What would possess me to wake up at 6am while on vacation? I don't know, but it does have a couple of benefits. First, I can actually connect into the resort's WiFi connection from the room at that hour when it won't finish handshaking after about 8am. Second, I can make coffee and enjoy some quiet time while the family is snoozing. And those two items leave me ready to type and catch up with the days events without having to filter out 2 days worth of stuff when trying to post.
So, today we decided to start off by heading the down "the strip" and see what was to be found past Wal-Mart while looking for a place for the kids to play. After breakfast, some in-room play time and finally corralling the kids into clothes appropriate to the weather -- partly-cloudy, breezy, warming up to a high expected near 70 but still chilly in the morning (as if 55 was chilly) -- we packed into the car and started driving.
The kids nearly fell into car-induced naps which prompted us to come back towards the resort and take them to a state park. They played on some basic playground equipment and then we took them on a nature trail. At first there was a high level of resistance from both kids. My daughter just wanted to go to the beach (a theme repeated frequently since our first encounter with the waves) and my son seemed to chant "I want a 'Carry You'" with his arms stretched up. Both of them were encouraged to continue to walk and to learn about the native sand dune plants -- many of which are actually endangered thanks to human development of the areas.
Somewhere into the first about third of the walk the kids settled into examining the reserve. My wife encouraged my daughter to keep working on reading the little signs explaining the trees and shrubs while I played catch-up; walking at my son's pace. He's actually fun to watch explore the world around him. He's very thorough and experimental while at the same time still a bit timid. The combination makes for some cute moments as he is at first surprised during his experiments and then rewarded with something new and interesting.
Eventually the kids wore down to the point where progress was frequently measured in feet-between-'Carry You'-requests. So we guided them through the remainder of the trail, a quick 2nd effort in the playground and then back to the room. It wasn't until packing into the car that I looked at a watch and realized we had taken an hour(ish) long walk!
The kids were appropriately grumpy but a good lunch improved their spirits enough that the fight around taking a nap was minimal. And it was quite a nap! I believe the first kid roused after approximately 3 hours while the second followed not long thereafter. We had planned an early dinner at a nice seafood restaurant so there wasn't much time to prepare or get distracted.
We were a little worried at first as the restaurant, while listed as casual, was occupied by an older crowd that was attired in business casual or better clothing. By the time we left there was one other family in casual clothing in the restaurant but we were on alert the whole time so that we would not be causing a scene.
Dinner was excellent and the kids were well-behaved. I acted like an armchair for my son as his booster couldn't find good footing in the bench of the booth and he wasn't wanting to sit particularly still either. My concerns that he would pull his normal "I'm done, go play" routine were unfounded as the most he did was snuggle on my arm and in my lap.
Returning to the room, it was a little early for bed times but too late to want to make a return trip to the pool. So we snuggled on beds and watched a movie. There was some protest about not watching another show which was understandable given the lack of activity between naps and bedtime, but we managed to read a book and snuggle enough to get over the fussing and realize it was bedtime.
And, get this, the kids slept together in one bed! Woo hoo! Perhaps the best thing to come from that was that neither parent was treated to an all-night massage and could actually sleep.
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