We spent three nights in a hotel on our little adventure. There are so many amazing things in a hotel when you look at it through the eyes of a child. Things like automatic doors, elevator buttons, and hotel notepads and pens that turn into instant games of restaurant...drawers to open and close, Bibles to read, and ice buckets that become tub toys...room service, luggage carts with wheels and a doorman who whipped up a couple of balloon animals for the girls and produced lollipops out of no where. On our way up to our room Callie shouts, "I can smell the waterslides!"
Settle down.
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| They played babies in the hotel crib for hours. |
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| Room service. Those bevy's in the background...mom and dad's reward for carrying 29lbs Lexi to the top of the waterslide. |
We spent hours in the hotel pool. We moved from kids pool, to the deep pool, to the hot tub, then back to the kids pool. We listened to Callie's pleading "watch me! watch me!" We cheered and praised her back floats and her star floats and her "look, I'm really swimming" swimming which involved her feet walking along the bottom of the pool.
Then it was time to try the waterslides. Callie can talk a big game about how she loves to waterslide and she can't wait to go down but when the time comes to enjoy the ride she says, "No thanks dad, I'll just stay in the pool with mom." Although she has been on waterslides before, she still required some encouraging words and a gentle push to try them out again. She did great! And claims that the next time we go on a long trip she will go down all by herself.
Settle down.
Jon took Lexi down for her first ever waterslide. And her reaction...Uh, uh, uh and a finger pointing at the stairs leading back to the top. She was hooked. Our sensitive, shy, sweet baby was in love with the exhilarating rush of water and wind blowing through her hair and the big splash finale. I have never been a lover of water sports. I have always been more than content to sit on the sidelines and cheer and laugh and take pictures. But I decided that I needed to listen to my own encouraging words and haul my butt to the top of those stairs and step out of my comfort zone. And as it turns out... it was awesome!
Settle down!
We also spent some time at the mall on our adventure. We did the kind of things that people who have daily access to a mall get bored of. We ate in the food court and tried out all the mall rides. We indulged in over priced popcorn in the Toopy and Binoo bucket because we never think to bring our old ones back to get refilled. I bought the girls new shorts and skirts because they were such bright, cheery, spring colors and looking at them was like experiencing light therapy after the greys and blacks of a long winter. And I paid full price because when you live a days drive from the nearest mall...you never know when you'll be back.
The other thing I did at the mall was check out the other mom's strollers. I have stroller envy. I give them the once over... looking at basket size, cup holders, snack trays, recline positions. I love them all. Then I take a look at my stroller. It's ripping canopy, the stained fabric, and the wheel that pops off sometimes. I asked Callie if she thought anyone would notice if I just moved Lexi into one of the display models at Sears and left ours there for others to ponder. Then I noticed that the display strollers were all chained together like at a bike rack. I guess I wasn't the only one to have this idea.
I glanced back at our buggy and decided to look at it like one of those old hard top suitcases with the holiday stickers plastered on it...telling the places its been. Our buggy has a history. It has served as a bed, a dining table, a lawn chair, and a shopping cart in many locations. That buggy has been a lot of places. Including our garage for the last six months. I wish I would have given it a bath before I brought it to the stroller competition at the mall.
Settle down mom.
The adventure continues...
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