!  We later built our cool new kite we won on raffle with Trader Joes! It is an alien figure and boy did it fly!! After a full day at the beach we headed back to the hotel to make PBJ's for the kiddies and beans on toast for Trevor and I.  We were not paying that type of money again nor were we going to eat animals again!

We watched a documentary on Micheal Jackson as his Dr.'s trial is coming up and then  hit the sheets as we had another 5 hours to ride back to Raleigh, NC. 

Here are pics from the beach and video too! Hope you like it!

Love all these photos of our kids, but the close ups take my breathe away of how very beautiful they are!

Love this close up of Britain, she is so very striking!!

Beautiful but crazy Sky!!

Back and front view of Sea Dollars we found!

Seriously, why can't I be 12 again!! Love her figure!!

Our Beach Al Bundy!

Gorgeous view of our hotel from the beach!

Gardner's Beach Spot!!

My Gorgeous Man Trevor, enjoying flying the kite we just built!

Video of Trevor flying our kite and the kids swimming.

Kids enjoying Hilton Head Beach!!

Day 7 - Arrival at Paradise!!

After 5 long hours in the car, getting peed on and driving through torrential down pours for most of our journey, we finally arrived at Paradise!! The weather was amazing; about high 70's and not too many clouds in the sky!! Hilton Head Resort, in Hilton Head South Carolina is beyond beautiful!! The Resort is right on the beach and there is a pool, hot tub and bars all around!! Tons of fun to be had at the beach with renting bikes, canoe's, big wheeled paddle boats and so much more!!

We couldn't wait to get up to our bedroom check out our view as we were on the 5th floor (highest floor level) and look at that gorgeous ocean calling our names!!  We literally pulled off our clothes, got into our swim suites and ran for the beach!! It was high tide and the water was coming fast and the waves were pretty high.  The kids were so excited!! Since it was about a little after 4 pm, Trevor and I were not too eager to get wet and then leave in an hour to get ready for dinner so we stayed on the beach and watched the kids have fun! Plus again, not too energetic after a long drive. It's amazing to think how when you were a kid you were just like your kids and had endless energy!! Not to mention their energy had been pent up for 5 hours in a car!

After an hour or so at the beach; we decided to get some drinks at the pool bar, kids jumped into thepool for some more fun before we returned to the room, showered, got dressed and headed to the closest restaurant in the hotel so we didnt' have to get into the car!!

The kids were told they could have only 2 more nights of not being vegan for dinner if they wanted as I was spent from the arguing and Trevor was craving ribs! I was mortified but was again reminded we are new to this and if we fall off the wagon it's OK as long as we regroup and get back on. 

Trevor had lamb instead (and I cried inside as I was disgusted by his choice to be honest). I really do not want any of that in his system or be apart of helping the slaughtering of animals. He doesn't either but he caved! I was not happy about it at all. I wasn't happy with the kids choices either but we were all on vacation and it was our last 2 nights before back to reality and home cooked meals so I again let it go without argument. I then looked at the menu and it should have been called "we kill cows and others animals; what would you like!" but it was called HHPrime and I must say the staff was very nice but our waiter was an ASS! I asked for this veg to be switched by this veg and he said "we cannot do that". then I said but I need to substitute this veg because I don't like it and he said " well that's not going to work with this particular dish!". I wanted to get up and shake the little man as I am 5'9" inches and quite strong! Also Italian and Irish doesn't help for a good temperament!   I then blew it off and switched up my meal and I must admit caved and got the only fish meal that wasn't covered in a cream sauce etc. When we got the meals the kids hardly ate as they were tired and said it didn't taste good. Didn't make us too happy about  spending crazy money but again, didn't wish to start a fight and said "dont' worry about it". Luke hardly ate his chicken tenders and then fell asleep on the booth seat. Trevor loved his lamb and made me sick! I ate all my gorgeous veg up and tried the fish and was disgusted as it tasted horrible and was saturated with fat!  I said to myself right then and there I was going back to full "cold-turkey" vegan and not ever eating any fish ever again! I felt so guilty trying to eat it and then was disgusted as it was disgusting! Our bill came to $145.00 and was disgusting!! Not a good night for the Gardner family for dinner! We walked the kids back to the hotel room and all discussed how we didn't like our meals and how important is to not eat animals now and again but never. How this proves our bodies are healthier without them and we will not be eating this way tomorrow night and wasting money again! 

