We just got back from our first family vacation in Perdido Key! We left town around 6:00pm on Saturday the 30th hoping that Kate would sleep most of the seven and a half hours it would take to drive down. It was a good plan in theory, right? Eight hours, 400 miles, and a midnight pit stop in a McDonald’s parking lot to clean up a car sickness episode, we arrived at the Indigo East condominiums.
Kate wasn’t sure what to make of the ocean at first. We waded into the water and everything was fine. Until the first wave almost knocked her down that is. She was pretty much anti-ocean for the next couple of days then. She loved playing in the sand though! We got her a sand “ice cream” kit that had little scoops and cones and she played with those a ton. We were always getting offered different flavors of ice cream to try.
There was also a pool on the premises that a zero entry kids area with spraying fountains of water. Kate loves these and even better, she met a new friend named Abby. Kate loves to make new friends, but gets her feelings hurt very easily if the other kid rebuffs her. Luckily, her and Abby hit it off and there played together for several days when they would meet up in the pool. Now if you’ve ever had the “privilege” of giving Kate a bath, you know that pouring water on her head results in a fit of gasps, crying, and thrashing around. Abby was a year or two older than Kate and was able to jump off the small ledge and go under the water. You could see the gears spinning in her head as she watched her keep going under the water. After carrying her through the pool to all the different sprays, fountains, and waterfalls that I would let pour over my head I asked her did she want to try going under the water like Abby. “Ok” she said. Surprised, I told her to close her eyes, hold her nose and close her mouth. Then I dunked her. All the way under and back up again she went. A little spluttering, but she loved it. Laura and I both cheered her on as she did it again and again. She took her bath last night and she had to be the one of pour the water on her head this time. It’s the little things that make a dad proud!
The ocean was still another matter though, we just couldn’t get her back in the ocean. She kept saying that the waves were too loud and she didn’t like them. We even tried going for a walk just on the edge of where the waves washed onto the beach and she was scared of them. Try as we would, she wasn’t interested in the water. There were sand flavored ice cream cones to be made! Either Tuesday or Wednesday, Laura and Kate had been giving Blue Bell a run for their money while I was reading a book. They had been at it for awhile when Laura said she was going to wash off in the water. She had been gone a few minutes when Kate comes walking by heading towards the water. “Where ya going, Kate?”, I asked. “To wash off. I like the waves now”, was her reply. Stunned, I dropped my book and carried her into the water. She never had a complaint the rest of the trip about the ocean. She kept telling everyone that she liked the waves now. As I would hold her and bob with the waves she would periodically tell me, “I’ll keep you safe Daddy.” That’s what it’s all about right there.
I’m sure Laura will have more to add later, but I’ll leave you with some photos.
