HHI Family Reunion TR 7/31-8/7/09 10/16 Final Updates Pg 5!

[podsnel]

Hi! I am finally ready to start my 09 DHHIR TR! The planning began a year ago, when we went down for our first visit with DBIL & DSIL (OH, as in OHIO, excuse me, OHHIO!) and their boys and we fell in love with the place. The whole place. The island is beautiful, but we all felt the resort itself was just so special, and we were anxious to experience it again, but with all the family. As in, my DH is one of 5 sons, all with wives and kids- 27 in all!! Not to mention my very proud, very generous MIL (FIL passed away 8 years ago) who wanted to treat her family to an AMAZING vacation! Now, we knew everyone wouldn't be able to make it, right off the bat. Our oldest nephew has followed in his father's footsteps (bootsteps?) and is serving in the Airforce. And our oldest son, Sean, is just not up for this trip at this point (although we hope he will be one day)- he is autistic, and currently having issues with sleeping anywhere but home (but we are working on it for our WDW trip this November, and he has slept away from home the past 2 weekends with us, so keep your fingers crossed and please keep him in your prayers!) That still left a family of 26 looking for a good time... so we secured a GV (with rented/transferred points from a WONDERFUL DISpal- I bet you can guess who!) and 2 2bdrm villas on a DVC 25% cash discount. In case you didn't know, DHHIR has only 5 GVs- so getting one of them during the summer when they are fully booked is a BIG deal! We were all so excited!! We had NEVER all gone away together before, and since we are spread out between NJ, Ohio and Florida, our kids would be all together for the first time in 3 years- when we all met in Florida at Grandma's (and 2 BIL's). But THIS time, the playing field was even- no mail or Dr's appts or work to get in the way. Just vacation uber-happiness for all!!! Or maybe I should change that to for most... since one BIL from FLA backed out a month before the trip (his eldest daughter was accepted into a prestigious ballet school, so all 7 of them stayed home to support her ) and....since one BIL & SIL found a way to complain about pretty much everyone and everything. Isn't that just exhausting??? I think it stinks, so I will be staying away from THAT topic as much as possible (although if it creeps in a little here and there, I hope you'll forgive me- I am REALLY PISSED!!!!).

Sooo.....where to begin....we were arriving from NJ on Friday and staying at the Hampton for 2 nights before checking into DHHIR on Sunday. Why not check in early at Disney's resort? Well...DBIL & family (NJ) were already there, spending the week in HHI before the whole clan arrived. So we figured since we would be spending all our time with them at their resort, we would be ok at the Hampton. KWIM? So....here we come!

Always ready for Disney in my car!

I took pics of the room, because on the HHI lovers thread people who haven't stayed here wonder how the Hampton is. It's fine! But it's no Disney! Actually, all the people who work there are VERY nice, it is very clean with comfy beds and the first morning at breakfast I met 2 lovely sisters who I shared my table with. We were in a deluxe room, it would sleep 6 as there was a pullout couch in addition to the 2 queen beds.

A quick wash-up, and we were on our way over to visit some family who were staying just down the road.....

 

[podsnel]

So DBIL & family (NJ) were staying just down the road at the HHI Resort- also known as the Stack-n-Shack by HH Islanders- and we were ther in a heartbeat. Their family consists of Mom & Dad and their 3 kids, DNeice almost 13 & DNephews 11 and almost 8. When the family from Fla (with the 13 year old ballerina) cancelled, NJ decided to bring a girlfriend (DGF 15) to keep their daughter happy...since in my husband's family, girls are few and far between. And besides DN13, on this trip there would only be one other girl cousin- age 7. They had been enjoying the beach- and indoor pool during the daily thunderstorms. Which began the minute we arrived. But it still looked pretty out there-

We placed an order for some take-out, I was DYING to try Alligator Grille, so that's where we ordered from. While we waited, we went to swim in the indoor pool, then came back to the outdoor pool as it began to semi-clear & the men came back with the food. O.M.G. Everyone enjoyed their meals, it was all really delicious. I had scallops, and may I just say, I WILL be having those scallops IN the restaurant one day- they were fabulous! EVEN as take-out! A few ice creams and glasses of wine later, we decided to head back to the Hampton for some much needed zzzzzzzzz's.