Have you ever had a situation like this before? Please advise what you would have done differently, I know believe me I do but any advise is helpful!

Here are pictures of our view from the room and resort! Absolutely gorgeous!!

My Gorgeous Trevor!! We walked back from the beach to get some drinks
and watch the kids in the pool before our horrible dinner!

View from the pool bar looking out to the rest of the resort and farther to the beach!

Loved the landscaping and all the beach decking every where! Beautifully done!

The path to the gorgeous Hilton Head Beach!!

Captured this shot just as the sun was setting! Beautiful!!

As we were touring our hotel; we came across a lot of man made ponds and turtles!
You can see this little guy in the left middle of this picture.

This is the view from the restaurant HHPrime in the morning when we had breakfast.

Day 7- 5 hour Drive to Hilton Head, SC and a major Peeing incident!!

Most car rides are typically the same thing every time; we all get pumped up to where we are going next! We get packed and situated. Trevor never lets me drive as he feels he’ll be bored just sitting there; so he gets our music ready to listen to and I get several books ready to read for the journey. The kids have the same seat in the car each time and their headsets ready and waiting for the next movie of choice!  So no big deal right! Well on this particular lovely journey, eating our pre –packed vegan goodies, like the veggie straws, almond bites, apples, oranges, pretzels etc. Not to mention our very non-vegan M&M’s, Star Bursts, Skittles etc. Well I guess the Star Bursts and Skittles are not too bad but not so Vegan on the M&M’s. Remember we are still in weaning mode and the kids are in “what battle do we wish to pick on vacation mode!”

Well I do not know what it is like for your son’s out concerning potty breaks but our son Luke is the worst potty break announcer ever!! I do not know how to politely say this so I am going to be my honest self and make this story as hysterical as it was!! We advised the kids to be kind and let us know well in advance when they needed to go to the bathroom. The Rest Stops are announced every 30 plus miles or so! So we needed to know ASAP; not to mention it’s very dangerous to just immediately stop on the highway and pull over to a shoulder! They typically don’t exist! At least not when you need one too! So we are happily driving, there is no fighting for once and Trevor and I are singing to Yes, John Mayer, Lindsay Buckingham, Tina Turner to name a few or listening to motivational speakers like Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield etc.  Out of nowhere Luke literally screams at us “I gotta pee now!!” Well you can imagine we were startled big time first! Then we were very pissed off as parents get with this news told over and over again before during and after a long road trip!! Trevor is yelling “Luke, seriously I am going to kill you!!!” “You keep doing this to us!!” He does, never a bit a notice, just is ready to explode at any minute!! So as a Mom you are always ready to go at a moment’s notice with incidents like this and have to think quickly on your feet! Well I was thinking quick on my ass as it was seat belted to the seat!  I scanned the car and noticed the Universal Popcorn plastic container next to Luke’s legs that he’d just finished eating moments before and said.  “Luke, unbuckle, pull your pants down and pee in the Popcorn container!” Skylar screams “OMG, no, pull over!” Trevor said "no way, we are going 75 to 80 and there’s no shoulder or rest stop in sight, do it Luke!” I repeat myself and all hell breaks loose as Skylar starts screaming “NO!!!” Britain isn’t too much aware of this as her headset is firmly on but starts to take them off and listen; gets the gist and starts screaming NO as well!  I scream louder and say “do it do it now! “ Luke pulls his pants down and just as you think he’d get that little guy in the container we see spraying pee coming out of his pants all over us like he’s putting out a very intense fire in our Minivan!! We are all screaming now and Luke isn’t sure if he should cry or laugh at us! It only lasted seconds and then he got his bits inside the container and finished in there! But OMG, Skylar was screaming as if she was being stabbed or something!! She wouldn’t stop!  Well I just laughed and laughed and Trevor started too as well! The only ones not doing it was the girls and Luke then started to chuckle!! When I finally stopped laughing I said to Sky, “now when we get older and you think back at all the road trips you’ve ever had this one is going to be on the top of your list and you’ll laugh and say remember when Luke peed on all of us!” She screams; “no I wont, this was so disgusting and how can you laugh!” I said “get over it”.  We then proceeded to Hilton Head, SC with Luke taken care of, Britain mortified and Skylar so shaken up and wet she had to take her pants off until we got Hilton Head! So funny! Any crazy car ride stories you’d like to share! Mines a keeper and so stinking funny!!

