2016 Florida Vacation - A Mostly Good Day

Our second and final full day with Mama Dell and Papa Earl started out with a visit to Myakka State Park where we first stopped to look in the Myakka River. It is hard to see in the following photo, but there were a few alligators resting in the water.

Nest we went on a short nature walk.. no gators here!

The highlight of the park was a canopy walk.

We climbed up a short tower and then made our way across an unsteady walkway amongst the trees.

Once across, we climbed an even higher tower where we were well above the trees and could see for miles around.

The following picture gives you an idea of the height of the tower as seen from the bottom.

In the afternoon, we went to try another beach in the area. Kai gave it a thumbs up.

The beaches in the area are apparently known for being a good place to find shark's teeth. Someone had built a sand shark.

We found a sign that reminded us that we were over 1200 miles from home.

We took a walk to the end of a fishing pier.

And had an ice cream.

So, most of the day was good.

But not all.

There's nothing like staying with relatives that reminds you of how much your child doesn't behave the way you'd like him to.

There are the times when Kai spills milk - an accident he says, but when when it happens more than once I consider it carelessness.

There are the poor manners during meals when he puts the food on the table instead of on his plate.

But by far the most frustrating are when he can't stop with the iPad and insists on having everything on his schedule.

The past two evenings, we had dinner late. But on this evening dinner was ready shortly before 6PM. Kai was in the middle of doing something on his iPad and was not pleased to have to stop for dinner. We told him to take a break and he could finish up afterward, but he didn't want to stop. And when we insisted, he said things he shouldn't have said, using language we don't permit.

He lost his iPad privileges for the rest of the evening.

And that made him more mad.

He got angry at everyone and said that he has a miserable life. He went on and on so we sent him to a bedroom while the rest of us started eating.

We explained to his grandparents that one of Kai's biggest challenges is flexibility, and he has a difficult time when things catch him by surprise. In this case, he was not expecting that dinner would be ready much earlier than on the other days. And for a boy who craves a schedule and a routine, that was tough.

But it did not excuse his anger or his bad language.

The good thing was that eventually he did calm down. And he did come back to the table to have dinner with the rest of us.

And after dinner Papa Earl showed him how to play Hearts.

Kai actually won that game, though it was as much due to luck and my own bad play. Still, it was a nice way to end the evening.

The ups and downs of our life.

I don't think we've seen the last of it on our vacation.

But for now we have a happy boy again.