Hilton Head Day 5

Special alert: Don't miss the video of our daughters Mary and Margaret singing a beautiful song in front of a crowd of about 300+ tonight at the Gregg Russell concert! Our parental hearts are bursting. Scroll to the bottom of this blog post . . . 

Chris took John and Joseph to the beach at 6:00 a.m. where Joseph took a shine to helping the daily morning beach volunteers who smooth down sand castles, fill in holes, pick up trash, and monitor the loggerhead turtle nests. (Good thing, too, because the night prior a bunch of drunk hooligans had drank on the beach, left behind their own nest of beer cans, and knocked over the markings of a turtle nest.) Anyhoo, Joe spent time helping an older lady pick up trash, and she later came to seek out Chris and tell him what a blessing Joseph is to us and what an "amazing child." Those moments are always so sweet for a parent!

Tuesday was a day of rain, thunder, and lightening, with warnings to stay out of the water, so we scrapped our plans for a last family morning at the beach to drive two and a half hours to Charleston to visit the South Carolina Aquarium. Given Thomas's love of squid and all things sea creatures, I was very excited about this opportunity presenting itself.

Note for any visitors to this aquarium: Spending the $5 to buy food for the sting rays is absolutely worth every penny. They actually slither up the side of the tank, emerge from the water, and eat it from one's hands!

No longer lying in a hospital bed, intubated and unable to move due to pain from his surgical wound for weeks . . . our happy boy is as big as a sting ray!

These photos by age order are so fun . . .

Petting a turtle

Some of you privileged ones have been able to listen as Thomas teaches you everything you ever didn't know about colossal squids. These creatures are too delicate to maintain in an aquarium or even capture, but this artistic representation sure was fun.

Petting an alligator . . . don't try this at home, kids!

We did visit the seahorses, although Thomas is not pictured because he was just hitting his meltdown wall that was likely reactive hypoglycemia: he had just sat down on the floor refusing to move. In our four months home since discharging from the hospital, on two occasions I have left the house while forgetting to pack a cooler full of snacks . . . and this day was one of them. The aquarium food court had been shut down due to the government lockdowns (because a respiratory illness will spread if we eat a sandwich in public but won't spread if we all walk around together in a crowded museum?), and the gift shop carried only candy plus one cheese snack he refused to eat, even though I tried to pass it off as "Cheetos." I had some leftover grilled chicken in my purse, but what was delicious at lunch was now deemed untouchable. I sat with Thomas on the floor of the museum (no chairs or benches), him on my lap melting down hysterical, causing one of those scenes you see mothers suffering, for a good 20 minutes, maybe more, while his five siblings were heroically patient (no eye rolling or complaining), given a whole lot of experience with longsuffering over the last year. Given ever-increasing understanding about some of his bodily needs, we are transitioning into a new family culture, a new behavioral expectation that Thomas is going to have to learn that sometimes he must eat, even if the food available is not what he wants. Like, no matter what, even if his six-year-old self thinks the chicken is gross, he must eat because his parents say so and we know what his body needs. If you think this is an easy solution, consider how you would force refused food into a child's mouth and think he's going to chew and swallow it. The short story is that traveling is hard for numerous reasons, and hypoglycemic meltdowns are one of them.

Seahorse exhibit

So, we left earlier than I'd have hoped, but that is part of our new life.

Cute boys with the frog statue outdoors

The day's cumulative five hours in the car were our best yet, praise Jesus! After a dinner stop on the way home, we had 30 minutes back at the condo before driving back out to the Gregg Russell concert that runs 8:00 to 9:30 at night. This evening, the two littlest boys were AWAKE and able to go, and the older four all very much wanted to attend again. We parents feel blessed and gratified that even our oldest kids at 12 and 14 still find this kind of kiddie folk music super fun and enjoyable, enough to ask to buy the CDs.

Gregg Russell performing under the Liberty Oak and in the shadow of the Lighthouse

John and Thomas sat with us while the other four sat on stage.

Gregg interviewing our David (3) on stage!

One of Mr. Russell's shticks is that he picks various volunteering kids to sing performances on stage. Our girls knew this ahead of time so had warmed up one of the many duets they sing together at home. The whole show was almost over and we thought they had missed their chance when Mr. Russell said he was going to pick more . . . and our girls were the last ones picked! They performed before 300+ people to the biggest applause of the night. 

Mary (12) and Margaret (10) singing "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail:

Wednesday means packing up, driving the long way home, all the unpacking and laundry, the grocery shopping, and Mama hitting the ground running with three medical appointments in the first 48 hours (it would have been four, but one doctor's office called me to reschedule a few days' out). This vacation has been a wonderful experience and I think healing in a lot of ways for our family. We have great thanks for the friends who gifted us this time at the beach!