In the morning, the sun was shining, and we were headed back to the SnS for the beach. DSIL & I walked, while the other 8 of us waited to take the shuttle- which was a big golf cart pulling a trailer full of beach crap.

We waited at the signpost-

And eventually they arrived-

To the beach! Pods (DH) assumes the position-

And the vacation has officially begun!

I gave my still working Olympus waterproof camera to my niece, and she had a great time recording the crazy cousins antics in the ocean!

DN11 found a sand dollar-

which he put back in the ocean after we had all checked him out. The kids decided to have a sludge slinging contest-

And I think my DS12, Tyler, won most disgusting (big surprise!).

We ate lunch at Coco's, their snack bar.


Don't. Do. It.

It took an HOUR (that's 420 minutes in dog years I'll never get back!) for our giant order of 2 cheeseburgers, 3 orders of fries, mozzerella sticks and a hot dog to come out. There were a total of 2 tables (us being one, a 3 top being the other) when we sat down to order. We decided that the guy who drives the beach cart must ALSO be the chef, and that is why both things took so freakin' long.

Soon after lunch, the sky turned black and we decided it might be a good idea to head back to the resort and its pool. Great thing- no thunder and lightening, so we all went swimming! What's the difference? We were soaked to the bone by the time we got there anyway! The kids had some more fun with the camera-

And the uncles had some fun, too.

DH & DS 11

Tonight, our kids would be hanging out with the cousins, and DH & I would be going out to dinner .... so we left them to go back and get ready to have dinner with....everyone's favorite HHI CM DISgal- can you guess who it is????

 

[podsnel]

So tonight we were going out with Disneyaholic, aka Dottie and her DH, Joe. Pods had never met either of them, and this would be my first intro to Mr. Disneyaholic. Dottie had invited us over to her house for a cocktail and a nibble before we went over to Alexander's for the evening. On the way over, my DH proved, once again, that he really doesn't listen to me when I speak. He said, "so, how do you know Dottie?" "Well, DEAR, she is my friend from the DISboards. She introduced herself when I was in the Mercantile last year to buy water before I went kayaking with Tyler. We were only able to talk for about a minute and a half before I had to go, and unfortunately, that was the only time we saw each other, because she left that day to go back home for a few days." Sheesh- I only told him like a THOUSAND times we would be having dinner together!!!!

Well.... both he and I were THRILLED to spend the evening with the Disneyaholics! What a wonderful, fun couple they make. We had loads of laughs with them- Joe is a SUPER storyteller and joke master! He and Pods had one or two things in common, being married to DISgeeks who both have clearly had waaaaaaaaayyyy too much of the Kool-Aid.... Although Joe was actually wearing a Mickey Hawaiian shirt that night- Good work, Dottie! I'll have to start dressing my DH up a little more from now on.

Anyway, after a Rita with our friends, enjoying their absolutely GORGEOUS view of the marsh AND the fishing pier at DHHIR , we headed over to Alexander's for a fabulous seafood dinner with some very good company. I am so glad they suggested this restaurant, it was PERFECT. I couldn't be more happy about spending the night with them- I wish we could do it more often! Here's a pic of us at the end of the night- notice the boys' matching credit cards?

Up next- I'm up and out the door while the family sleeps- time to check-in at DHHIR!!

 

[SLM]

Enjoying the trip report very much! Your wonderful TR and pictures from your last stay at HHI inspired my DH and I to stay for a week last fall-well, we are now HHI lovers and planning another trip for next year!

 

[podsnel]

I was up bright and early, grabbed a quick breakfast at the Hampton (I love the fruit salad there- tons of fresh citrus) and RAN (literally- I was excited! I was going back to Disney!) to my car to go and check in. I was checking in at 8:15 am, and do you know I was disappointed to hear I was the 2nd person checking in that morning! Someone beat me, can you stand it? I needed to make sure our 2 villas would be as close as possible- and that the 2 bdrm would be on the 1st floor (for my MIL). This seemed to make it a little more difficult to place us, I guess it was a very good thing I went to check in so early. But our rooms wouldn't be ready for quite some time- the GV takes 5 hours to clean! Immediately after check-in, I went down to the Rec window to sign up for a few things.

