Florida Vacay, Part 1
Jun. 19th, 2024 06:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spryngWe are halfway through our Florida Vacation (TM) and it's been about... halfway great, lol. I feel like I need to purge the bad that's happened so I can focus on the good, so
First off, our less than 3 hour drive turned into a more than 4 hour one because we missed a turn. We got to see more of the backwoods of Florida than just the highway but by the time we actually got to our destination, we were all Done. Dr Lady even more so than the kids, because she seems to be having a flare.
But that was okay! We're at the beach! I'll just take the kids to the beach while she rests.
Which was fine Sunday night, but Monday morning she still needs rest so I'm on my own at the beach--where there's a warning about the choppy surf and rip tides--with one kid who can't swim and wants to play in the sand and one kid who wants to yeet herself into the water as hard as possible. I'm able to set up the umbrella so it doesn't blow away and put the Toddler under the shade with his trucks, but the entire time I'm with CG I'm constantly looking back to make sure a) he's fine and b) the umbrella doesn't blow away.
And the waves are rough and CG gets tossed off her feet more times than I can count. I panic at one point when the waves keep going over her and pull her up, but when it happens again she pops up laughing. Eventually I can trust she'll come back up but also stress.
All the while I have this massive headache that won't go away despite all the excedrin in the world. When we return for lunch, I initially plan for us all to walk somewhere nearby, but then the heat and headache get me and I can't even get up without getting nauseated. Thankfully, Dr Lady is feeling well enough that I can lie down, but then that's an entire afternoon where the kids are just watching stuff.
I try to go back to the beach with CG later, but she's got a heat rash on the inside of her legs that had calmed down but immediately flares when we go outside. She tries to power through but the salt water only makes it worse. I get her to come back with promises that if she rests, it'll likely get better so we can try again before we leave.
Tuesday we'd planned on going to the space center. It's supposed to be rain later in the day, so I'd wanted to get there by 10, maybe 11. Toddler is up by 7am, but no one else wakes up until 10. We finally get everyone ready and in the car at 12pm, only for the car to make that dreaded click-click sound when I try to turn it on. The battery's dead.
I keep it together until we get inside, but I'm tired from entertaining Toddler on my own for 3 hours and then getting everyone fed and ready and I quietly lose it. The rain is rolling in, it's going to take an hour just to get there, and KSC is huge. But there's supposedly a rocket launch that night, so after Dr Lady gets us a new battery, we go anyway.
(there will be no rocket launch; it is too windy, but)
It turns out 3 hours is not enough time for KSC, but we see as much as we can and only have about 3 or 4 meltdowns. Toddler is just losing it all over the place at this point, even though we didn't do much in the morning and he actually got sleep the night before. IDK if it's just being overwhelmed but he's an absolute mess by the time we leave.
And now... well, we have to leave the rental today and we were going to hit up the beach one last time, but it's pouring rain and supposed to be thunderstorms all morning. I'm trying to research alternatives, but I'm just really demoralized at this point. We can't check into the next place until 4pm, though, so we need something.
I don't know if it's just that these two kids don't spend enough time together or that they're siblings or that all this is normal but my god, the amount of annoying each other they do. One will claim a seat (which is itself a problem) only for the other to come over and practically sit on them, and then we have a meltdown. One will claim a food and not share even though there's more than enough. The older one will claim we're playing favorites, the younger will just scream, and logic of course holds no merit. I'm trying, though. But the number of times I've lost my cool this week has made me feel like a shit parent.
I wish I could just roll with it. I wish I could remain calm. I wish I knew what to say to at least get them to separate or take a breath or something.
There's a screenshot going around from Tumblr (i think) about a mom who yelled at her kid, and the kid brings it up decades later but the mom doesn't remember it. For the kid, it was formative, for the mom, just another day. "The ax forgets, but the tree remembers." And I know I'm not that kind of mom, but gods if that doesn't haunt me every time I lose my cool.
And then CG says, "you're not a bad person, everyone gets angry" and I just hug her and I realize, maybe I am doing this parenting thing right.
