I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.
Kylo Ren, The Force Awakens
Optimism wasn’t with me today. The kids, awake at their usual early hour, had seemingly chosen violence already and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth that required our attention in the early hours of the morning. We tried to calm them by offering some quiet time in bed with us (something they never get back home) but that failed to work. Instead of trying to fight them we figured we might as well make for breakfast and so began the usual routine of chasing them down, clothing them and then walking out into the early morning heat of Bali.
Things started to look up considerably during breakfast. The kids were still their usual selves but they were at least used to the routine now. This was also helped by the presence of the 1 year old and the older cousins. Indeed we weren’t the only parents there happy for the distraction as the eldest sister and her husband were nursing some intense hangovers after over-indulging in happy hour the night before. Thankfully all the kids were well behaved with their youngest cousin and her parents, providing a decidedly calm start to the day.
We finished up long before the kids club was going to be open so we retired to the room for a short break from the unusually hot day and to prepare the kids for club. This, again, went unexpectedly smoothly we few protests from the kids. After a couple videos on their tablet, a round of sunscreen liberally applied and their swimmers bundled up for the day we made the trek over to the kids club area to drop them off.
Now I was expecting to be among the first there given we were on track to be there only shortly after it opened. Not the case at all. Indeed there had to have been a good number of drop offs before ours as the place was already buzzing with activity. This seemed to help the transition with the kids although the boy, who was still complaining about his hair, wouldn’t go in until we’d cut off the longer ends of the plaits that were constantly in his face. After that though we were able to make our leave without a single tear shed. I was honestly shocked.
We were then left in the rather enviable position of figuring out what to do with the time available to us. A crew was forming to go shopping at a nearby place that sold everything at $10 so we figured it’d be worth tagging along with them just for the heck of it. Getting there though it was all knock-off merchandise that neither I nor my wife was particularly interested in, even at the rather modest asking price. Not so for our travelling companions though who grabbed a couple things including a bag I’d seen a few other people at the resort sporting. It wasn’t a brand I recognised though. Maybe I am out of touch.
I grabbed a 6 pack of water from the convenience store nearby when I overheard some English fellows regailing a tale I hadn’t heard before. Apparently the scene in Home Alone where Kevin’s grocery bags explode on him wasn’t a panned part of the scene. It simply happened when they were filming and MaCauley Caulkin just stared at the director in shock. It looked so good they kept it in the final cut. This whole conversation was brought about due to the shift away from single use plastic bags.
Walking back the wife and I started discussing what we’d do for the rest of the day and we figured a massage was in order. The spa could fit us in at 12:30 so we locked that in before heading back to the room to chill for an hour or so. The massage itself was great, on par with the best I’d had back at home but at half the price. Can’t beat that.
Heading back to the room we again noodled about what we could spend the rest of the day doing and landed on lounging in the lagoon pool with a couple drinks. This is where I regaled my wife with the short story outline I had worked on while I was being worked on and, given her reaction, I think I’ll have to put pen to paper on it soon.
It was part way through this that the Mum guilt hit my wife and she wanted to check on the kids. She managed to sneak in there and catch of glimpse of them getting their face painted (one of their all time favourite things to do) and made a semi-clean getaway back to the pool. After she got back we decided to have a family movie night in the room; ordering room service, getting the “free” popcorn that the kids had earnt eating at the in-resort restaurants and choosing a decidedly terrible but great for kids (Yes Day if you’re interested) movie for us to watch. This went pretty well too although even the promise of various deserts couldn’t seem to stop the boy from performing constant acrobatics on the bed. Some wriggles just have to be let out it seems.
Which brings us to now where the kids are in bed at a reasonable time, I’m almost finished writing for the day and I’m left wondering about how the pain of yesterday factors into all of this. It seems that we have all managed to come out of today…happy? Why is that a surprise. I mean of course part of me knows that’s possible but I guess I just hadn’t let myself believe it was. Tomorrow then shall be the real test: let’s repeat it. Can we, the adults, do the “selfish” thing again and still end up with two happy kids on the other side? Will we be happy at the end of it? I hope so, I really do, as if we can make it through the 3 days in a similar fashion we’re going to be in a good shape for this being the first family holiday that hasn’t had me swearing off them for good.
Now that’d be something.
