Florida day 3
December 5th, 2022
On our third day in Florida Sophie and I both managed to sleep in thanks to the grandparents offering to take Lola in their bedroom for the night. An offer neither of us would ever refuse… actually there is a part of us that enjoys having our little one next to us. Also while we are on vacation the effects of being woken up repeatedly throughout the night are a little less punishing than when you work the next day.
Naturally this is simply a transfer of fatigue as Lola still gets up bright and early. By the time we woke and joined the cabal Lola had already been fed and had enjoyed an hour walk around the neighborhood. We quickly played catch up by chomping down some breakfast and liquids, threw some clothes on, and packed the car. Today was zoo day and we wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds. Sophie did a bit of research and found Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park and suggested it to the group which got a unanimous “Aye!”, well lola was more of a “Bayobolaboba"!”
Off we went in search of adventure and a whole lot of novelty for our sweet little Lola. The car ride was close to an hour and so some interactions with Lola were required to keep her mildly entertained. We have zero reference point on this having only the one child but after our roadtrip out east in May of this year; which included one final epic one shot ride from Nova Scotia to our home in Aylmer, over 15 hours in the car; we found Lola to be an incredible traveler by car. She generally fusses when something is wrong like being hungry or a soiled diaper. Otherwise she’s quite adept at keeping herself entertained. Sometimes she’ll play with her toy, other times gawk at her book, and sometimes she’ll even look out the window and lose herself in the world like her father does quite often.
I tell Sophie how sad it is that we keep most of who we are inside of ourselves and share very little in reality with the world. To have only 10% of our true selves exposed, what a shame. Of course with our loved ones it can certainly be a bit more but it’s still quite profound how much of what we think, feel, see, hear, taste, experience never connects with another person. I suppose somewhere deep down inside of me these posts are just a way of perhaps digging a bit deeper than the surface of what makes me me; connecting a bit more, sharing a bit more of who I am… with friends.. with family.. with you.. and possibly the world… if it is willing to listen.
Upon our arrival we are greeted by a pretty empty parking lot. Sophie’s mother Elise, the designated driver in this journey of ours, parks the beast. We unpack ourselves and all of our things including a lunch that Elise made for us and storm the gates. As is common practice in most parks of these kinds there are employees checking bags and naturally outside food is not allowed within the premises. So one of us doubles back to drop off our makeshift cooler of food and then we head to the next security checkpoint: ticket purchasing.
Here we are informed that we can opt to get tickets for the zoo or a city pass which nets you access to a number of other attractions in the area such as Bush Gardens and a couple of aquariums. We form a quick family huddle to the side to discuss the pros and cons and quickly emerge with strong verdict for the city pass. Tickets are bought and now the final segment of the gauntlet is before us, ticket scanning. With zero crowds we pierce the gates in record breaking time and come face to face with the centre hub area that branches off in so many different directions.
We randomly chose one and come to our first large thick window, on the other side a large komodo dragon who just so happens to be on the move towards us. We grab Lola and plop her down in its path against the window and watch her discover the animal kingdom. She spots our lizard friend and turns to us pointing in its direction, just in case we hadn’t noticed she wanted us to see what she was seeing. As with all animals she sees for the first time she blows air twice, which is her version of “Woof Woof!” Everything to her is first a dog and she checks with us by “barking.” It’s all really adorable, cute and funny.
In this very moment I’m reminded of a time prior to Lola’s arrival, a reflection of what it was I was looking forward to as a father. One of those things was this idea of rediscovering the world through our children’s eyes and mind. Sometimes as adults the magic and wonder of the world disappears behind the veil of repetition. See something often enough and the beauty and romance behind it all fades, novelty turns into boring and in my eyes we somewhat become less alive because of it.
But with a child in your life it catalyzes our desire to discover the world anew with the help of their little hearts and minds. I believe this is one of the primary reasons I love to travel, it reminds me of just how much beauty there is in the world and to not let the routine of life bleed away all the colour and love that surrounds us.
So coming back to our little Lola, barking at a lizard, inquisitively asking us if this specimen is also a dog. Dogs are one of the first animals she came into contact with, one is also always visible in our house as I have an incredible painting of my beloved Shreddies on the wall which was gifted to me by my talented brother in law Dom Laporte.
When she first learned to blark, a combination of blow and bark, she would blark everytime I walked by that painting. And each time we would confirm that yes indeed, this was a dog. In her little mind everything that walked on four legs was a dog, because that’s all she had ever really seen. Of course in her books with animals she’d see others but dogs was this tangible animal that she had actually seen in real life and that she consistently saw images of every day.