For one, Toddler is so enamored with his sister. When we followed the scenic route here, any time he saw something cool out his window (like cows or construction vehicles) he'd go, "CG!! Do you see?? Look, [cool thing]!"
Then when we got here and CG laid claim to a room, Toddler had to sleep in the same room with her. Would not accept no for an answer. The next day, I purposefully took CG to the beach while Dr Lady put him to bed so he would actually sleep instead of being so excited to share a room with his sister. Even last night he kept asking for her. I felt a little bad separating them, but he just would not sleep the first night.
And the way they play together--he's gotten much better at saying stop when he needs to and she listens so well. When we were all at the beach together, at one point all four of us were pretending to be pirate ships overtaken by waves and he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.
We did end up picking a pretty good spot to stay--the rental is one of the nicest I've been in, in terms of not being a rush flipped house or spackled together apartment, has everything we need, and is literally a 2 minute walk from the beach and 5 minutes from a bunch of restaurants. We've walked to an amazing Puerto Rican place, a Mexican place, and a bagel place already.
The beach has been a-maz-ing. I almost wish we hadn't come home so early on Monday, but I was worried about sunburns and the heat. Next time I'm just going to pack more ice water and lunch because once we come back, we don't go back out again: lesson learned. Altho, tbf, I guess we needed to go back because of CG's heat rash either way.
But while we were there, both of the kids just had nonstop fun. CG has become a much stronger swimmer since our last beach foray and she was able to come out further with me and ride the waves for a bit. The rental had some boogie boards we could use, which were kind of fun for a while but ultimately too big for her, I think. We brought Toddler's light plastic construction vehicle toys and that was him set for over an hour, playing in the sand. When he finally came out to brave the water, he had a grand old time just chasing waves.
I laid in the sand at one point and stared at the blue sky and just thought this right here, this is good.
After lunch (and naps [and a lot of TV watching]), we went for a car ride to see if we could catch the cruise ships as they left port. We got there right as a Disney ship was passing by, absolutely perfect timing. The kids waved and CG couldn't believe how big the ship was and also may now really want to go on a cruise. I honestly don't know how I feel about cruises -- the less savory parts of my extended family go on them annually so I might be predisposed to think they're for boring, rich people, hah.
Then the Space Center... we only had three hours, but it was worth going. Both of them seeing the rocket garden, both of them seeing the shuttle Atlantis, that was worth it alone. We wandered into the first thing we came to--a building called Heroes and Legends--and got caught in an Experience (TM). Basically a fancy wrap-around movie that showed pivotal moments in some of the astronauts' lives. It was pretty cool, but also briefly terrifying for the kids because it was loud and there were effects and it was unexpected.
Turns out that was an ongoing theme. KSC has changed a lot since I last went (probably as a teen) and whoever is in charge of it now really likes Experiences (TM). Pretty much every building introduced you first with a Large Screen and Special Effects. It was like KSC was trying to be more Disney than, idk, the Space Center.
Which I was laughing at until we got to the Atlantis exhibit, and then I was a blubbering mess. Turns out, the space shuttle launches were an integral part of my childhood and I still haven't processed the fact that they're all retired now. That Experience (TM) was a realistic launch, mission, and re-entry, with all these little moments I hadn't experienced since I'd last lived in Orlando and even the fucking sonic boom on re-entry. Did I watch every launch as a kid, counting down with the TV then going outside to watch that bright light arc up and fade away--you bet I did. That was the reason I was so interested in physics and astrophysics, and for a few years desperately wanted to work for NASA. I'm sure the story is the same for every central Florida kid, but... yeah.
Anyway, they had the actual shuttle Atlantis right inside and gosh, seeing her up close like that... yeah.
We stopped at a Twistee Treat on the way home, which I haven't seen any of those in years and years. We had ice cream for dinner, pretty much the perfect way to end the day.
And now today, hmm, it still looks rainy. I guess we'll just have to see.
