Girls' Day Out

I mentioned already that the eldest son, Poppy, and I stayed in a hotel near the Albuquerque airport on Wednesday night. There was no reason for Poppy to come except that she doesn't like it when I go anywhere without her, especially overnight. And she does like to travel. 

I knew she was coming with us, so I purposely chose a hotel that had an indoor pool. That and proximity to the airport were pretty much the only criteria for my selection.

Of course we went swimming the night we arrived at the hotel.

I definitely did not choose to have a "pool view" room. Why on earth would anyone want to overlook--and overhear--an echoey pool?

I did not actually swim this night, to be honest. I'm not much of a water person, and the idea of having to take a shower before bed was unappealing. So I just sat there on a deck chair and monitored the fun.

Mom the lifeguard.

I had warned Poppy that coming with us would mean getting up very early and sitting at the airport for awhile, and that part would not be fun. She accepted this and was in fact very patient with our 5 a.m. wake-up and two hours checking in, going through security, and sitting at the gate until the plane left.

We left Poppy's stuffed dog, Jillian, to guard the hotel room while we were gone. She takes her job very seriously.

It's been several years since I've had the opportunity to watch a plane actually pull away from the gate, since the days of going to the gate to say good-bye or meet arrivals is now over.

But after that, it was Fun Girl Time!

The first thing we did when we got back to the hotel around 8 a.m. was eat breakfast. It was one of those buffets featuring many bread products and cereals, but this one thankfully also had scrambled eggs and ham, plus one of those ubiquitous waffle makers that you fill with the tiny cups of batter and flip over.

Poppy had a bowl of Froot Loops, some scrambled eggs and ham, a waffle, and some apple juice. This is the most I have ever seen her eat at breakfast.

After that, it was back to the pool. I do not think this pool room was heated. The water was actually steaming when we got there, even though it wasn't particularly warm water. Thankfully, there was also a functioning hot tub.

Poppy got in the hot tub first. 

This thing had some seriously intense bubbles. A bit too aggressive for me.

I got in the pool first, knowing that once I got in the hot water, I was never going to bring myself to get back in the cold pool. We spent a little bit of time working on Poppy's dog paddling and water treading before I declared myself done with the chill and gratefully switched to the hot tub. The pool had a shallow part that Poppy could stay in to play around, and I was only about two feet away in the hot tub, so I could keep an eye on her.

I did get tired of even the hot tub before she was ready to go, so I sat on a deck chair--covered in two towels because it was freezing in there after I had gotten wet--while she played happily in the hot tub.

I did have to eventually cut her fun short, however, as we had a long drive and a stop for groceries ahead of us.

After going back to the room to shower and change, we stopped by the breakfast buffet one more time as they were packing it up so I could get another cup of coffee and Poppy could get a bagel with cream cheese. 

We took these in the car with us. As we were leaving Albuquerque and she was munching her bagel, "Eye of the Tiger" came on the radio. Poppy exclaimed, "Hey, this is 'Eye of the Tiger'! I love this song!"

Then she said, "This is so great, Mom."

I asked her if she meant the song or her bagel.

"Both. I love music and I love bagels."

So easy to please, this girl.

After she finished eating, she settled herself with Charlotte's Web. Before she started reading, though, she said casually, "If you see a spa, you should stop. Since we don't have any brothers with us."

I was kind of surprised by this and asked her what we would do at a spa, wondering how she knew about spas at all. They're not places I frequent.

"Pedicures and stuff."

Oh, right. I forgot about that Fancy Nancy book. Obviously, she didn't.

In the end, we did not stop at a spa, instead stopping at Walmart to buy groceries on our way home. 

So maybe it wasn't a typical girls' day out, but Poppy sure enjoyed herself. And so did I.