Travels with our Trachie Blog
Schwieterman Summer Adventures 2024 – Part Three - HHI
The next leg of our summer vacation was a family trip to Hilton Head Island with Daddy’s parents, siblings, and their children. Party of 22! We stayed in a rental house in the North Forest Beach area near the Coligny circle.
The humidity of HHI is intense and was an adjustment for our trachie. After a full day of outdoor family fun on Sunday, our little one needed a day of rest to start the remainder of the week. She stayed indoors on her ventilator with humidified air, while enjoying one of her favorite past times—watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Mommy enjoyed the day indoors as well while making a major dent in the book I had brought for the week.
Despite the heat, we did manage to do a little sightseeing while on the island. We visited Harbour Town, which included a trip up the famous 114 steps to the top of the iconic lighthouse, dolphin sightings on the pier, and enjoying the playground. But for the most part, this leg of our summer adventure was all about relaxing with family fellowship. We covered enough miles and endured the crowded interstate to get to the beach, it was time to give the truck a rest.
Our girls loved spending time with their out-of-state cousins and meeting two brand new members of the family, who are just 8 days apart. Being around newborn babies is intoxicating! Our little trachie, who is quite obsessed with babies, was all smiles as she took her turn holding her little cousins. In fact, we were all smitten by the babies and took our turns cradling them.
Our favorite part of the trip was the mobile Hibachi dinner night at the rental house. HHiBACHi Catering for the win! The food was fantastic (and plentiful), and the chef put on a fabulous and interactive show. Seriously, I cannot recommend them enough. Hibachi food and show from the comfort of your own patio (where the bar bill is considerably lower than a restaurant, wink-wink!)
The kids also loved swimming in the ocean. It was seriously bath-water-warm! The excitement did dampen a bit with the first jellyfish sting, luckily, we also had a pool to splash around in.
Hilton Head Island is a special place for my husband’s family. They grew up going there every year for summer vacation, but it also holds a special place in this Mommy’s heart for its role in our trachie’s story. It was during our summer vacation there, back in 2015, when we put away the sorrow from the devasting diagnosis that our unborn child couldn’t survive outside of the womb, and we opted to embrace our circumstances by placing our trust in God and celebrating our daughter’s life for as long as we could. The seeds of hope were planted in the white sands of HHI and to see our daughter’s toes digging into that sand nine years later with a big smile on her face is truly a testament to her miraculous life and God’s continued presence on our journey.
The beach portion of our Summer Adventure was incredible and a nice break from camping. We absolutely love camping, but there are some aspects that are endured not enjoyed. Hauling a laundry basket full of clothes to the coin operated laundry facilities comes to mind! Showering is also on that list! If we are showering in our own pint-sized bathroom, water conservation is essential, that grey water tank fills up quickly! So, we basically get wet, turn off the shower wand and wash up (rather quickly because you’re freezing) and then do a quick rinse off. The other option is hauling bathing supplies to the public bathhouse. . . Also, bathing our trachie in our tiny camper tub/shower isn’t exactly ideal. Our daughter loved being in a full-sized tub again for the week, she took an extra-long bath on Friday night before we left Saturday morning to return to our camper in Gatlinburg.
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