Day 6 - Last Day at Animal Kingdom!

It was our very last day at Animal Kingdom and we were all bummed! This was our first shortest vacation ever at a Disney Resort! We’ve normally stay 2 or more weeks! So we felt quite sad our last day had come so quickly and we were not ready to leave!! BOO HOO!!

We didn’t wish to walk our day away at Universal again that is why we only bought a 2 day pass and we had planned to be at the pool every other day. I know I mentioned this earlier but why is it when you walk your legs off at a Park to entertain your kids and of course yourself; it’s blazing hot but the day you choose to be a complete slob and lounge out at the pool its overcast and looks as if it’s going to pour itself-down again!!  Well we didn’t’ care; it was our last day and it was going to be at the pool rain or shine!

We decided to not go to Animal Kingdom’s pool but its neighbor The Jumba House which is a part of the Animal Kingdom. This resort is so much bigger and has in our opinion a much better pool that is much bigger as well. The slide was not as fast or fun according to Sky, Britain and Luke but they still slid down it all day.   They had a great bar right on the pool deck and Trevor and I got comfortable ready to have drinks and read our books.  The kids wanted us in the water most of the time but thankfully for us tired parents there were a lot of other children and an Animal Kingdom Pool Party to entertain them with!

It was really great fun watching our kid’s par take in the activities that would win them prizes. Skylar won the Hula hooping contest. She is really slender and her hips just hook onto those Hula hoops and sway! She got up to 4 Hula hoops and managed to make them go up and down her body!! Very impressive!! Luke and Britain found other ways to use the Hula hoops which was fun to watch and they were very creative.  They both are not as long in the body as Sky is and found it a little more difficult to use them just on their hips!  We had a nice day enjoying what sun we got, ordering French fries hot and tasty!! Drinking up lovely cocktails for me, lager or ale for Mr. Trevor and just NOT watching the time go by!!!

Sky being very impressive with Hula Hooping not 1 Hula Hoop but 4 at the same time!!

Unfortunately the rain did win over all and we were rained out by midday!!  Not a problem, we just changed clothes and headed to our community hall for more indoor entertainment. The girls and I made crafts for our friend’s daughter for her 6^th birthday. We made bracelets, a dairy book, and I made a fun frame with stick on jewels and animal kingdom logo’s on it etc. We then decided it was best to head back to the room and make another night worth of steamed veggies and rice!! Delicious! The kids dug in too and we finished the evening with a Disney movie! We went to bed a little early as we had to check out the next day and drive another 5 hours to Hilton Head, SC for our 1 ½ days at the beach!!

Day 5 - Pit Stop At Margaritaville in Universal!!

After leaving Universal after a long 7 to 8 hour day! Trevor and I needed some yummy refreshments and the kids were craving Soda after tons of water!

As we were there; we got to see the Biggest Volcano ever that doesn’t shoot out lava but Magaritas!

Very cool!! Thought you’d enjoy seeing it too!

Day 5 of Holiday - Another venturous day in Universal! Do you hear it? My feet are already BARKING!!

Getting up early would be an ideal way to start a vacation but when you stay up to almost midnight, have had a few drinks, and have been making sure your kids have been well entertained (God forbid!) you are a bit pooped to get up and be overly energetic the next day! At least for me and Trevor; we find more reason’s to cuddle in the morning and ignore the sun a bit!

Luke is hysterical; I woke him up a bit from the flash of taking Sky's pic.
He said "Mommy take mine and I'll look like I am sleep walking!"



Took sweet pictures of the babes while they were still sleeping before our 2nd trip to Universal.

Out of all our children Britain is our craziest sleeper! She starts in one postion and you always find her in another postion or off the bed but covered head to toe with many blankets, stuffed animals and my favorite an eye mask!
 She copies me there!

