A couple of weekends ago I took my first single parent vacation with my almost 6 year old son and 2 year and 2 month old daughter. As I was contemplating my vacation time and what we would do or where we would go, I thought back to the pictures of myself with my parents when I was between 2 and 3 not even remembering where I was or where I had been - just a picture to show for it. Some of you might already know where my thought process is going, but for someone that hasn't been around toddlers or more importantly toddlers between 2 and 3, let me try and explain it for you. The best analogy I can compare that developmental stage to is that you are dealing with either a woman with severe PMS symptoms (I know this from my OWN personal experience) which involve extreme crankiness, irrational emotional episodes and in some cases it's even worse - just think of a complete Jekyll and Hyde persona and that can be a glimpse of your future 2 year old's meltdown.
So some of you parents can't really fault me at all for considering just taking my son on a vacation and leaving my daughter with my parents or her father. I really did contemplate that because what I was absolutely afraid of on the trip - is that moment when everyone is staring at you and thinking - "Why can't you control that child?" Well THE meltdown happened with my 2 year old on our vacation and I was embarrassed and pretty much helpless. That one incident aside, the rest of the trip was really fun even though it is definitely harder traveling with two children and being the only adult. As we were flying home, I realized that we are a family of three and even though I'm sure Declin would have loved to just spend a weekend alone with me, the mother inside knew that I would have felt guilt at a later date and surely when my daughter was in her teen years or early 20's, she would question why she wasn't included in that vacation photo and I couldn't do it. Sure, it would have been easier on me but ultimately you do things you sometimes don't want to do when you know it is the best thing for your children. You put your pride, selfishness and ego aside and you do what you know your kids need you to do for them. That in a nutshell is my closest experience with unconditional love, you throw all your own wants and needs aside and you give back to your children and just hope that one day everything you gave to them was worth it and they will one day do the same if they ever end up having their own children.
Ultimately I decided to take them to Sea World in San Antonio because it was close and affordable. The other decision was do I drive or fly? Well it's a minimum 5 hours from Dallas and I would be driving. With two kids. With numerous potty breaks, stopping to eat, feeding, and diaper changes. Oh and the boredom of an almost 6 year old in a vehicle for that long. So that was easy - we will fly. Kids love airports, every time my daughter sees a plane in the air she says "airplane mommy" so I knew this would be a new adventure for her, going to an airport, getting on a plane and actually flying. Sometimes you forget how simple things like flying on a plane can be a really cool experience for a kid. What was not fun was lugging everything I had to bring with us to the airport because yes $50 worth of checked baggage is a lot of money to a single mom so here I am with two kids, one car seat, two carry on bags, two backpacks and a diaper bag. (I need to look at Southwest next time, seriously) Thankfully Declin was a big helper and he carried his own backpack and also rolled one carry on bag. His grandmother
So after the flight and car rental we get to the hotel - first stressful part of travel completed. Declin called it 'the apartment' the whole time even though it's just a room and a bathroom. I will say that anyone with kids that is just making a trip to Sea World, the Fairfield Inn and Suites was a very good deal (Westover Hills location on Wiseman blvd). Free breakfast and free shuttle there and back from Sea World - they even give you a driver number and they will be there on the next half hour whenever you want to leave the park. It was very convenient and the only reason I rented a car is because it was cheaper than a shuttle or cab would have been to and from the airport. I'm all about cheap, can you tell? Ha. So we spend day one at Sea World and we are there right at 10am. So much to see - both kids were excited to just be there so we all took it in. Azul show #1 down, next up the ski/wakeboard show which was fun to watch, and we even got a little cooled off by some jet skis - Declin is a fan of the splash zone, but only for today. There is also a new water park inside of Sea World called Aquatica, this was the only difference from last year - we now had to pay extra to float the river. That was kind of irritating but it was really hot and Declin really wanted to go so I paid the $40 extra to go to the water park (it was $20 each for 3+ regardless of age). I checked the weather and everything - no big deal it's the middle of August - no rain in the forecast whatsoever, right? It's already hella hot. We had time to float the river twice, play in the wave pool and the splash grounds with the big bucket that unloads on you and a few of the pools that had slides that even Deirdre had fun going down. Lo and behold about two hours after we enter the water park I look behind us and there is this huge, black, ominous rain cloud approaching that was absolutely no where in the picture when we bought the tickets. All this wind starts kicking up and they start telling everyone to get out of the wave pools and regular pools and it really looked like it was about to unload on us, so we run out of there and I can't help but think I just paid $20 an hour to go to that water park. (Note to self, get the annual pass next year that INCLUDES Aquatica) We decide it's time to eat anyway and we get some shelter in one of the many restaurants. It was really weird it never rained that we know of, just really windy for a while and then it blew on by.