First off, our less than 3 hour drive turned into a more than 4 hour one because we missed a turn. We got to see more of the backwoods of Florida than just the highway but by the time we actually got to our destination, we were all Done. Dr Lady even more so than the kids, because she seems to be having a flare.
But that was okay! We're at the beach! I'll just take the kids to the beach while she rests.
Which was fine Sunday night, but Monday morning she still needs rest so I'm on my own at the beach--where there's a warning about the choppy surf and rip tides--with one kid who can't swim and wants to play in the sand and one kid who wants to yeet herself into the water as hard as possible. I'm able to set up the umbrella so it doesn't blow away and put the Toddler under the shade with his trucks, but the entire time I'm with CG I'm constantly looking back to make sure a) he's fine and b) the umbrella doesn't blow away.
And the waves are rough and CG gets tossed off her feet more times than I can count. I panic at one point when the waves keep going over her and pull her up, but when it happens again she pops up laughing. Eventually I can trust she'll come back up but also stress.
All the while I have this massive headache that won't go away despite all the excedrin in the world. When we return for lunch, I initially plan for us all to walk somewhere nearby, but then the heat and headache get me and I can't even get up without getting nauseated. Thankfully, Dr Lady is feeling well enough that I can lie down, but then that's an entire afternoon where the kids are just watching stuff.
I try to go back to the beach with CG later, but she's got a heat rash on the inside of her legs that had calmed down but immediately flares when we go outside. She tries to power through but the salt water only makes it worse. I get her to come back with promises that if she rests, it'll likely get better so we can try again before we leave.
Tuesday we'd planned on going to the space center. It's supposed to be rain later in the day, so I'd wanted to get there by 10, maybe 11. Toddler is up by 7am, but no one else wakes up until 10. We finally get everyone ready and in the car at 12pm, only for the car to make that dreaded click-click sound when I try to turn it on. The battery's dead.
I keep it together until we get inside, but I'm tired from entertaining Toddler on my own for 3 hours and then getting everyone fed and ready and I quietly lose it. The rain is rolling in, it's going to take an hour just to get there, and KSC is huge. But there's supposedly a rocket launch that night, so after Dr Lady gets us a new battery, we go anyway.
(there will be no rocket launch; it is too windy, but)
It turns out 3 hours is not enough time for KSC, but we see as much as we can and only have about 3 or 4 meltdowns. Toddler is just losing it all over the place at this point, even though we didn't do much in the morning and he actually got sleep the night before. IDK if it's just being overwhelmed but he's an absolute mess by the time we leave.
And now... well, we have to leave the rental today and we were going to hit up the beach one last time, but it's pouring rain and supposed to be thunderstorms all morning. I'm trying to research alternatives, but I'm just really demoralized at this point. We can't check into the next place until 4pm, though, so we need something.
I don't know if it's just that these two kids don't spend enough time together or that they're siblings or that all this is normal but my god, the amount of annoying each other they do. One will claim a seat (which is itself a problem) only for the other to come over and practically sit on them, and then we have a meltdown. One will claim a food and not share even though there's more than enough. The older one will claim we're playing favorites, the younger will just scream, and logic of course holds no merit. I'm trying, though. But the number of times I've lost my cool this week has made me feel like a shit parent.
I wish I could just roll with it. I wish I could remain calm. I wish I knew what to say to at least get them to separate or take a breath or something.
There's a screenshot going around from Tumblr (i think) about a mom who yelled at her kid, and the kid brings it up decades later but the mom doesn't remember it. For the kid, it was formative, for the mom, just another day. "The ax forgets, but the tree remembers." And I know I'm not that kind of mom, but gods if that doesn't haunt me every time I lose my cool.
And then CG says, "you're not a bad person, everyone gets angry" and I just hug her and I realize, maybe I am doing this parenting thing right.
For one, Toddler is so enamored with his sister. When we followed the scenic route here, any time he saw something cool out his window (like cows or construction vehicles) he'd go, "CG!! Do you see?? Look, [cool thing]!"
