I hope you all had a good start of the year 2014. We started off our new year with a 5-day trip to Goa, a beach resort on the West Coast of South India. It was a much needed relaxation time for us away from a busy city life in Mumbai which we started in August, 2013. I cannot believe it has been 5 months since we moved to India already.
Goa was really cool. Chill, fun, pretty and relaxing. I wish we could have explored more in Goa, but with our toddler in tow, we chose a laid back hang-out at a beach type of holiday this time.
Within 30 minutes after our arrival at our hotel, Cidade de Goa (I’ll have a separate post about the hotel. It was fantastic!), we had a little incident. Both my husband and my fault.
After we checked in, checked out our room, we walked around with our kids like this in the photos above on the hotel premises.
As usual I had a camera in hand taking photos. Right after I took this photo above and looked down, my son lying down on his stomach at the edge of a drop-off came into my sight.
I was maybe two or three meters away. I can’t remember well. When I saw that he was losing his balance, the only thing I could do was to run to him screaming his name, but it was too late. I saw him roll down and landed on the sand. My husband jumped down and picked him up. I was mortified. He was fine besides a small scratch he got on his back.
Our son did not cry for so long and after 15 minutes, he was happy running around again.
I could not believe how lucky we were. It could have been so much worse. So many what-if’s crossed my mind and the guilt and embarrassment of a parental failure rushed in. It was a wake-up call for us: our toddler son needs a full attention form one of us. Flashbacks kept playing in my head for a while after the incident and the scene of his fall was burned in my memory. However, I am thankful that it was nothing and we were able to enjoy the rest of the holiday.
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Dolphin Chase
I thought it might be cool for our kids to be able to see dolphins, so we tried a dolphin chase tour. Unfortunately, we only saw a couple of dolphins quite far out. We took a chance and we could not see them close. That happens and it was too bad, but the boat ride was fun! Our middle child got sea sick, so she did not enjoy it as much, unfortunately!
Goa was absolutely lovely.
It was a perfect vacation for us.
Ken says that those are some serious ninja falling skills! I am so happy that he is okay.
Ahahaha. That was definitely ninja like. Thank you!!
Kaho, I am glad that your son is doing good after the fall. Naughty little ones end up in trouble very easily.
I have a very bad experience with my daughter , when she was 5 months old. I make sure i keep small items away from my kids reach. but she managed to find singapore 20 cents coin and put it in her mouth . tried to reach for it she got chocked and i had no one around me i was panicked. I remember i should do something and prayed to god she should be fine so i carried her upside down and pat bit hard on her back of her chest and in a bit she puked and the coin was out.
I felt very shameful for being careless mom . Till now i don’t understand how did she find the coin in the hall. I can totally understand what you must have gone through.
It is such a big relief to see the child happily playing again.
Padmaja, Thanks for the kind words. Chocking is a big fear besides falling and many more! We actually went through one with our son, too… With him I have experienced that “Parenting isn’t for the faint of heart” in a true sense.
How scary that your son fell so far! Glad he is ok. i think little kids are really made of tough stuff as they fall so often. Kiran banged his head hard so many times when he was a baby as maya kept pushing him! i also dropped him on the stairs and he fell and banged his head so hard 🙁 maya fell and cut her head just before new year and had to have stitches. ahhhh kids!!!
anyway Goa looks gorgeous, glad you had a good holiday 🙂
Thank you, Rachel! Head injuries are so scary!! I felt like my heart can stop. Goa was beautiful. We miss Bali, too!!!
Thank god he was fine. What a fall!
Yes, it was a big fall for a little boy! Thank you!
Goa looks like an amazing place! Your photos are lovely, as always 🙂
And I’m so glad your son was okay. I think I would’ve had a heart attack. I tend to snap away with my camera too, so I know I need to be careful.
Thank you, Miwa, always for your very kind words!! I’m glad he was okay, too. I didn’t feel like I was alive for a second. It was a lesson I learned in a hard way. 🙁
I recently stayed at Ramada Caravela Beach Resort, Goa and let me tell you’ll that the experience was one of the best I can remember. Especially the beach shack at the hotel. The property is beautifully located. Definitely worth a visit.
I didn’t know about that place. I just checked it out on google and it looks very nice. Thanks for the information!