As promised to our friends that are also traveling to HHI this summer, here's a short list of some of things we enjoyed during our most recent trip (but also check out HHI's informational website):

Fun
Gregg Russell under the Liberty Tree in Harbour Town. He plays every night (except Saturdays) starting at 8 PM. Plan to get here around 7 PM for a good parking spot and seat. He's great for kids of all ages, and even adults will find his stand-up-comedian style hilarious. He's not the typical warm-and-fuzz-guitar-playing-singing kind of guy, but the kids and parents love him.

Harbour Town Lighthouse: you can actually go up into the lighthouse.

Bike rentals are available all over the island. The island has wonderful bike trails all over as well, and it's really easy (and ok) to bike on the beach (just some advice from me to you...stay on the hard sand ;-). The island is 12 miles along the coastal side, so it's an enjoyable bike ride. Most bikes rent for around $28 for the week, and come with a helmet. You can request baby seats if you need them. Dan and I rented bikes on one of our trips, but we didn't ask what kind of bikes they were and we got bikes similar to Lexington's yellow downtown bikes; however, I saw other rental places that had better bikes.

Island Playground is a great place for kids that need a break from the sun. It's similar to our local Bounce U but with a tropical feel. Remember to bring socks for the kids and yourself!

The Sandbox was a fun outing for our two little ones. It's an interactive museum that is similar to our local Children Science Museum in Louisville. Be prepared to wait a bit outside if they weather is not perfect outside, as it is a popular spot for families with small children looking for something to do indoors to escape the heat or rain!

There are three put put golfing venues: Adventure Cove, Pirate's Island and Legendary Golf. Adventure Cove and Legendary Golf are around $9 for adults and $6 for children under 13; however Pirate's Island has the same prices, but is free for children under 4.

Food
Here is a list of our favorite local places to eat and their websites (if they have one):

The Crazy Crab
Fat Baby Pizza
Marleys Island Grill
The Old Oyster Factory
Pino Gelato
The Sea Shack: no website and not fancy, but be prepared to wait an hour outside just to get in as it's a popular place and worth the wait!
Signe's Heaven Bound Bakery & Cafe
Smokehouse BBQ
TJ's Take and Bake Pizza

Shopping
Coligny Plaza is right on the beach and is a great mix of beach shops, souvenir shops, local boutiques, toy shops, and food. My personal favorite was Island Girl and Fresh Produce; both are really cute girly boutiques.

Harbour Town is right on Hilton Head's Island, and is a great place to shop for typical and unique souvenirs for home. Harbour Town has lots of great places to eat!

Shelter Cove is a collection of fun shopping stores, and has a small mall with some big name department stores.

Off the island
Savannah, which is only about 40 minutes away, is a neat place to visit. If you do go, make sure to either eat at Mrs. Wilkes (only open for lunch) or Lady and Sons, and walk the shops along the river. Charleston is about two hours if you're looking for another day trip.

Those of you who don’t have perfect children will find this familiar: Just as I was withdrawing money in a bank lobby, my 5-year-old daughter chose to throw a temper tantrum, screaming and writhing on the floor while a couple of elderly ladies looked on in disgust. (Their children, apparently, had been perfect.) I gave Dorothy a disappointed look and said, “That argument won’t work, sweetheart. It isn’t pathetic enough.”

How to Teach a Child to Argue

That's V doing her penny work during the last week of her first year of Montessori. While we still can't believe that Veronica has just finished her first year of preschool, we are more in awe (and proud) of her accomplishments this year. She started school this year at a very young 2 years and 11 months, not even turning three until a full month after school began. Her first few weeks of school were rocky, with lots of crying and clinging and many unfortunate potty accidents, not to mention the very memorable incident on the first day of school with the admissions director. However, as the year went on, Veronica began to become more confident in school. I was able to come into her classroom and spend a few minutes with her, and then leave without upsetting her. I could pass her in the hall, and give her a quick hug before sending her on her way. She looked forward to her hug after her library special and we usually shared a quick lapsit story together, and then when it was time to go to art class she would give me a hug and kiss and take off.

