Madi-Mom Trip: Antalya, Turkey
I've been wanting to go to Antalya for awhile and decided it would be something fun to do with Madi. I don't get as much one-on-one time with her as I would like since she's in school and I feel constantly rushed with her or impatient. We needed some bonding time!
We hopped on the plane Wednesday morning and wow- let me just say - traveling with one child, and an older child-has much less stuff and is soooo easy. Ha!
We had a quick, nonstop flight in and got a taxi to our hotel. We didn't really venture out much on this trip since our time was short (2.5 days) and the goal was to relax and hang out. We picked a resort with a pool, kids pool, playground, and beach nearby and it was all-inclusive.
We got checked in and began exploring. Madi wanted to see the kids club and I knew I'd be taking her Friday morning for me to visit the spa solo so we went together to make sure she'd be comfortable staying on her own. She had a blast and I snuck away for a coffee, ha!
Thursday we spent basically the entire day at the beach. Madi had been asking to go back to the kid's club so I put her in for about an hour and took advantage of the time to shower before picking her back up to hang before dinner.
We made reservations at some of the non-buffet restaurants for Thursday and Friday night and decided to dress up a bit for our Italian date.
Friday morning I had scheduled a spa appointment so I dropped Madi off at the kid's club and got to experience a Turkish hammam, sauna, bubble massage, and deep tissue massage. Heavenly!
I picked Madi up afterwards and we headed back to the beach for our last afternoon. We *almost* lost my wedding band, but thanks to a group of strangers sifting the sand with us it was located and Madi made a friend with a girl close to her age.
It was the sweetest thing - the girl just came up and handed Madi an ice cream. Madi hesitantly looked at me and said "she's trying to give me ice cream. what do I do?" I encouraged her to take it, say thank you, and then go sit with the girl who had already hopped back over to her parents in the row of beach chairs in front of us. The two of them sat giggling and laughing while eating their ice cream and then ran off to play in the sand together. Amazing. No common language and yet through unspoken kindness they bonded and enjoyed one another's company.
We repeated our evening with dinner at one of the restaurants and called it a night. The next morning we got packed, had a leisurely breakfast, and then made our way to the airport to fly home and see our family!