She’d see a bird fly around, she’d point up and blark out loud. She would see a cat cross the street as we strolled around our neighborhood and she would blark. Exploring the woods on a bike path and come across some deer, you guessed it: blark. It is so awe inspiring and mysterious to see her build mental constructs to understand the world, and the pillars on which these foundations are laid is us, her parents and loved ones. When confronted with something new she attempts to understand and guess what it is based on what limited knowledge she has, and then she turns to us to either confirm or correct her. A virtuous and simple feedback loop for learning. A true wondrous marvel to witness, and a cherished gift to be a part of.
As we travelled from one station to the next her little eyes and mind were on overdrive, taking it all in. Her fingers on a pointing bonanza all while she was blarking up a storm. Didn’t matter if it swam, swung from trees, or weighed a ton the first guess was always a blark. She emerged from this experience recognizing and mimicking birds: “Peet peet.” Monkeys were another that caught her attention and now receive their own mimic: “Ooo ooo ooo.” She did recognize fish from an early age, those never got a sound other than the smacking of the lips, but larger animals in the water such as manatees got a blark. We don’t know what noise those make so those still blark.
Near lunchtime we headed back out of the zoo and to a park near the parking area to eat our lunch. We sat as a family in a sea of tables and benches with no one around. Apparently visiting theme parks this time of year in Florida is a good time to avoid crowds. Lola being a new intrepid explorer took the opportunity to walk around and discover every little nook and cranny in the area. In an effort to reduce the amount of chasing or following we have to do we purposefully leave one of her buckles unclipped in her stroller.
Like most children Lola loves to interact with widgets in an effort to understand them but also master them. Buckles are a fairly new obsession of hers and the skill required is still a bit beyond her grasp but un-phased she continues to try to break them. The stroller buckles have become a blessing in disguise as her very favourite activity is of course walking around and discovering absolutely everything. So when we need a break or a bit of focus we present her with the buckle challenge and she will go into a deep focus in an attempt to break her nemesis.
After lunch we head back in and head towards the rides. The first is a wonderful merry-go-round for kids including Lola. We each take turns going on with her with me being the first. I put her on a tiger that does not go up and down to see how she reacts and fares. She fusses at first, in large part cause she didn’t nap long enough, but once the ride gets moving she absorbs the experience fully. The moment it stops she turns to me and says “Encore”.
I exit the ride with her and hand her off to maman who jumps right back on. This time maman plops her down on a manatee that goes up and down. She straps her in and off they go. A new love begins to develop inside of Lola, the joy of rides. Seconds after its over, “Encore!” We hand her off to Grandmaman and off she goes again. Three times was not the charm. Nope for Lola infinity is the charm. She still wanted to go again but we opted to head towards more kid friendly rides.
The next ride she experienced was a small choo choo train with Grandmaman and maman. They have the ride entirely to themselves and the little train goes around the track twice. Papa and Papa Jay wave at her each time she goes by. Despite this ride being a little less extreme than the other she proclaims once it is over “Encore!” We decide however, that it is time to make our way to the safari expedition ride but before leaving this part of the parc all the adults take a go at a mini coaster that was too extreme to take Lola on. I stayed back while the others went on first and I went after with Papa Jay for a quick dose of coaster air.
The safari has the very first wait time but it was under 10 minutes so it was really nothing to balk at. Lola was getting pretty scrappy by this point, exhaustion will do that to a person. In this regard she likely takes after her father as I’m not the most pleasant when I am fatigued. Soon enough we embark on the vehicle together and off we go to visit all the larger animals in the park. Lola drifts from interested to frustrated throughout the entire ride. We do our very best to calm her and soothe her tired anxiousness, sometimes we succeed and other times we fail. It is clear that the end of our day is signaling us through her. We enjoy what we can of the ride and once we disembark we make our way back to the car and strap everyone in for what could be a rough ride.
On our way back to our homebase we hit a fair bit of traffic so a 40 minute ride slowly turns into over an hour. We successfully lull Lola into a slumber which affords us a bit of respite on the agonizingly long trek. Sophie and I relive the precious moments of our day through our pictures, we discuss and plan the following days and eventually we arrive home safe and sound. The night has fallen, we feast together, we laugh and share our day with Grandmother. Eventually Sophie and I turn in for the night, my head hits the pillow with my mind alight with a glow, a deep well of gratitude washes over me. I am so grateful to life for giving me a family to call my own. Now I bask into the warm afterglow of our shared memories as I let the shadows of my loved ones dance around me as I drift to sleep. May tomorrow bring me more love and joy. I love you all so much! I could never thank you enough for what you have given me… but thank you anyway.
