Vacation Recap Day 1 (Saturday)
Before leaving for vacation, Ellie and I made a pact to be loose with the schedule. She experienced many schedule-dominated vacations as a child, and was eager to escape the world of needing to leave early enough to eat breakfast in Illinois. My family was the opposite, taking the time to visit various wads of Americana before reaching the destination, which often infuriated me, especially when they forgot to tell me what the ultimate destination was.
We didn’t care when we left in the morning as long as it was early enough to put some miles on the road before stopping for lunch. This was supposed to be a vacation, or as close as we could get with three small children; there’s no sense in adding the pressure of an itinerary. I hoped for a 10am departure, Ellie hoped for 11am. We split the difference and pulled the Wagonqueen Family Truckster out of the driveway at 10:30, a time that provided an added bonus of being close to the boys’ scheduled naptime.
I was concerned about the probability of screaming during the drive. The last time I tried driving solo with them in the back on an extended journey, somebody screamed for most of the drive no matter how much I stopped for a break, tossed them toys, or begged them to fall asleep. A little more maturity on their part and a co-pilot to change the movie in the DVD player helped keep everyone content, as we made it to the noon lunch stop with minimal complaining.
We stopped at a McDonald’s. I had hoped they’d have a McPlayland so Abbie could McRun off some McEnergy while we were stopped, but no luck. Our interstate exit used to have a Burger King that I think had a playground, but the building was now ironically a candy store dispensing hyperactivity inducing-chocolate. Abbie had a kid’s meal, which I took as a bad sign that she was already eating a kid’s meal (with fries!) at our first stop. Afterward, she and the twins McRan around their outdoor seating, burning off McEnergy by dodging raindrops.
The rest of the drive to Kansas City went surprisingly calmly, and we pulled into our hotel around 3pm. The boys didn’t nap much in the car and Abbie didn’t nap at all, so our first family activity after checking in was to take a nap. I brought only the essentials up from the car* and set things up for a 4pm nap. The boys were exhausted, and screamed the obligatory exhausted screaming before falling asleep. Abbie was exhausted, looked at her inflatable bed, looked at mommy and daddy’s king-size bed, and moved all of her stuffies and blankies onto our bed, declaring it to be the place she would fall asleep. We were too tired to care, even though she managed to take up most of a king-sized bed with her 36-inch frame.
Supper was pizza for us, and, since she still has a conscientious objection to pizza, a second chicken nugget kid’s meal for Abbie. Afterwards we went swimming in the hotel’s indoor pool. Abbie spent most of her time running in and out of the pool. I wasn’t sure if she enjoyed it, but she spent the rest of the stay running up to the pool window and staring longingly every time we walked past it in the hotel lobby. The boys sat in floaties, and were content enough to not scream. At least they didn’t scream until close to bedtime when they couldn’t stay awake anymore.
I prepared everyone for bed as close to the home bedtime routine as possible. The boys got bedtime formula. Abbie got a bedtime vitamin and, since we forgot to get her some milk, a sippy cup of bedtime formula. That may sound morally wrong to give formula to a toddler, but she complained until she got a sippy cup, and didn’t complain while sucking down her three ounces of DHA, ARA, and lipils.
Finally we read and put everyone to bed, and I mean everyone. The went in their Pack ‘N Plays, Abbie went in her inflatable bed, and Ellie and I, unable to do anything else in the hotel room without waking the children, went to our bed. Abbie joined us a short time later, but it was early enough that I still had enough energy to pull out the room’s sofa sleeper, toss the inflatable bed to the side, and moved Abbie with her stuffies and blankies into the sleeper. We had to return her to the sleeper a few times, usually taking toys or forbidden objects from her, but she eventually fell asleep and stayed there, giving everyone a full night’s sleep for Day 2. We actually have a tight schedule for that day.
* Two Pack ‘N Plays, an inflatable bed, pillows, pacifiers, blankies, and stuffies. Oh, and three children.
We didn’t care when we left in the morning as long as it was early enough to put some miles on the road before stopping for lunch. This was supposed to be a vacation, or as close as we could get with three small children; there’s no sense in adding the pressure of an itinerary. I hoped for a 10am departure, Ellie hoped for 11am. We split the difference and pulled the Wagonqueen Family Truckster out of the driveway at 10:30, a time that provided an added bonus of being close to the boys’ scheduled naptime.
I was concerned about the probability of screaming during the drive. The last time I tried driving solo with them in the back on an extended journey, somebody screamed for most of the drive no matter how much I stopped for a break, tossed them toys, or begged them to fall asleep. A little more maturity on their part and a co-pilot to change the movie in the DVD player helped keep everyone content, as we made it to the noon lunch stop with minimal complaining.
We stopped at a McDonald’s. I had hoped they’d have a McPlayland so Abbie could McRun off some McEnergy while we were stopped, but no luck. Our interstate exit used to have a Burger King that I think had a playground, but the building was now ironically a candy store dispensing hyperactivity inducing-chocolate. Abbie had a kid’s meal, which I took as a bad sign that she was already eating a kid’s meal (with fries!) at our first stop. Afterward, she and the twins McRan around their outdoor seating, burning off McEnergy by dodging raindrops.
The rest of the drive to Kansas City went surprisingly calmly, and we pulled into our hotel around 3pm. The boys didn’t nap much in the car and Abbie didn’t nap at all, so our first family activity after checking in was to take a nap. I brought only the essentials up from the car* and set things up for a 4pm nap. The boys were exhausted, and screamed the obligatory exhausted screaming before falling asleep. Abbie was exhausted, looked at her inflatable bed, looked at mommy and daddy’s king-size bed, and moved all of her stuffies and blankies onto our bed, declaring it to be the place she would fall asleep. We were too tired to care, even though she managed to take up most of a king-sized bed with her 36-inch frame.
Supper was pizza for us, and, since she still has a conscientious objection to pizza, a second chicken nugget kid’s meal for Abbie. Afterwards we went swimming in the hotel’s indoor pool. Abbie spent most of her time running in and out of the pool. I wasn’t sure if she enjoyed it, but she spent the rest of the stay running up to the pool window and staring longingly every time we walked past it in the hotel lobby. The boys sat in floaties, and were content enough to not scream. At least they didn’t scream until close to bedtime when they couldn’t stay awake anymore.
I prepared everyone for bed as close to the home bedtime routine as possible. The boys got bedtime formula. Abbie got a bedtime vitamin and, since we forgot to get her some milk, a sippy cup of bedtime formula. That may sound morally wrong to give formula to a toddler, but she complained until she got a sippy cup, and didn’t complain while sucking down her three ounces of DHA, ARA, and lipils.
Finally we read and put everyone to bed, and I mean everyone. The went in their Pack ‘N Plays, Abbie went in her inflatable bed, and Ellie and I, unable to do anything else in the hotel room without waking the children, went to our bed. Abbie joined us a short time later, but it was early enough that I still had enough energy to pull out the room’s sofa sleeper, toss the inflatable bed to the side, and moved Abbie with her stuffies and blankies into the sleeper. We had to return her to the sleeper a few times, usually taking toys or forbidden objects from her, but she eventually fell asleep and stayed there, giving everyone a full night’s sleep for Day 2. We actually have a tight schedule for that day.
* Two Pack ‘N Plays, an inflatable bed, pillows, pacifiers, blankies, and stuffies. Oh, and three children.
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11:22 PM
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