Girls Weekend
This weekend I had the privilege of spending the weekend with my 5 year old daughter. Yes, the one with a broken leg.
We had planned to go away to Lake Las Vegas- it's about 30 minutes from our house. They were running a deal- the rooms used to be $200+ and realizing that very few people come to Las Vegas to stay out in the middle of the desert, the discount rate was $56. No joke. They have paddle boats, paddle boards, gondolas, nice pool, movies on the lawn, a little village of shops, a spa-- it's really nice.
We decided to go away for the weekend since Skip and his dad had a few hunting trips planned for the fall. We wanted some fun girl time.
Then she broke her leg.
So I asked her if she would be upset if I asked her brother to go instead. I couldn't imagine what we would do with her broken leg. We couldn't even get pedicures!!
She said it would fine. And to be honest, since we were often segregated in our family as The Boys and The Girls, I was looking forward to spending some time with my son.
Well, he got strep throat at the last minute.
Sick kid, broken kid or lose the pre-paid room fee?
I took the broken kid.
And what a blast we had.
First, I would like to state that while Lake Las Vegas and Montelago Village is handicap accessible it is NOT handicap friendly. Holy cow. I was worried about missing my gym time. No need. Pushing her up and down the cobblestone hills in 105 degree heat was more than adequate!! But that's a blog for another day...
Okay, so on to the good stuff.
I learned so much about my little girl. She was thrilled to have some alone time with just me. Beyond thrilled. In fact, the first night she even told me that it had "broken her heart" when I wanted to take Skip instead of her. Ouch. But I'm glad she told me. I didn't think it had mattered much. It had.
She is very adaptable. She figured out how to get in and out of her wheelchair and in and out of her bed. I was very impressed.
She also has a really great sense of smell. We stopped in at the Fragrance Factory where they sell essential oils. I had her guess the scents-- she did great. In fact, we were having so much fun that the owner joined our game.
She doesn't like sympathy. Every time someone gave her the "Ohhhhh, look at that poor little girl with the broken leg" she said "It's just a broken leg. I'll be fine." In fact, she was getting really irritated with it. She was exasperated by the barrage of questions.
She knows how to milk it, though. She had more than one waiter eating out of the palm of her hand. And signing her cast. The store owners all waved to us daily as we walked around the village.
Her best friend means the world to her. She joined us for a few hours on Saturday and Zoe was so happy. I think she will become a collector of friends.
She has the same taste as I do in decorating. There was a cool store with all kinds of metal works, fun glass, etc. She loved it. We bought matching "girl power" rings.
She was as freaked out as I was with the scary doll store.
She liked the kite store and felt bad that her brother was sick. She insisted we buy him a kite.
She understood when I said we weren't buying anything, that we weren't buying anything. She was fine with looking.
She loves contemporary jazz and modern art.
She loved going for walks and looking at the sights.
She needed time to color and draw. I don't mean "quiet time"- this was creative time. It is part of her soul.
She is, without a doubt, very cool.
What I had thought would be a bit of a waste- me dealing with a little girl with a broken leg in a hotel room, turned into one of the best weekends of my life.
When there are two kids, I'm forced to be mom. This weekend, I got to be me and I got to see my daughter be herself. Her bright, funny, smart, hip self. And I was a little less stressed and a little sillier myself.
Definitely time and money well spent.
We had planned to go away to Lake Las Vegas- it's about 30 minutes from our house. They were running a deal- the rooms used to be $200+ and realizing that very few people come to Las Vegas to stay out in the middle of the desert, the discount rate was $56. No joke. They have paddle boats, paddle boards, gondolas, nice pool, movies on the lawn, a little village of shops, a spa-- it's really nice.
We decided to go away for the weekend since Skip and his dad had a few hunting trips planned for the fall. We wanted some fun girl time.
Then she broke her leg.
So I asked her if she would be upset if I asked her brother to go instead. I couldn't imagine what we would do with her broken leg. We couldn't even get pedicures!!
She said it would fine. And to be honest, since we were often segregated in our family as The Boys and The Girls, I was looking forward to spending some time with my son.
Well, he got strep throat at the last minute.
Sick kid, broken kid or lose the pre-paid room fee?
I took the broken kid.
And what a blast we had.
First, I would like to state that while Lake Las Vegas and Montelago Village is handicap accessible it is NOT handicap friendly. Holy cow. I was worried about missing my gym time. No need. Pushing her up and down the cobblestone hills in 105 degree heat was more than adequate!! But that's a blog for another day...
Okay, so on to the good stuff.
I learned so much about my little girl. She was thrilled to have some alone time with just me. Beyond thrilled. In fact, the first night she even told me that it had "broken her heart" when I wanted to take Skip instead of her. Ouch. But I'm glad she told me. I didn't think it had mattered much. It had.
She is very adaptable. She figured out how to get in and out of her wheelchair and in and out of her bed. I was very impressed.
She also has a really great sense of smell. We stopped in at the Fragrance Factory where they sell essential oils. I had her guess the scents-- she did great. In fact, we were having so much fun that the owner joined our game.
She doesn't like sympathy. Every time someone gave her the "Ohhhhh, look at that poor little girl with the broken leg" she said "It's just a broken leg. I'll be fine." In fact, she was getting really irritated with it. She was exasperated by the barrage of questions.
She knows how to milk it, though. She had more than one waiter eating out of the palm of her hand. And signing her cast. The store owners all waved to us daily as we walked around the village.
Her best friend means the world to her. She joined us for a few hours on Saturday and Zoe was so happy. I think she will become a collector of friends.
She has the same taste as I do in decorating. There was a cool store with all kinds of metal works, fun glass, etc. She loved it. We bought matching "girl power" rings.
She was as freaked out as I was with the scary doll store.
She liked the kite store and felt bad that her brother was sick. She insisted we buy him a kite.
She understood when I said we weren't buying anything, that we weren't buying anything. She was fine with looking.
She loves contemporary jazz and modern art.
She loved going for walks and looking at the sights.
She needed time to color and draw. I don't mean "quiet time"- this was creative time. It is part of her soul.
She is, without a doubt, very cool.
What I had thought would be a bit of a waste- me dealing with a little girl with a broken leg in a hotel room, turned into one of the best weekends of my life.
When there are two kids, I'm forced to be mom. This weekend, I got to be me and I got to see my daughter be herself. Her bright, funny, smart, hip self. And I was a little less stressed and a little sillier myself.
Definitely time and money well spent.
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