1. Bikes for some of us- last year we checked in on Monday and had a tough time getting them, by Monday many bike renters (including Disney) were out.

2. Sign up the families (who had responded to all my emails in the past months) for kayaking on Member Day.

3. Sign up all 11 kids for the Monday night kids night out. 4 were going in the teenage group which was mini golf and arcade games, the rest would be on the scavenger hunt.

I think the CM's all thought I was a little nutty. You know the expression "you wear your heart on your sleeve"? Well, that pretty well sums me up- and right at this point I was literally jumping up and down I was so excited!! Gwenyth was the CM at the window and she actually remembered me from last year (I must have been goofy then, too!) and so I was explaining how we were there for a family reunion, and there would be 20 of us, and I couldn't wait for everyone to arrive because I thought we would all have so much fun together. SO for the rest of the trip, Gwenyth remembered our names and what we were doing- she was really just great. Anyway, next, I walked around, bought 2 refillable mugs, got some coffee, and took some pics-

Then it was back to the Hampton to rouse the family and so our vacation could REALLY begin!

 

[podsnel]

Enjoying the trip report very much! Your wonderful TR and pictures from your last stay at HHI inspired my DH and I to stay for a week last fall-well, we are now HHI lovers and planning another trip for next year!

That makes me sooooooooo happy, hearing that!!! I'm so glad you had fun and are going back!! I just love it there! And thank-you, very, very much.

 

[podsnel]

So after i threw everything in the luggage, and ran around the room like a nut yelping "C'MON C'MON!!! Let's go to Disney!!!!" a few hundred times, we FINALLY were at the resort and soon joined by the other NJ family. We had something to eat and then were hanging at the pool. At 1:00 we were signed up for the "Secrets of the Marsh" tour with Gwyneth. We all put on our boots and got ready to head out, when G asked if we wanted to get wet. Well, sure! We thought she meant in the marsh on the tour, but what she was referring to was the GIGUNDO black cloud of rain flood that was heading our way- which she said would be pouring on us in about 3 minutes- and do you know, 3 minutes after she said that, it began to POUR!! Man, that girl is GOOD! So we went back and she handed out some umbrellas, then suggested we wait a few for the rain to slow down. In the meantime, we were all prepared, and we just hung out by the pool. Make fun if you will, but at my house, NOTHIN' says SEXY like a bathing suit, a pair of mudboots and a broken umbrella!

Yea, yea, I know- I'm Too Sexy for this Thread! Soon the weather improved, and we were all off + one other girl (who turned out to be from the town next to ours at home AND whose brother played DS12 in a baseball tournament this summer! Small world or what!) + Gwyneth into the marsh to learn about its secrets of the mud & muck.

Gwyneth!

Around this time, my youngest started complaining about his boots hurting his ankle, so DH left & went back with him. But I can tell you, his boots were NOT the problem- his fear of poisonous snakes et al instilled in him by some other kids in the Outer Banks (earlier this year) was in full force instead. Anyway, the rest of us learned about the crabs and the oysters and the snails, our girl Gwenyth is UBER smart!

We ate some pickle weed- that tasted like...pickles...

DN8 like getting stuck in the muck-

We learned the tides are HUGE in Hilton Head, especially in the spring. There can be a 7 foot difference between high and low tide. See the ladder? At high tide it is in the water-

A good cross-section of muck- it's what they burn for fuel in some places. Layers upon layers of poop and dead animals, smushed into one batch of goo. And here it is, an obscure Seinfeld reference...AH, the peat!

Our group of muck and mudders-

Then we were off with the boots (of course, DH begged me to keep mine for...you know...later, but I declined) and back to the pool, which was about to start the fun with some pool games-

Boys and girls, grab your duckies!!!!

Ok, that ends the first duck game now gently toss your duckies to the CM-ummm, I think we all thought he said throw your duckies AT the CM...

That poor kid! The ducks were a-flyin! He seriously had all those ducks flyin' at him which pretty much everyone at the pool thought was hysterical! Well, except for probably him. Anyway, another game and BIL won an arcade game!

Their kids having fun-

And more games-

And then....our rooms are ready!! YIPPEE!!! Just in time for those clouds rolling in! Next up- get ready for a TON of Grand Villa pics!!!