We then move on to the Sea Lion show which was short and funny, just how I like it. The park closes at 9pm tonight so the next and last show is Shamu rocks. So we head to Shamu stadium and are ready to see Shamu - I guess they are all called Shamu, I'm not sure they didn't really clarify but then there is a 'baby' Shamu so they must be all named Shamu. The Shamu rocks show was my style, rock n roll music and big huge whales, what more could you ask for? We got there right before it started so we had to sit up top and during this show Declin notices the multiple whales swishing their huge whale tales and totally soaking some people on the front rows. "MOM....why aren't we in the splash zone?" he asks. "Well, we got here too late, it was full." I said and seriously GLAD we were not in the splash zone - there was major splashing going on. I was watching from above the huge amounts of water these whale tales were spewing onto their hapless victims and I didn't really consider that 'fun' even while watching it from afar. I kept hoping Declin wouldn't remember that fact the next day when we were to see One Ocean which is the happy, fluffy, slower Shamu show. The show ends and we are completely fulfilled with a good day. Wow, day one was a success, no meltdowns - we stayed at the park the ENTIRE day from 10a-9pm which I am still not sure how we really did that and weren't completely cranky or exhausted but it turned out great. Even the 2 year old enjoyed Shamu rocks. The shuttle was waiting for us which was so nice and off to the hotel and bed we went.
Day #2. Now we sleep in a little but not too late because we totally took advantage of the free breakfast. We get on a later shuttle because we had a long day yesterday. Declin understood if he wanted any collectibles to take home with him that we would have to forgo the water park on day 2. At least the Sesame Street Bay of Play had splash grounds we could utilize if we got too hot. The only major show to see was the One Ocean show with Shamu during the day before the afternoon show we decided to check out the Elmo 4D movie and we all had fun watching that. We grab some food, fighting off the bees that were buzzing around while we ate outside and decide to head to see the dolphins as I knew they would stop the feedings if it got too crowded. So we get to feeding the dolphin line..ughh it was quite long. It is 1pm which is usually when Deirdre is napping so we wait and wait and I try to do everything to avoid what is about to happen by re-directing, keeping her busy with something but she just was NOT having any of it. I am literally about 4 people behind the window to get the fish -- ALMOST there - and here it is, the screaming, the "NO MOMMY", the complete and utter meltdown where you try and pick her up and she's just spaghetti legs and arms, so then I let her go and she tries to run off, so then I pick her up again and she pretty much beats me down right in front of God and everyone. I look like I am mauled by a cat, scratches on my face, she bit me on my shoulder and my first reaction is to go off on her, but I cannot. I am helpless, stunned, and there is nothing I can do but feel completely and utterly embarrassed and just tell her no. She is 2. She doesn't know how to tell me how she feels so she is definitely acting it out and man I would believe she is pretty upset by these actions. Now, if my 5 year old were doing this to me - that would be an ENTIRELY different scenario. So I beg the man at the window to give me a container of fish so I can move this along and re-direct her out of the meltdown. Surely she won't flip out looking at dolphins. I kid you not we move over 4 steps toward the dolphins, I give the fish to Declin and I am holding her and it's like nothing ever happened, she is interested in the dolphins and not even upset anymore. Jekyll and Hyde I tell you, that is what toddlers are like - no other way to explain it.
