Category: travel
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Vacation: Day 3
Wait, did you come here for pictures of children frolicking in the ocean?
I’m so sorry to disappoint you.
You know how when you go on vacation you have this vision of how it’s going to go? Today we sent Neko off on one of those “It Will Probably Change Her Life” experiences, only to have her leave part-way through because she felt awful and come back to the room to take a three hour nap. (She’s fighting a cold.)
Shep threw up at the hostess station of a restaurant this morning, but he said it was because he hadn’t eaten that morning. Then he took a two hour nap. Right at the end of dinner he threw up again, all over the table and floor. Bobby Flay, please accept my apologies.
Glass half full? The door to the washer and dryer in our room, which was supposed to be locked (for the owners of the condo only), was mysteriously open upon our arrival. This means we can clean up pukey clothes without schlepping them down ten floors.
But the view? It sure is pretty.
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Vacation: Day 2
Having spent the whole day in the pool, this one is fresh from the shower. We snuggled into bed to wait for the rest of the crew to return. Before I knew it, there was a party of five in the middle of all this cozy.
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Vacation: Day 5, part 2
It’s hot out there. We needed a diversion.
I think I fell a little in love with this turtle named Twister at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. He and I sat and watched each other for a while, and then I watched the vet give him a round of antibiotics, getting him on the road back to the ocean.
And then there were baby turtles. Hello, cute.
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Vacation: Days 3 and 4
I know, after all those pretty Harry Potter pictures, this is a really bad one to throw at you. But it’s the only photo I took in the last two days.
The vacation, although filled with good company (hooray for R+D!) and good potential, has taken a bit of a downturn. The beach house is not quite living up to what we had in our imagination.
Now, I should say, we’ve been very lucky with online house rentals up until this point, so I suppose we were due for a dud. The house was nice enough, but it just had…issues.
The worst of which was the mosquito problem. We have also discovered that Ellery is QUITE allergic to Florida mosquitos. She got all these bites in the 30 seconds she stood by the hose area so we could wash the sand off of her. If you count carefully, you will find 14. There are countless more on other parts of her anatomy.
Speaking of sand, the beach is a bust. The waves are rough and the beach is full of trash. This was quite surprising, as, you know, the beach was a bit of a selling point and all.
The pool has been nice, but is full of sand. It could use some gentle love and care, and loses a few extra point on account of its proximity to the mosquitos.
There are other weird things, too. About half an hour after Tom and I began unpacking, we realized our bedroom had no door. The only trash can in the whole house was in the kitchen. We were missing important cooking items like saucepans and cookie sheets. And the blinds were broken, permanently shut, obscuring our view of the ocean.
Despite all this, we’ve had a great time swimming, playing, and laughing. Because really, with company that good, we could be just about anywhere.
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Vacation: Day 2
A few weeks back we told the kids we were going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter while we were in Florida. And I’m not kidding when I say, it was like Christmas in our house. The kids went wild.
So first thing this morning, we made our way to Universal, and people, it did not disappoint. I was amazed at all the details and how much it looked like stepping in the movie. The kids picked out wands and shopped for chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott’s beans.
We rode the hippogriff roller coaster (Ellery declared it WAY too scary, but Neko and Shep loved it).
Selfishly, I wanted to spend hours there, exploring all the details of the stores. I also wanted to ride the supposedly amazing ride, where you zoom around Hogwarts, but none of the kids were tall enough.
I suspect I’ll go back one of these days, and spend all the time in the world on the finer details. But in the meantime, I can’t stop smiling as the kids play Hogwarts in our hotel room with their wands (thank you Barb!), brooms (thank you R+D!), and a few other finds.
Truly magical.
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Day 3: Washington D.C.
A much better last day, thank you very much.
A special thank you to Goldy, our borrowed goldfish at the hotel, for her patience and entertainment.
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Day 2: Addendum
So here’s a funny thing about parenting—you never quite get it down.
I used to say this a lot when the kids were little. You’d nail down a whole routine around their nap and then they’d stop napping. That sort of thing.
Turns out this phenomenon holds true when they’re eight.
I had a whole plan for our trip to D.C. We’d go see some historical places—but not too many. For Neko, we’d go to the Natural History Museum, since that sort of thing is really right up her alley. We’d walk and talk. How could this possibly go wrong?
Except it did.
We took our trolley to our first stop without a hitch. When it reappeared, a huge family swarmed in front of us, taking all the free seats, despite our waiting for 30 minutes before them. Without many other choices, we then walked from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial in 90° heat.
There was a lot of eight-year-old complaining. There were several stern talks from a weary mother which included several heated mentions of the phrase, “This is SUPPOSED TO BE FUN.”
Finally, Neko turned to me, and mumbled, “It just seems like we’re doing everything YOU want to do.”
And then I realized I was having one of those parenting moments. We have graduated from the time where I set the agenda for vacation. These little people, whom I used to run around in a stroller, carefully scheduling around naps and bedtime, have their own ideas these days.
So under a tree, in the middle of Washington D.C., I asked Neko what she would like to do. Her answer? She would like to get a souvenir at the gift shop, ride on the Metro, and go swimming.
It was time to reevaluate my list.
We agreed we would finish seeing the sights, and then go swimming. I would get to have take-out from the nice Mexican restaurant down the street. Tomorrow we would go on a duck tour, hit the gift shop and pick up souvenirs. But I also wanted to see Julia Child’s kitchen at the American History Museum.
We shook on our new plan.
That evening, I found myself on the Metro, riding home from a swimming pool across town, with my daughter, both of us smiling and content.
