A Vacation Transformed

For our last trip of the summer, we had the very ambitious idea to take A to the Kite Festival at Long Beach for a short little vacation. It started out ok. We took some touristy photos and ate some fried seafood.

 

 

I am discovering the art of taking a small child on vacation, and it is largely trial and error for us. Here are some dos and don'ts that I have discovered:

DO plan your car trip around nap time
DO NOT book a shitty motel room and expect to keep the child entertained for long
DO bring lots and lots of books for your book-lover, and be prepared to read them millions of times
DO NOT expect greatness if the small child has a cold and is grouchy
DO have a plan for activities
DO NOT expect to stick to that plan, and be prepared to bail at any moment

Because the Kite Festival is a huge deal, the only place left to stay when we booked it in April was the glorious Super 8 Motel. Now, a reasonable adult can normally do just fine in a cramped, stuffy, loud motel, but that is not really the case for a sick, restless, unreasonable two-year-old. She didn't like the wind at all, so we spent the first evening in the room. Of course, A and J slept mostly ok, but, as usual, I did not.

In the middle of the night, as I was up checking my Facebook, I stumbled upon an offer from a generous acquaintance to stay here:

 

Believe me, I almost woke my people up and moved out right then. Instead, I decided to surprise them in the morning. They were most thrilled to move on to these fancy digs, just a short walk from the beach and with a great view of the kites.

 

 

Grouchypants felt better about the wind once she got her hat on and got to run around a little bit.

 

She waved to a seagull making a narrow escape from her curiosity.

 

A beautiful day on the beach to kick around.

 

 

Daddy and A got some cozy reading time in.

 

And I even got to indulge in my favorite things, photography and basking in the sunset.

 

 

In the end, I would have loved to stay longer, but it just wasn't in the cards. The girl had just about enough on the third day, so we ended up heading home without doing all the things we wanted to. It is fine, though.

 

J had the perfect perspective on the situation. He said that years and years from now, she won't remember this vacation at all, and we won't remember the details of how frustrating it is to travel with a two-year-old. The only thing we will have are the fun memories through the photographs, and we will always remember it fondly as her first trip to the ocean. 

 

The moral of the story, if there is one, is to remember to foster good relationships with all people, even people you barely know, because something amazing can happen when you least expect it.