Trevor was still in sleep mode when I decided to take this pic and it's hysterical because it is pitch black in the room and he's being blinded by the flash! What a fabulous wife I am!! Ha Ha!!

It’s day 5 of our 10 day holiday and we had bought a very expensive 2 day park pass to Universal. Our thinking was what if it pours all week; we need a backup plan! So we ended up spending almost $1000 for 6 people (including Sky’s friend Abby) to make this happen! Crazy money spent, I can think of so many wonderful things to invest with that money like Gold or something! Always thinking me! Anyway we decided we had seen enough in Island of Adventure; Hogwarts is very amazing and I’d love to live there (as the kids and Trevor would too as we are beyond crazy Harry Potter fans)as a witch and have magical powers!! How cool would that b!! Unfortunately that’s not reality so we decided we should check out the other park to Universal. I do believe it’s called Hollywood Studios or something to that effect. I can tell you my feet were already dreading this day as you can expect to spend at least an 8 hour plus day there! In our case it was 7.  We headed into the park and the first thing we did was look for Shrek! There he was on a big billboard with Donkey and Phiona!! We got in line and surprisingly we didn’t have to wait long. We were quite entertained by the virtual 3-D images of the 3 little pigs and other Shrek characters as we waited for their ride! It was a very cool ride and it started the day off wonderfully! 

We then got in line to Disasters! All Disastrous films made by some crazy made up director and the best part was, if picked you could be in their latest movie! Well they had asked for an Adult Male Gorgeous man for a part in their move and of course Skylar screamed out her Daddy’s name and got him the role!  So much fun to watch Trevor acts out a part and then watch it in a trailer of their new movie “Motha Nature!” while on their ride and enduring scary “Motha Nature” scenarios of flooding train stations, earth quakes etc.  So funny! We then took our new found "STAR" Mr. Trevor and the rest of us to get some snacks and the only “vegan choices” were popcorn and French fries! So that’s what we had, we also were smart and brought our cool new cups the ones with the lids and the straws. Filled them up with bubbler water and sat down right outside Jaws’ ride to eat. You could hear the screams as Jaws obviously came up out of the water to eat them!

 This was Trevor getting ready for his big 15 mins worth of fame! The next clip will show you his actual action scene!

Trevor is excited and very embarrashed to have been picked! It was awesome to see him being picked!!

We were going to do that ride next but in 90 degree weather with beyond humidity to make it feel like the 100’s we decided to find a ride with little lines. Before we got in line for The Simpson’s Krusty the Klown’s beyond fantastic ride we decided we needed a spritzing break and headed over to the Coke Spritzing Station to literally cool our skins! So wonderful was it to feel all those spritzing nozzles all over your very hot skin!

Trevor was first one in to get spritzed! Kids enjoying Daddy getting slightly drenched!

Luke looks as if he's been swallowed by the Coke Spritzing Machine!

Can you give me an Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Sky said "Now this is what I am talking about!"

Can you give me a double "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Britain needed this cool off! Look at her face! Hysterical!!

Seriously this was luxury at 90 plus degrees!

Still enjoying it!! I'll give  you a big "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Wanted! 3 Crazy Kids who have been enjoying themselves too much!

 After our very crazy but very cool roller coaster Krusty Klown ride we headed over to our final ride with Jaws!! Trevor and I have been on this ride a couple of times and it never fails how the shark scares the living shit out of us both! We scream more than the kids did and we know when it’s coming! How sad!! 

Crazy Gardner Family enjoying the thrill of almost being eatin!!

After a long day, back to Animal Kingdom for some much needed showers and with tons of veg left over we made our gorgeous homemade stir-fry of course “vegan style” but whoever eats stir fry without meat is eating vegan!

Here are some more pics of our day at Universal!

Sky enjoying a mini water park!! She laughed the whole way down!

It's wonderful the details that is put into Universal Studios! So much to look at and enjoy!

What a face! She cracks me up!

This is Back to the Future 3 - Doc's Train

Back to the Future cool time machine car forget the actual name, but funny characters standing around it!

I can hear Madonna's song in my head right now "Strike a Pose!"

Another cool building, love the ambience!

