Apr 2012 - Babysitters & Bikeriding

I woke up early Saturday morning, much to my parents' frustration, but it was a beautiful April day so they couldn't really complain.  75 degrees, gentle breeze, a little overcast but not  enough clouds to block all the sunlight sneaking through.

Today was going to be a big day for my little 5 month old self.   I was going to have a babysitter.  Now my grandmother had watched me for a few hours before, but this time, it was going to be a complete stranger.

The plan was to hire a sitter from the hotel and then take 4 hours of baby-less freedom and rent some motor scooters to drive around Bermuda.  The island itself isn't all that big and since there's pretty much only 1 road going from one end to the other, pretty difficult to get lost.  Nevertheless, my father prepared by Google Mapping every turn and intersection.  They were going to drive from the resort (across the bay from Hamilton) and up to St. George (the other large town on the far north end of the island) and then drive back.


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My parents went to the hotel's front desk the night before and asked if they could find us a babysitter for a few hours.  They said that they could call around and ask local women in the area.  Soon thereafter, my father received a call confirming that someone would come at 11AM.  My parents seemed a bit too calm about the entire situation.  I mean, they were about to leave me (their only child) in the hands of a complete stranger that would obviously fall in love with me and try to abduct me.  Nevertheless, they really wanted some alone time and took their chances.

The woman that came was an elderly grandmother type.  She seemed very sweet and had babysat for the hotel before. She was a bit sneaky in that she asked what the rate was.  Since my father had previously agreed to the hotel's rate, he didn't use this opportunity to save a few bucks and quoted her the same amount.  She agreed and started to play with me.  Of course, I didn't immediately love her and expressed my concern by crying hysterically, but I gave into her charm as the day went on.

My parents, meanwhile, had booked it out the door to catch their ride to the Motor Scooter rental place down the road at Oldeander Cycles.  The rates were a little higher than what my father paid for in Vietnam, but this was his first time since 2008 driving one of these little scooters and he was looking forward to it.

I wasn't with them on their bike ride adventure around the island but here's a few pictures they showed me.