 

[podsnel]

I literally RAN to the villa to stick my key in the door and take photos before anyone else got in...not that 11 kids would make a mess, or anything ... And this is what I saw-

Then upstairs-

One bedroom-

The view out the window-

Down the hall to the other bedroom-

Back downstairs-

The gorgeous kitchen-

With the full washer and dryer-

Cont'd next post-

 

[podsnel]

The full bath off of the living room-

The master-

Did you know the GV master has its own full bath? So in a GV there are 4 full bathrooms- I never knew!

The view out the bathroom window-

Looking over to the main balcony from the master's balcony-

And the main balcony-

We were in BLDG. 16, and so was my MIL. 1622 is a really nice location for getting to everything, near the center of the resort- but unfortunately, without a marsh view. BUT...it did have a view of the horseshoe court right below us, and we DID make use of that during the week, and everyone LOVED having the basketball hoop right out the door, so not all was lost. The GV was very impressive- I am truly amazed at how a place can look sooo rustic, and yet soooo lovely all at once. I think its part of the charm of this resort.

OK- I'm off to upload more photos....

 

[podsnel]

Here it is! The one mug I have left (of the 2 I bought-DS12 left one in Big Murgie's Den when he was shooting pool one day, and didn't let anyone know until 1 1/2 days later), the other was purple where this one is green, so you can have a choice of 2 colors-

I LOVE my mug- drink my coffee from it everyday!

 

[podsnel]

As we were unloading the cars, both the families from Ohio and Florida (with Grandma) arrived- along with a DOWNPOUR of rain! On this vacation, it rained everyday at some point, but it never rained for a whole day or even most of a day, so that was just fine- we'll take it! Although, unloading luggage in the rain is probably not the funnest activity in the world, but lucky me, I'm the unpacker, so I was GOOD! The cousins were all sooooooooooo happy to see each other!

One BIL & SIL began making dinner and it was ready in a flash. First the kids had taco meat and then the adults-

Originally we had planned (as in MY family of 4) to either get take-out or go out to dinner every night, because I just don't like to cook on vacation. It's mainly because I cook ALL THE TIME at home. For EVERYONE. For EVERY holiday, event and gathering, for many, many, many people. And I love to and am very happy to. (Just this week I made Gazpacho for 100 people) The only break I ever take from this food frenzy is on vacation- partly because I don't want to cook without all the "stuff" I have at home and I don't want to lug it all down and lug it all back, but also because I want to try every restaurant there IS and when I cook I miss out on all those great places!! And HHI is LOADED with GREAT places to try!! But.......

I felt really awful going out and getting food for dinner when they were all eating in. So they were nice enough to share their meals with us, because they always had so much (although FWIW, only ONE couple wants to cook like that again next year, guess who.... Everyone else concluded a little cooking was ok, but more restaurants and take-out should be in the mix next time, it was too much work. Go figure.). Sunday night there was supposed to be a campfire, but that was cancelled because of rain, so there was indoor insanity scheduled in the Community Hall instead. The rain, however looming, had stopped long enough for some of us to go inside the CH and some of us to try fishing out on the pier-

Then it was back to the pool for a swim, and the adults had a good time catching up-

I ALWAYS laugh when I'm with DH's little brother-

Soon we went back to our villas and called it a night- a WONDERFUL first night, all together at DHHIR.

But tomorrow....The s*** hits the fan!

 

[dvc at last !]

Love your TR. We went to HHI this July for the first time and really
enjoyed our selves. Enjoying your pics it brings back memories.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Great report. I love HHI!

 

[DVC Mike]

Since I've yet to stay at HHI, I've enjoyed the pictures. Thanks!

 

[mcrabeck]

We took our first trip to HHI at the end of August and absolutely loved it! Your pictures take us back to our trip- Thanks for sharing and can't wait to hear more!