Veronica also knows all of her letters on sight, can count to twenty (and then up to hundred by tens), she can spell her name (and write some of it..hey, it's a long name ;-), she can spell and write mommy's name, knows all of her friend's letters, and is developing her father's knack for making up songs to tunes. She loves to practice running fast, and she spends hours working on art projects. And she still does all this while holding on to her little plastic toys (some things haven't changed ;-)

I was particularly impressed with Veronica this past week. Regular class (school) was out for summer, but she was still coming to school with me and hanging out with the other faculty children. I was worried that the lack of structure and no nap days would take a toll on her; however, she seemed to enjoy her days of romping through the school with her buddies. She would pop in the library to say hello to me while I was working, but then she would prefer to go back to the other teacher's kids. I was very proud of her independence that was so evident this week, and how she has really blossomed from a cute toddler into a really neat little kid! School's out now and with my work at school is almost done, we are ready enjoy what the summer has in store for us!

The boy is officially one now, and my has he grown up! Warren had a great birthday with all of his family and friends. We were thrilled (and surprised) when he decided it was time to start walking this week as well. If you haven't seen the video on Flickr, check it out! His went to the doctor for his one year wellness visit. The doc said he was doing great, and was even advanced with some of his skills (but we already knew that because we think he's a genius....but we're his parents, so we're a little biased!). He was slightly above the 50th percentile for all of his height (30 inches), weight (22.9 lbs) and head (48 cm) measurements. He has a head full of light brown hair, the biggest, brown eyes that could melt anyone's heart, and a perfect pretty-boy, sly smile that gets him out of the naughty things he likes to get into these days. Dan and I feel very lucky and blessed to have him as our son, and Veronica thinks he's a neat (if sometimes pesky) little brother. Now back to playing with all of those wonderful birthday toys!

But, we're all warm and cozy inside!

We have been a small minority of the lucky to keep our electricity during the ice storm of 2009, unlike our fate during the 2003 ice storm. We have been huddled up here at the house, and surprisingly not a case of cabin fever! Veronica may have even grown closer to her brother, as evidenced by wanting to give Warren his nightly bottle. It's cute that she requests her picture be taken every time she shows affection to her brother. It's like she wants documentation that she IS nice to him some of the time!

Winter Aquarium trip 2009...

Our most recent trip was Veronica's third annual winter trip to the Newport Aquarium, but for some odd reason, we didn't take ANY pictures of her first trip. Us not take pictures? Weird isn't it? I couldn't believe it myself, but I checked the archive to make sure. Yup, no pictures. We must have forgotten the camera that day.

As the new year began, we were still waiting to hear if Daniel and Veronica would be accepted into the schools they had applied for. Oddly, both of their acceptance letters came on the same day in February. Veronica got into preschool and Daniel was accepted to UK College of Law. We were very excited, but our excitement would have to wait until August when school actually began for them. In the meantime, I was due to give birth in a matter of weeks. I had made the decision to wait until the birth to find out whether we were adding a son or another daughter to our family. The technician, however, was not sure if I would stick to my decision or not, and wrote down the baby's gender on a sheet of paper and sealed it in an envelope. I remained true to my decision, and on March 4, we found out the gender of our second child the good ol' fashion way...when the doctor announced "It's a BOY!". Warren came home on a warm, sunny March day, however, we had not been home more than 24 hours when a major snow storm hit. Old Man Winter had nice timing! We were snuggled warmly in the house getting to know this little boy of ours.

Time between March and now seems to have flown by. Dan and I both took time staying home with the children, and we both enjoyed our time home with the children immensely. Dan quit his job in July and was supposed to enjoy a couple weeks of vacation, however, we decided to build a patio that consumed his every waking hour for several weeks and left him no time for relaxation. The end of August was here before we knew it, and we all four headed off to school. School went very well for all members of the Hancock family. Three of us headed off every morning to TLS, while Dan headed off to UK. Daniel was a little scarce during November and December due to his exams, but he emerged and on December 19 we all started our holiday break together. We spent the last two weeks of 2008 with our wonderful children, watching them enjoy all the excitement that Christmas brings to a child's life. Frank Sinatra said it best..."It was a very good year!"

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus at our house tonight. Warren has not vocalized his wish list to us, but we're sure Santa will be bringing him some fun toys! Veronica, on the other hand, has written her list for the first time this year and has not budged on what she wants Santa to bring her. For her fourth Christmas, Veronica has asked for three things: a big doll house, three big apples, and a big airplane. We're sure Santa can fulfill this wish list for this little good girl on his list!

