Fancy Shmancy Hotel

The kids and I are in Orlando with Jason while he works a convention. For some reason, three kids and two adults staying in one hotel room sounded better than spending the rest of the week at home alone. Sometimes you do things against your better judgement for that minuscule chance that something magical will happen and everything will turn out wonderfully. By Jove, that actually happened to us this time. We originally came on this trip for the above mentioned reason and of course, because it was FREE. Well, Jason decided that it was worth a small fee to upgrade to a suite. Let me translate that for you in case for a moment you thought we were high-maintenance and just wanted a nicer room. What this actually means is when my nine month old goes to sleep at 6:30 pm, the rest of us don't have to sit there quietly for the rest of the evening watching him sleep. (As if there was ever a chance of a 2 and 4 year old sitting there quietly). Yeah, I'm pretty sure people who don't have their kids on a schedule probably have more fun on vacation than us routine people. I was all set to "be flexible" and try to "go with the flow". I actually thought, Owen can miss his naps, Owen can stay up late or eventually he will go to sleep in the stroller. Yeah right! This is a classic example of having unrealistic expectations and putting my children in situations doomed to chaos.
I told myself this the whole time we were inside Chick-Fil-A last night. I actually maintained some kind of calm as Lane was spilling the entire container of chocolate milk down his front, Owen was throwing up all over me and screaming, and Amelia was whining about when she could go play on the playground. (Going anywhere by yourself with three children provokes the most interesting looks on people's faces.)I repeated the mantra,"It's not their fault, they haven't had naps and it's an hour past their bedtime" over and over and over again. We exited Chick-Fil-A with all the food we never ate and took refuge in our van where the DVD bought me 5 minutes to woof down my salad. I wish I could say that we were able to go directly home after this but we had to go to Target to fill a prescription that needed to be started right away. I don't think I even need to blog about that experience. You can imagine what that trip looked like after describing the previous stop. I will give a quick plug to the Target pharmacy, however. They transferred my prescription and filled it in all of like 15 minutes. I was forever grateful to that Target pharmacy! I think he just looked at me struggling with two crying kids in a stroller and one in the baby sling on my person,felt sorry for me, and put my order at the top of his list. I will take all the apathy I can get! Once back in the hotel, everything calmed down and we did have a nice evening. Owen was put out of his misery simply by giving him his blankie and putting him in the pack and play. He just looked up at me like he was saying, "Thank you, mom. This is all I ever wanted-to go to sleep!" We didn't hear a peep out of him until 7am this morning.
Choosing to write about the drama instead, I skipped the part about what a wonderful afternoon we had at the pool. I did get several "She must be crazy" looks as I traipsed down to the pool with three kids and all the paraphernalia that requires. But it actually was one of those pleasantly surprising successful outings. Lane decided for the first time this season that he could release the death grip he had on me and actually rely on the floaties to let him FLOAT. Amelia is swimming fairly well now so has a bit of independence from me. Owen loved the water and for the first hour, at least, stayed in his float leaving me hands free. I mentioned this hotel is fancy shmancy. The pool is unbelievable with slides and waterfalls. Lane mustered up the courage to go down the slide one time and then decided maybe he wasn't quite ready to repeat that experience. I was super impressed he even tried it seeing as one day ago he would barely play on the steps. You may be wondering how on earth I have time to blog when on such a fabulous vacation. That of course would be because my son is NAPPING and the rest of us are stuck in the room for an hour. Thank goodness for this fancy schmancy room seeing as we might end up spending just as much time IN HERE as we do OUT THERE.

And just a few comments on this scheduled life we live. I wouldn't have it any other way! I know it is a little less than convenient when on vacation. But this only lasts for a couple of years until they have the ability to choose flexibility on the needed occasions. Seeing as we are on vacation almost never and home almost always, I choose what is best for my children at home rather than what is most convenient for me on vacation. At home my life is incredibly predictable and easy.

Quick update on Amelia: We are going to see an ENT on Monday just to make sure I have covered all bases before the pulmonologist schedules the bronchoscopy for the end of July. It was a blessing to get an appointment so quickly as it usually takes a few weeks to get into a specialist. I'll let you know if we discover anything new!