 

[podsnel]

On Monday morning the sun was shining and the birds were chirping, it looked like any other gorgeous day on Hilton Head. But it was not to be just any day. It was to be the day one SIL & BIL would use as the starting point for all things miserable for the rest of our stay. But I digress. After making breakfast for the kids, and refilling my refillable mug, we made our lunches to bring to the beach (which I don't usually do, I usually just buy lunch up there, but I didn't want to make anyone feel bad) and they were put into one cooler, while the world's largest cooler was filled with beverages a plenty (in case we got stranded for a month or 10 over there) for 300 of our closest friends (who never showed up on this trip, but don't worry! We were ready for them EVERY DAY!). Why so much stuff? Because that's what this one family does on EVERY vacation, and GOD FORBID we try something different. Even though I had explained HHI to all very clearly- to me, HHI is not a "Beach vacation". It is a "wow, I'm in a beautiful, woodsy, marshy, nature, golf & tennis filled place that has the beach TOO." The TOO implying that the beach is not the ONLY or primary focus. There is something for everyone there. But the people who do not like DHHIR? Well, I think most of them are disappointed it is on the marsh rather than the ocean, and there is no way to make that better. So let's just say that when the cooler clan could not park in the lot at the beach house because all the spots were filled(mostly by cars without DHHIR parking passes), well, that went over like a lead balloon. (And this is probably MY only complaint about DHHIR- they really need a gate on that parking lot, like they have at the resort, so that the spots are just for Disney guests.). Anyway, two SILs (in seperate cars) went back to the resort and took the shuttle back. One got back in 10 minutes. The other, whose car we didn't unload, well....it took her a good hour to get back. What horrible, horrible luck. I rode my bike to the beach with half of the kids, and I stayed up at the pool with all of them (and my MIL) where they ate lunch and had a blast playing ping-pong and volleyball in the pool for hours. My SIL was REALLY PISSED (and I don't blame her) by the time she finally got back and went down to the beach. I got ice cream for all the kids, and they were all having a blast, and that was all great. My MIL went down to the beach for the first time in YEARS (even though she lives in FLA, she just doesn't go) and THAT was fantastic. Oh well.....when the afternoon's clouds looked ominous, we rode our bikes back and got ready for dinner out with the adults (the kids were all going in Kids night out). Sorry for the lack of photography, but I didn't have my camera because the day before it died (my Olympus underwater one) and I didn't bring the SLR to the beach. Anyway, here we all are, at Shelter Cove right before going in to a lovely dinner at the Ocean Grille-

The food was really delicious, and the portions were very large. We shared a cross section of appetizers, then moved on to dinner. This was a special meant to be shared , a whole fish for 2-

A swordfish special-

I believe this was Seafood au gratin-

Outside the restaurant-

And across is Disney!

(Pics are kind of out of order, sorry about that!) We had dessert, and then rolled back to the resort- Oh! And FWIW, we all gave Ocean Grille two thumbs, way up!

On the walk back, we stopped to listen to Shannon Tanner. He is very entertaining, he was doing alot of family music, like the unicorn song, and then he sang a country song (which i don't know, but my SIL & BIL loved) about kids growing up too fast in the blink of an eye...SUCH a tearjerker!! BIL & SIL danced-

And then walked back across the bridge to DHHIR-

Cont'd in next post-

 

[podsnel]

Love your TR. We went to HHI this July for the first time and really
enjoyed our selves. Enjoying your pics it brings back memories.

I'm so glad!! Are you going back?

Great report. I love HHI!

Thanks! Me too!

Since I've yet to stay at HHI, I've enjoyed the pictures. Thanks!

Mike! You are one state away from relaxing bliss and restaurant fabulosity!! I would be there frequently if it wasn't 13 hours away by car. Have you ever thought about trying it? The CMs there are just wonderful, I bet you would really enjoy it!

We took our first trip to HHI at the end of August and absolutely loved it! Your pictures take us back to our trip- Thanks for sharing and can't wait to hear more!

Great! Glad to help you remember a great vacation!

 

[mcrabeck]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dvc at last !
Love your TR. We went to HHI this July for the first time and really
enjoyed our selves. Enjoying your pics it brings back memories.



I'm so glad!! Are you going back?

Definitely- we loved it- We even decided to add on more points!

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

Fun trip report. . thanks for sharing!!

 

[dis-happy]

Great TR!!!

BTW, do you like the Olympus underwater camera??? My dd is going to the Galapagas Islands next May and we were thinking about getting her this camera for Christmas. She'll need to do a photo project when she returns (this trip is part of a university project). TIA


PS. When we have grumpy houseguests I just get more and more cheerful!!! Kind of scary!!! Hope your BIL/SIL didn't make you all too miserable.