Day 3: Labyrinth Rocks

Ligar Bay

The stress from the trip was starting to catch up to Cora. She was with her mother constantly, so she always felt a vague sense of unease – her mother might disappear any moment. She didn’t want to sleep because she might miss some time with her mother. She took naps in the car when they were driving from place to place, but didn’t get the restful sleep she got in daycare. And then, when her mother was trying to nurse her to sleep, Cora had to follow the exhausting but newly mandatory principle, No Limb May Be Still for More Than Three Seconds. It was very hard to fall asleep when you had to keep jerking your arms around, stiffening your legs, kicking, etc. And Cora was very tired. So she felt a little disgruntled during the third day of their trip, but the rest of the family continued to have a good time.

Today they were visiting Labyrinth Rocks, a maze of strange and beautiful limestone rock formations. There were narrow ravines to walk through, and tunnels to crawl through, and caves to explore. The family used a map to find their way around, and to locate attractions such as Stonehenge, The Kissing Pigs, The Alligator, The Grand Canyon, the Mossactite, and The Snake Pit.

They had lunch back at the Trampoline House. Annie decided she wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mommy and Daddy wanted grilled cheese sandwiches.

“It’ll be soo yummy,” said Mommy.  “You love grilled cheese. Come on, you had PB&J for dinner last night.”

Annie remained firm. She wanted nothing to do with grilled cheese. They discussed it extensively. Annie wouldn’t budge. So Daddy made a PB&J for Annie and grilled cheese sandwiches for Mommy and Daddy. Annie ate her PB&J happily and then Daddy brought the grilled cheese sandwiches to the table. They were warm and crisp and cooked to perfection, cheese oozing out the sides. Her eyes widened. “I want-” she started.

“Oh no you don’t!” said Mommy. “After all that talk? You said, very clearly, over and over again…”

Annie’s lower lip started to tremble and her eyes filled with tears. She knew it was true. She couldn’t deny it. What a terrible, terrible decision she had made. Her head drooped. “But… but…” she started to sob.

And then, in front of Annie, a third grilled cheese sandwich appeared, just like magic. She did not know where it came from, or how it came to exist when she had clearly stated she didn’t want one, but she didn’t worry about it. Her tears disappeared, her heart sang, and the world was sunny again.

That afternoon the family went shopping at the little stores in the town of Takaka, and found a playground. This was fortunate since Annie was going into playground withdrawal; it had been several days since she had played at a proper playground. There was a skate park next to the playground so Daddy had fun too, doing Extreme Strollering. He thought he was very cool. Cora might have enjoyed this but Mommy removed her from the stroller beforehand. Cora tried out Extreme Crawling afterwards.