Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Day Three

I plan to turn my blog into a book very soon, so my posts may start including more stories for Hollyn to hear when she is older. And this is one I want her to hear...
We decided to take a water taxi ride to see all the beautiful sights on the Palm Beach Coast. We heard great things about the narrated tour, we even had it recommended to us at the airport etc. Hollyn really enjoys being outside so we thought this would be a fun little trip. About two minutes into the ride, the boat takes a load of people to a small island nearby so they can spend the day there. Hollyn sees all of these people getting off with swimsuits on and carrying their water toys. She decides that she wants to go swimming. We explain to her that we will do that when we get back to the hotel. Well this DID NOT go over well. She starts to get a little fussy and wants to climb on the rail and look over into the ocean. Obviously, we couldn't allow that so we had to move to the middle of the boat. It is also an EXTREMLY hot and humid day and she is getting sweaty and obviously uncomfortable. The little old man narrating is very boring and difficult to understand. So about 10 minutes into the ride Hollyn Claire goes ABSOLUTELY NUTS! She goes into a horrible, no good, VERY bad screaming fit. And I mean HORRID! To make this story very short, she threw the worst fit of her entire life for the next ONE HOUR and TWENTY minutes. I mean THE WORST. The screaming at the top of her lungs, choking, kicking, hitting, on the floor of the filthy water taxi fit. Nothing could stop her. Nothing. And NO ONE can hear the old man telling them about the beautiful sights. I heard two words the entire trip. "Drew Berrymore." You should have seen some of the looks that were directed toward our sweet little family of three.

It got really bad when she decided that she wanted her shoes on. (I can't even remember how they got taken off.) I think she thought if she got her shoes on then she could get off this horrible boat. As I am putting her shoes on, she goes INSANE and screams, "You not doing it right!!!!" Then with one swift motion.... She picks up one of her FAVORITE, brand new, sparkly Stride Rite shoes and sails it into the Atlantic Ocean. Just one.
The look on the guy's face behind me is hilarious. His jaw was literally on the floor. I would have laughed if I wasn't so humilitated. Of course then Hollyn wants her shoe back. So then the insane fit that can't get any worse... GETS WORSE!! We then endured choking screams of "GO GEEEEEEET it!" The little old narrator stopped talking at one point to just stare at us. And so did every other person on the boat. And so I did what all good mothers would do at this point I yelled my apologies over my screaming child and started to cry. I have no idea why, I knew that in the grand scheme of life this was SO not a big deal. But I just sat and silently let the tears fall as we finished our boat ride from you know where. And when it was over my husband went up to every single person and apologized for ruining their boat ride.
Hollyn fell asleep in the car, exhausted from her crazed episode. So on our luxurious vacation, we stopped at a Chick-Fil -A and ate in the car. We so terrified of waking her up, that we didn't make a single sound! We then drove around so she could finish her nap. I think we did start laughing about the boat ride at this point.
When we got back, as I was cleaning up the room I turned to find the little monkey drinking my sweet tea. I just had to take this picture. She had gotten it off the table and taken it to a corner to hide while she drank ALL I had left!
And later that afternoon we went to the beach to get some cute pictures. We got a ton of great ones. At first, Priss didn't like the sand. As you can see from the first two pictures.

But then she morphed into this doll faced little thing...



Scott writes letters and notes to Hollyn often. Things that she will be able to have when she is older. He had written this down on some hotel stationary and I wanted to include it.

"Tuesday, June 15, 2010
We were on vacation at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fl. It was probably 10:00 at night. Most 2 year olds had been asleep for hours. You were being your usual self. Your mother was reading and I took you downstairs for a walk. We came across a dinner reception where a band was playing and people were dancing. We stood outside to watch and you were completely mesmerized. After a few minutes I tried to leave but you insisted that we stay. It wasn't like you were going to throw a fit but more like you were going to panic if we left. By the way, on our walk you were in your pajamas and you insisted that we take a sippy cup of water and a little bucket with a couple of shovels in it. The waiters were cleaning the tables as we watched. One waitress thought you were so adorable she said you "could be my meal." She brought you a chocolate chip cookie. You got down and danced and I never want to forget it. I hope I remember it in my mind forever. It was the perfect ending to a day when earlier you had thrown your sparkly shoe out the side of a boat. I think I will tell your mother that we need to keep that other shoe as a memory."

***I forgot to write this part: I have looked everywhere for this pair of shoes, and I can't find them. Hollyn keeps asking me to find her some more sparkly shoes. (She did say she was sorry for throwing it) I finally remembered that we had a pair of shiny silver Pedi Peds that she had not grown into last Spring. I pulled them out and showed them to her. She looked at them and threw her arms up in the air and shouted, "THANK YOU LOOORD!"

7 comments:

Strange family said...

yes, that is definitely a memory you will want to keep and share with her when she's older!

Hey! I'm Alison - wife. mom. child of God. teacher. said...

wow, this is sad and funny, but it was even better in person. I just can't even imagine being on the boat. Glad you had a good ending to the day though and those pictures at the beach are ADORABLE!

Meg said...

that is a PRECIOUS letter from scott!! SO sweet that he writes letters to her!! that story CRACKS me up...only because i SO understand. i am so glad you are chronicling all of this!! and it kills me how innocent she looks in all those pics...a doll-faced angel baby!!

Melissa said...

i just have no words at all. i could laugh and cry and love it all right along with you. oh jillian...what a lady!

Brooke said...

This is perhaps the BEST blog entry I have EVER read. Seriously!

Jesse and Dori said...

That is the funniest and craziest story ever! I would have cried too. Now I know why you want to blog about ea. day on your vacation :) That was the sweetest story that Scott wrote, what a special daddy (& mommy) Hollyn has!

Jennifer said...

I don't even know what to say, that is one of the funniest and wildest story ever! I was getting panicky for you just reading it. We had a very similar experience (although not quite to the extent of yours) one time in an airport while we were waiting to board the plane. I, like you, cried during the midst of it. LOL

And that's the sweetest letter Scott wrote to her! What a wonderful daddy she has. :)

She's gorgeous in those pictures!