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| The Gulf of Mexico |
Vacation with a toddler means that you need to be able to improvise. However, even when you do, you stil may be no match for the tricky toddler!
We arrived in Clearwater Beach, Florida last Wednesday night by way of Orlando. We drove a couple of hours to Clearwater Beach and arrived at the Hilton.
True Confession: The Hilton has got me. Somehow I began this journey with them and accumlated enough points that our time in Clearwater was free. FREE!
Well, not exactly free. I read that hotel points are worth about 1.7 cents per dollar paid for them. I'd be depressed if some of those stays hadn't been paid by my employers! :-) Still, regardless of how it happened, not having to come out of pocket for the room was AWESOME! (If you haven't heard, diapers are expensive!)
One funny memory from Clearwater was when the toddler caught me trying to sneak out of the room. Andre was asleep. The toddler was napping and I was sitting on the balcony basking in the sun. I wanted to sit out there naked, but realized that getting arrested on vacation would be a downer. So, I resisted the urge to take off my clothes. After all mommy must have standards!
As I sat on the balcony I thought about our day at the beach. The toddler had such fun. She enjoyed walking on the sand. She quickly got her "sea legs". She was excited to navigate the sand and play in the ocean. Watching her balance was a real treat.
My memories were so great that I had to share them with my sister, Jeryn. As I was sharing my memories with her I realized that I was wasting a golden opportunity. With both Andre and the toddler free I could escape. I planned to walk along the beach and think, journal, or just mind my own business. So, I shared my plans with mys sister, got off of the phone, donned my bathing suit, put on my cover up and planned to sneak out of the room.
Just when I was about to make my escape, the baby woke up and caught me sneaking out.
Did I mention that we were unable to upgrade to a suite? When we arrived we discovered that the room was rather small. And despite the hotel's representations, the Pack and Play didn't fit in the bathroom or
the closet. Much to our dismay, she had no room.
What she had was a makeshift room created by her father. The room was sheets made of sheets that he hung up on
closet doors around the Pack and Play that was sticking out of the closet. She broke out of that room easier than
Jesse James broke out of jail.
As I walked past the closet on the way to the door, the little girl peeked her smiling face out of the sheets...
DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!!! I was foiled again! Still, it was vacation, she was cute, and since I've become a mom I've gotten used to having my plans change at the last minute. So, it was all good. Besides, it was still vacation!
Related Links
Visit Florida!
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/PIECBHF-Hilton-Clearwater-Beach-Florida/index.do?WT.srch=1&searchdef=2144778&002=002%3D2144778%26021%3D606430&006=9217352102&007=Search&008=&009=p&012=hilton+Clearwater
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