Day 4 of Holiday - Pool, Drinks, Torrential Down Pour & T-shirts!

After a long day at Universal Island of Adventure we wanted to start our 4^th day of vacation at the pool side! To enjoy a long day of sun, fun, pool side activities/games and for Trevor and I as many yummy cocktail drinks as possible!

After sleeping in till after 9 am we decided to make our very special mickey brunch (vegan morning star sausages and homemade vegan waffles) we got dressed and headed out to the pool! It was midday and the weather was looking not so good to start with. You gotta love spending a full day in lines and heat for the parks but the day you wish to hang by the pool it looks like the heavens are going to open and pour!

It's a Mickey! Vegan Morning Star Sausages, we also tried the Maple syrup ones too.



Britain getting excited to eat her Mickey!!



Forgot to mention we tried "soy bacon" by Enjoy Life. It was better than other's we've tried but everyone else disliked it but me. Oh well, gotta keep searching for that bacon!

This was Luke's Mickey as he's now into Raisn Toast again! Not 100% vegan toast but a better choice than most.

Got a nice table and set up camp. Less than an hour the heavens opened up!! If you’re going to spend a day at the pool unless there is thunder and lightning; might as well have fun getting wet! So the kids and I decided to head to the hot tub and stay warm as the cool, hard pouring rain was coming down in sheets!

About 30 mins later it cleared up and the sun was shining brightly. Sky and I played the most horrible ping pong you’ve ever witnessed in your life. We couldn’t keep the ball on the table or get a good rhythm to call it a game for that matter. We decided to quit after 20 mins and walked back to the table for some drinks. Trevor surprised me with a yummy sweet cocktail! No idea what is was called. The drink was just good, cold, sweet and it went down very quickly!  As it was approaching lunch and we bought a ton of food, Trevor went back to the room to make us some pickies. We don’t always like to eat lunch and we don’t wish to miss a meal so we just pick sometimes as you do. Trevor had put together some PB sandwiches, apples, oranges, vegan peanut butter chocolate crisps I had made several days before for the journey, Veggie straws (so good), wheat thins just to name a few.  As we finished our pickies/lunch the weather turned for the worst and a huge thunder lighting storm came in very fast! We decided it was best to call our only 3 hours at the pool a day and head into the Animal Kingdom’s Community Hall and see what activities could be had there! It was T-shirt making day! What fun; Sky, Britain and I got shirts and light boxes, stencils and fabric markers and went to work. I made Luke his T-shirt as he was engrossed with Wii games and two new friends he had met at the pool. Trevor loves Wii as well as any video game and was found happily playing Lego’s Indian Jones and the temple of doom!

 Sky made a cool Minnie “baby” mouse shirt with funky designs, Britain made a very cool themed Phineas and Ferb shirt with most of the characters and I decided to make a Cars themed shirt for Luke with Mater and Lightning McQueen! They all came out so awesome and it’s hard to believe but we spent like 3 hours doing this and the time flew by!

3 gorgeous, crazy kids proudly showing off their cool new Disney Made T-shirts!

I am very proud of my artistic ways and love all the extra detail I put into this T-shirt for luke. I also added his name on his right sleeve and age and on the left the date.

Britain's Phineas and Ferb Themed T, very cool and creative!

Sky's very sweet and funky cool Baby Minnie Mouse T!

Sky's back of T

Britain's back of her T

As it was approaching dinner, we decided to head back to the room, take showers and get ready for dinner and Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler movie!  (Just an FYI all free movies from Animal Kingdom are Disney Movies; big surprise right).Trevor and I made a delicious old favorite new again Vegan Style! Fajitas!  We sautéed onions, mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes (add them last as they soften quickly) with Virgin Oil and added them to small round corn flour wraps, with yummy salsa sauce! It was the best meal I’ve eaten in such a long time! I have loved most of our vegan meals but this was so fresh and so yummy and hot right off the stove! If we were at home we would have added Fajitas seasoning! But I suggest you make it and watch as your mouth smiles! You are going to love this dish!

Seriously! Look at the steam coming off this delicous dish!

We were quite shocked to have Britain and Sky join us for dinner that night! We typically have to make something else! They are liking our new vegan way's me thinks!!