The last few days have been spent a local resort that caters to kids. The pool has a sandy beach entry filled with toys, there is a water slide, a playground, ping pong - ya know all the things we wish we had on vacation growing up. This was not our first adventure with our almost two year old. But boy did I learn a few things....
The planner in me had read a million blogs about traveling and hotel rooms with toddlers. Mostly they just try to scare the be-jeezus out of you saying to enter your kids room first wearing a hazmat suit and bomb the virus effected space you are paying for with bleach. Most of them say not to rent the pack & play or crib from the hotel, if so bring your own sheets & black out curtains & pillows. Um? Seriously, people where are you staying?
I digress. So back the swanky resort we stayed at with it's own black out curtains. (Imagine that?) We did bring a few sand box toys for each day that were new that she could take home, a couple new swim suits for her, and her familiar things like her blanket & unicorn. Her favorite snacks, sippy cup, and sound machine made the journey.
I felt like I was packing for a sabbatical even thought it was only 3 days. You would have assumed she was traveling for months on end on a journey to discover ancient ruins with her plastic shovel. Little did I factor what you cannot plan for....
First, she hated sand. Didn't want her feet in , didn't want to swim anywhere near it, hated it. So all the grand Norman Rockwell style moments I had in my head of building our first sand castle together or burying her brother in sand were squashed. Next, add in the teething. Thank goodness the sherpa packed her Tylenol for that -all the Chamomile in the world sometimes won't do the trick. Last, and certainly least, I got food poisoning. So there wasn't any sunshine in my day while stuck in a hotel room.
I guess all those mom's with hazmat suits were right after all..