So after the emotional trauma for me from the meltdown after the dolphins we go back to the hotel, we are taking a break. I was hoping for a small nap but that never happened. We did go back and cool off in the room. I rented a stroller both days and they will let you hold it for up to 2 hours so we took a break and got back in time to see the afternoon Shamu show. This is where I got to experience the Shamu show from a whole new perspective. Sadly, Declin did not forget about the splash zone from last night's show. This is in the afternoon and it is hot like super humidly hot - we get to Shamu stadium early enough to sit in the splash zone. I know how much 'splashing' went on last night but I'm not sure Declin knows what is in store for him. I do not recall the fish smell from last night's show - I guess the closer you get to the tank, the smellier it is. They tell you before the show to put away all electronics in a safe and dry place if you are in the splash zone because you WILL get wet. So the show starts, and at this point getting cooled off is not a bad idea - we are sweaty, like drippy sweaty which is so gross but that is what severe humidity will get you. So the whales do their thing, go around and splash the crowd caddy corner to us and I know we are next - man it's a lot of water. I can see them getting their position ready through the tank and they can splash some major water - I see their tails stick up and here it comes. All I can do is shield baby girl from the water that was about to hit. Here it comes and man it was cold and fast and powerful. It did feel good for a second - and it did cool us off but man it was ALOT. I look at Declin and the look on his face is priceless. Not sure if he forgot that whales live in the ocean or if his mouth was wide open or what but he just got a big huge taste of saltwater, too and he was NOT happy about it. Deirdre was not sure what hit her but I could tell she didn't like the saltwater either. The second time the whales splashed us not once but two more times and that is all it took - "MOM, let's get OUT of here!" So, we didn't have to endure the two-three more splashes the Shamu tails were about to let loose on the crowd and we ran out of that humid, sweaty and fishy smelling stadium as fast as we could. Later Declin asks why it can't be REGULAR non salty water that splashes us. Oh - 5 year olds haha. That is the most "disgustingist" taste according to Declin and we don't have to do that ever again.
We finish out our day and see everything we wanted to see the second day and head back to the hotel to get to sleep a little bit earlier than the first night. It was nice to have the rental car, we were able to grab a bite to eat for dinner and settle in for the night. We get up the next day which is travel day - spend a little time at the nice quaint pool where my kids spend their time in the hot tub instead of the pool. It was in the morning so it wasn't 100 degrees yet but I still much rather would have COOLED off instead of sat in a 105 degree hot tub. We had a nice morning before heading to the airport. Declin actually got sick later that night from the oatmeal he ate in the morning so I am very thankful he wasn't sick on the plane as that would have been miserable travel time for all of us. Just for reference we bought peanut butter and jelly at the store the first day and I guess I never would have thought that JELLY is considered a liquid to the TSA, so that went in the trash while I was detained in the security line for jelly and a bracelet they thought was a knife. It was fun chasing my 2 year old around while they were going through my entire bag to throw away some jelly and waste some time. At least I got there early enough anyway. The plane ride was fine, Deirdre actually fell asleep and Declin was super good playing one of his games.
I felt good about our trip overall aside from the scratches and the meltdown. I know at least Declin and I will have great memories from our vacation, and we will have that one family picture that I can show my daughter when she is grown up and older and we can laugh about her attacking me and remember the fun times. I will always cherish the summer vacations my family had - mostly going camping or to port aransas staying in a beach house. We always went somewhere within driving distance even though they weren't very glamorous places and we never went to Disneyworld because we didn't have the money. The important part was that we had the time we spent together, the love of a family and the memories of spending time together with a summer family vacation. That is what is most important for myself - spending real quality time together and that is what I am trying to recreate. I do it for the love, and I do it for this picture that I will hang up somewhere and remember our first family trip together as a new family of three.
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