May 8, 2025
Another day of a similar routine. It has involved not nearly as much home schooling as we feel like we should be doing but are chalking that up to it being our “vacation” week. That combined with all being in one hotel room would only add to the challenge of making it productive. We assume Europe will be a calmer time to home school since we will be in houses or apartments. Also since we are planning to do it all Summer missing a week here or there seems OK.
The boys had their normal breakfast mix of odd flavors, though Kayleen as introduced Lenny to Nutella and he is a big fan. They call it Cocotella in Mauritius, which actually makes more sense, but it tastes the same.
Kayleen took the boys to the kids club and told them we would pick them up after lunch. The lunch they serve them there is way better then what any of the restaurants offer them and half the cost. Kayleen and I each headed to the gym which has become a nice routine.
After that Kayleen helped me set up the other kindle we brought with our Hoboken library card. I can’t believe I’m going to read a book or maybe even books! We had delusions of the boys reading on them independently by the end of the trip which seems like a long shot but who knows. For now we will make good use of them.
Then we were off to the beach to relax before it was time to get the boys.
I went to pick up the boys around 1:30 from the kids club. On the walk back to the beach Lenny continued his coconut hunt. Quickly he emerged from some bushes with a large brown sphere. He later explained that he thought the whole thing was a giant coconut and was surprised to learn that it was the husk with the coconut inside. As insane as I thought we looked to anyone walking by I agreed to smash it on the ground until it opened. I thought it would just be rotted and we would leave it.
After smashing it a few times the milk started to leak out. Then another 5 to 10 minutes of trying to open the husk with my fingers and a rock we got to the coconut. It was not rotten at all! Lenny was thrilled and drank the little milk left and I ate a piece of the coconut meat. Then we brought the rest to Kayleen on the beach. As we walked Lenny could barely control his excitement about so many parts of what had happened; he, by himself, found this treasure, he insisted we open it, he drank the milk. Of all the things he shouted to everyone we passed was that this was “one of the FRESHEST coconuts ever!”.
As soon as he reached Kayleen he just kept yelling “Mama its FRESH, it’s so FRESH right?”
Shortly after we arrived at the beach Lenny spotted the kids club walking to go on a glass bottom boat ride. Ollie goaded him to go saying “Lenny you’re so brave.” but he really just wanted some alone time. Lenny eventually requested to go and they were kind enough to take him for the 30 minute ride. No doubt they learned of his coconut discovery in detail.
Our lunch arrived shortly after he left which gave us time to eat in some peace as Ollie played in the water. I have tried every drink that could be made frozen at this place and they all come shaken and with very little ice. Piña colada, margarita, strawberry daiquiri all served shaken! Today was the final straw, a strawberry daiquiri while sitting on an 85 degree beach was served shaken, with no ice, in a martini glass. The resort itself is lovely; the grounds, the pools, the kids club, the amenities, but the food and drink PASS.
Kayleen took the lead playing with the boys in the pool after lunch. It was the typical throwing and making up different challenges. At one point Lenny unzipped/pulled down his swim shirt exclaiming “gotta let out this heat!!!”
During all this I got a message from our personal concierge, Varshita, on Whatsapp. She said there was a special dinner at Annabella’s tonight and it was at no supplement. She wanted to know if we wanted to switch our reservation to go there. I asked again that no supplement meant no cost and she said yes. Kayleen then reviewed the message and we told her to switch our dinner to Annabella’s. You can see where this is going...
They had dancer preform before dinner which we all watched, Ollie most interested, until Ollie dropped his full water bottle on Kayleen’s toe. After we were seated it was the normal buffet, like the first night for dinner, but there were some extras. There with a pig roast and a few other fancy meat and fish stations located where the dancing was outside of the normal restaurant. Kayleen and I both looked at each other and said how can this cost nothing…
Eventually the bill came and it was not free. It was the same expensive buffet price we swore not to do again after the first night. $40 per kids to each a large piece of bread, some rice, and a variety of deserts. Double that for adults…. Varshita is nice but her job can’t be replaced by an app or robot soon enough. We eventually figured out she meant no cost above the normal price for the extra few stations.
We all headed back for bed. The boys were not behaving well at this point. A lot of talking back and snotty remarks to our proposed punishments. We had six lizards on our porch when we arrived home which was a new record that briefly distracted us all.
The boy continued to devolve as they went to bed. Eventually we told Ollie he would be skipping his much desired fishing trip tomorrow morning and I would go alone. This lead to a freakout and he later told us when he quieted down he was awake in his bed praying he would still go. Lenny keep being difficult until he eventually passed out.