Then when we got here and CG laid claim to a room, Toddler had to sleep in the same room with her. Would not accept no for an answer. The next day, I purposefully took CG to the beach while Dr Lady put him to bed so he would actually sleep instead of being so excited to share a room with his sister. Even last night he kept asking for her. I felt a little bad separating them, but he just would not sleep the first night.
And the way they play together--he's gotten much better at saying stop when he needs to and she listens so well. When we were all at the beach together, at one point all four of us were pretending to be pirate ships overtaken by waves and he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.
We did end up picking a pretty good spot to stay--the rental is one of the nicest I've been in, in terms of not being a rush flipped house or spackled together apartment, has everything we need, and is literally a 2 minute walk from the beach and 5 minutes from a bunch of restaurants. We've walked to an amazing Puerto Rican place, a Mexican place, and a bagel place already.
The beach has been a-maz-ing. I almost wish we hadn't come home so early on Monday, but I was worried about sunburns and the heat. Next time I'm just going to pack more ice water and lunch because once we come back, we don't go back out again: lesson learned. Altho, tbf, I guess we needed to go back because of CG's heat rash either way.
But while we were there, both of the kids just had nonstop fun. CG has become a much stronger swimmer since our last beach foray and she was able to come out further with me and ride the waves for a bit. The rental had some boogie boards we could use, which were kind of fun for a while but ultimately too big for her, I think. We brought Toddler's light plastic construction vehicle toys and that was him set for over an hour, playing in the sand. When he finally came out to brave the water, he had a grand old time just chasing waves.
I laid in the sand at one point and stared at the blue sky and just thought this right here, this is good.
After lunch (and naps [and a lot of TV watching]), we went for a car ride to see if we could catch the cruise ships as they left port. We got there right as a Disney ship was passing by, absolutely perfect timing. The kids waved and CG couldn't believe how big the ship was and also may now really want to go on a cruise. I honestly don't know how I feel about cruises -- the less savory parts of my extended family go on them annually so I might be predisposed to think they're for boring, rich people, hah.
Then the Space Center... we only had three hours, but it was worth going. Both of them seeing the rocket garden, both of them seeing the shuttle Atlantis, that was worth it alone. We wandered into the first thing we came to--a building called Heroes and Legends--and got caught in an Experience (TM). Basically a fancy wrap-around movie that showed pivotal moments in some of the astronauts' lives. It was pretty cool, but also briefly terrifying for the kids because it was loud and there were effects and it was unexpected.
Turns out that was an ongoing theme. KSC has changed a lot since I last went (probably as a teen) and whoever is in charge of it now really likes Experiences (TM). Pretty much every building introduced you first with a Large Screen and Special Effects. It was like KSC was trying to be more Disney than, idk, the Space Center.
Which I was laughing at until we got to the Atlantis exhibit, and then I was a blubbering mess. Turns out, the space shuttle launches were an integral part of my childhood and I still haven't processed the fact that they're all retired now. That Experience (TM) was a realistic launch, mission, and re-entry, with all these little moments I hadn't experienced since I'd last lived in Orlando and even the fucking sonic boom on re-entry. Did I watch every launch as a kid, counting down with the TV then going outside to watch that bright light arc up and fade away--you bet I did. That was the reason I was so interested in physics and astrophysics, and for a few years desperately wanted to work for NASA. I'm sure the story is the same for every central Florida kid, but... yeah.
Anyway, they had the actual shuttle Atlantis right inside and gosh, seeing her up close like that... yeah.
We stopped at a Twistee Treat on the way home, which I haven't seen any of those in years and years. We had ice cream for dinner, pretty much the perfect way to end the day.
And now today, hmm, it still looks rainy. I guess we'll just have to see.
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Date: 2024-06-19 11:44 am (UTC)Nicole is also an only child. All of the sibling things/interactions that she observes frequently end up in a “is this normal?” Yep. Normal. They’re gonna annoy the ever living daylights out of one another 65% of the time. The rest is sometimes great ;)
Sounds like you found some joy where you could!