The Breakers. Day 3. Dinner Was Good; Our Kids Were Not.
We woke up Saturday morning around the same time, got dressed and went to breakfast.
Same breakfast – same beautiful room and same great food – but today we looked out the window at pouring rain. They did say September is the rainiest month. Thankfully though the rain stopped by the time we finished eating, so we changed and headed out to the pool for the day.
We pretty much did the same thing until lunch time – same pool, almost the same seats, played in the sand and the ocean was great. For lunch we tried The Beach Club, other poolside restaurant. I should mention that the package we booked gives you free kids meals at any restaurant with a kids menu. For lunch, we ordered a tuna sandwich and a mahi mahi with veggies from the kids menu, but the tuna sandwich was really for me, and I ordered a margarita pizza, which was really for Hallie (except Hallie didn’t eat it because it turned out to be a thick focaccia pizza and she didn’t like it). Tzvi had fish tacos. Everything tasted great, but both kids were kind of losing it during the meal.
After lunch, Madeleine fell asleep in the stroller and I went for my massage. The spa was really nice. I came in, showered just to get sand off me, went in the steam room for about 3 minutes, and then waited in the ‘relaxation area.’ After a few minutes I asked someone what was happening because it was already 5 minutes late. Apparently they hadn’t checked me in when I arrived, and they had me under Harry Kaplan. Anyway, the massage was great. Before I left I took a seltzer, a Voss water, and a snack. Making sure I get my moneys worth obviously.
Tzvi: While Steph was being massaged, I took Hallie back to the pool, but we couldn’t go in because there had been lightning nearby. They said they have to close the pool for 30 minutes for every lightning strike within 6 miles. The lightning had been 4 miles away. So we sat by the pool reading Highlights and ordered some drinks. I got a Paloma and Hallie had a mixed berry smoothie. Eventually the pool reopened and Hallie swam for a while. Madeleine then woke up but took a while to acclimate and then when she was willing to go in the pool I realized I had left the swim diapers in the room and had to wait for Steph to come back from her massage, which was right about the time that Madeleine spilled Hallie’s smoothie, while Hallie was swimming in the pool and found a young mother who she started talking to and asking questions until we told Hallie she needed to leave her alone.
After my massage, there was only a little time until Tzvi had to go for his. We spent the next hour or so swimming and then playing in the sand. We survived.
Tzvi: At 4:00 I went to the Spa for my massage. It was very good, and like all massages went by too quickly. She spent a long time working on my left shoulder, which apparently is in bad shape from carrying Madeleine. The spa was very nice and had glass bottles of Pellegrino. I left just as Steph was walking by, which worked out nicely.
We went back to the room, showered and got dressed for dinner. Dinner tonight was at the Seafood Bar at the hotel. Yet another mess, and a reminder as to why we will never travel alone with our children again. As soon as we walked in, Hallie started complaining that her eyes were bothering her (probably because she put too much makeup on around her eyes), so Tzvi had to take her back to the room to get Benadryl.
Tzvi: She wouldn’t stop whining about her eyes, and I could tell she wasn’t that bothered by it because she would pause her whining to talk about things. After I gave her the Benadryl I asked if she was capable of stopping the whining and she said no, so I just laid down on the bed and told her we were skipping dinner. She didn’t like that idea too much and agreed to be good, so we went back to dinner. By the time we got there, Madeleine was almost done eating.
I ordered a dish of Parker House Rolls and zucchini chips, which came with a fantastic basil aioli and marinara sauce. For Madeleine we got shell pasta with tomato sauce, which she didn’t really eat, and a side of corn. By the time Tzvi got back we had pretty much had it, and couldn’t imagine doing another massive fish dinner, so I ordered a salad and Tzvi ordered raw tuna tostadas. Both were actually very good. We also shared a strawberry ginger mojito. The girls were pretty nuts and kept walking around. At the next table over was the same young mother from the pool that Hallie was talking to. Well, if we were worried that Hallie would annoy her again, we were worrying about the wrong thing. Her son was walking around and kept getting in Madeleine’s face, which Madeleine may have found funny, until the boy screamed and started spitting, which wasn’t so funny. Let’s hope he wasn’t sick.
We got out of dinner as quick as possible and went walking around the hotel. We walked through the shops and got Hallie some hard boiled eggs. Then we sat waiting for Shabbos to end. The girls ran around and Madeleine kept sticking her hands into a fountain.
We got back to the room just as Shabbos ended, packed a little, Hallie and Madeleine watched a little Peppa Pig (because it had been a whole 25 hours and they couldn’t wait until tomorrow), and then they went to bed, except they didn’t go to sleep.
After a few minutes I tried to sneak out, but they were both still up. Oh well. I walked down to the lobby and back to the shops. I bought Madeleine swim diapers because we ran out. At the ice cream store I bought a lot of nut free candy and a massive ice cream sundae with three flavors (caramel macchiato, birthday cake and key lime pie) and three toppings (cookie dough, brownie, oreos) and whipped cream. Then I made a stop at the bar where I got Tzvi a negroni. The hotel was really hopping and the bar was really nice. I guess this is where everyone goes to party in West Palm on a Saturday night. I was definitely out of place standing at the bar waiting for Tzvi’s drink, holding my ice cream sundae.
When I got back to the room, thankfully, both girls were sleeping. We sat on the bathroom floor and ate the ice cream, and Tzvi drank his drink. A negroni is a super bitter drink, which I find disgusting, but it’s Tzvi’s favorite cocktail. This one actually wasn’t the worst I’ve tried, and they had a really cool spherical ice cube with a whole flower frozen inside. Tzvi said it was a really good negroni.
We sat there for a while, then went to bed.
Better day?