We have lots of great Thanksgiving pictures, but haven't had time to post them yet. We promise to do it soon...we'll most likely get to it once Daniel has finished his round of law school exams. The whole family will be finished with school on December 19, and we are looking forward to the quiet time together!

I spend most of the year waiting for this season to arrive! I absolutely love the colors and smells of fall, as well as all the wonderful things you can do..pumpkin patch, fall festivals, Keeneland, football games, family get-togethers, bonfires & smores, Halloween parties, trick-or-treating just to name a few. It's a great way to kickoff the Holiday season. It's nothing but fun between now and Christmas!

To celebrate our beloved Autumn, we partook in several of these "fall" activities this weekend. We made our trip to the pumpkin patch and Veronica picked out a couple of pumpkins for the family. We had a blast playing on all the straw bales and other activities the orchard had to offer. We got some great pictures, so be sure to visit our Flickr account. We also took the kids to the UK Homecoming football tailgate, which by the way, our old Alma mater thankfully won their homecoming game! Since Dan is one of the very few law students with children, Veronica and Warren get all the attention when we take them to hang out with his law buddies (and well, because they are just so darn cute!). We have even more fun fall activities planned for the next few weekends, so check back for more pics and stories! I just love this time of year!

Veronica took part in a very beautiful birthday tradition in her Montessori class today. We were given a birthday folder about a week ago and charged with the homework assignment of writing her "Celebration of Life" story. In this story, we tell about Veronica and what she can do, or her milestones, at birth, one year old, two years old, three years old, etc. As the mom or dad reads the story to the entire Montessori class, the child takes a picture of that corresponding age around the circle. Afterward, the teacher lights a candle and the child carries a globe around the circle for each year of life, followed by a singing of "Happy Birthday" and then the child blows out the candle. The entire ceremony is followed by a birthday snack. Veronica really enjoyed showing her pictures to everyone, and I enjoyed seeing her interact with her classmates.

After school, we took Veronica to Build-a-Bear as part of her birthday celebration. This was an iffy outing for two reasons. One, after school, Veronica is often exhausted, and two, we tried this same exact thing last year on her 2nd birthday, but she didn't really understand the process. So this year, we were curious how she would do when we got to the mall. She went straight to the store, inspected the animals to choose from, and at first started to build a black bear, but changed to a horse. She was very excited about her choice (she actually had been talking about horses at school today, maybe a new interest of hers, which makes mommy very happy!). She helped stuff it, put a heart in it, and then moved on to the washing and combing of her horse. Next, she went to the clothing items. She wanted a lead and a stable for her horse. Build-a-bear didn't have either, so we settled for a dog leash and a dog house for the horse. Lastly, she named her horse. This horse will now forever be known as Pal.

After our quick trip to the mall, we headed back to school for Fall Festival. Veronica had a blast hanging out with her classmates and participating in the festival activities. She really enjoyed the inflatable bouncing and slides, but didn't care for the cake walk since she didn't win the brownies she was eying. We spent the last few tickets we had a on a blue blowup guitar and a cookie, and then we left to head to Frankfort. Dan's youngest sister was in town for the day, and since she had yet to meet Warren, we wanted to take advantage of her visit. We had a great dinner and birthday cake to celebrate Veronica and Lorin's birthdays. Veronica also got some adorable dress up presents. We now have too many options for Halloween costumes!

We finally made it home and got the little ones, Warren, Veronica and Pal, all tucked into bed by 10 PM. It was a great, but very long day, and Veronica enjoyed her 3rd birthday; however, the celebration is not finished! We have more celebrations planned for Saturday and Sunday...so it will be a party-filled weekend in honor of our little princess!

We took family pictures in honor of Veronica's upcoming 3rd birthday. We haven't scanned the family portrait yet, but here is the one of just the two children. Veronica's smile is precious. It might even fool you into thinking she enjoyed the photo shoot and was on her best behavior. Warren was more interested in trying to pull his sister's hair than smile for the photographer. What a typical little brother thing to do!

Warren enjoyed his first sippy cup today!