Mini-golfing with a 3 year old and a 1 month old.
Posted by Rachel
It is a tradition in the Outer Banks to go mini-golfing. There is a place on just about every corner that are elaborate and busy (as well as a “Wings” on just about every corner). “Hey kids look, Big Ben and Parliament.” We decided to take the plunge and try mini-golfing with our 3 year old daughter and our 1 month old son. What an adventure!
The place was great. We rode a train to the top of the hill where we started our mini-golf adventure. It was a treasure hunt adventure kind of place (seeking gold). Abby loved the train and wanted to go on it again at the end, which of course caused a problem since you can only ride it once (needless to say a full blown tantrum erupted when she couldn’t ride it again). But back to the actual golfing. The place had small plastic clubs for the little ones. Great idea! Abby loved hitting the ball.
The first hole we successfully showed her how to play mini-golf. She hit her ball from the starting point and then waited for mommy to go. She even left her ball where it landed and then when it was her turn she tried to hit it in the hole. She was successful after about 3 or 4 tries. After this point, it was hard to keep her from not only picking up her own ball and moving it around, but ours as well. We had to pay very good attention to where our ball landed because we have to place it back there after Abby moved it. Every time we told her to hit her ball in the hole she would pick up her ball and move it to right next to the hole and hit it in. We were very forgiving of this since she is only just about 3 (the end of this month she will turn 3). We were able to make it through 14 holes with everyone in a great mood and playing well. Dave and I were doing about even the entire 14 holes. It was going to be a close ending.
Then, the inevitable happened. Abby tripped and fell on one of the holes, hit her head and the mini-golfing was all over. Crying and eruptions of all kinds proceeded to happen. She wanted to ride the train again, she wanted to keep playing (but not really), and she wanted to keep her pink golf ball that she had already thrown down the 18th hole to return the ball. It was a mess getting back to the car, but once we finally got in the car and left things began to return to normal.
I would definitely do it again. Oh yeah, Zach slept in his sling the entire time we played. Slings are the most wonderful thing on a trip like this. Much less of a hassle than a stroller. He is doing so well on this trip thus far. Let’s keep it up.
