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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

From a Bathroom in West Virgina

Yes, I am writing this from a bathroom in a Holiday Inn in West Virgina. Two thirds of the way through our drive to my brother-in-law's wedding, the Big Giraffe (BG) and I are camped out here in hopes that the boys will finally fall asleep. I tried lying down last night when the boys were tucked in bed, but that didn't work. Rather my older son (OS) realized that we effectively had a slumber party going on and was chattering away.

So far I think the trip has gone better than expected. Oh, wait I just heard the TV going on and OS laughing. Pause for BG to check out what is going on in there. He just confirmed that it was actually the clock radio; OS was apparently playing with it and knocked it onto the floor. Yesterday we headed off after preschool was over. BG had used the McDonald's, Waffle House (which I've never been to), Bob Evans, and Cracker Barrel websites to plot out where their restaurants where on our route. He also found parks and malls almost every hour on the route (once we were two hours away from home). We had this big plan that we would try to minimize McDonald's and try to get the boys to run around outside at premapped and preselected locations every two to three hours. Less than an hour into the trip (well before our detailed list of places to go came into effect) there were hysterics so we pulled into a McDonald's for a late lunch/early dinner. It wasn't even one that had a PlayPlace. It might not have been what we wanted, but it worked and the boys calmed down. We caught up to schedule and made it to Scranton, Pennsylvania as planned.

We checked into a hotel room with a king size bed, a cot and a jacuzzi (plus crib) after dinner and then took the boys swimming. BG and I had hoped the jacuzzi would be in privately located in the bathroom. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of the hotel room. At least the boys had a fun bath and OS seemed to enjoy the extra space in his bed.

After a little bit of a late start today (but much needed sleep for all) we set out. This time our plan worked. We had a couple stops where we spent about 10-15 minutes playing ball (until OS accidentally set his own personal distance record and accidentally hurled the ball over a cliff) and playing the game with the boys. This game is totally awesome. It was invented by someone in my playgroup. Basically you have everyone stand in one area and then the person facilitating the game shouts out things like "Everyone who is 3" or "Everyone who can meow like a cat" and then the kids run around the designated route (in our case to the tree and back and around the cement cylinder and back). OS and YS (who had to be carried) just love it. The Big Giraffe was not as much of a fan of it because it tired him out, particularly while carrying YS or after OS insisted on only playing when riding on his shoulders. When we were doing this in the middle of rural Maryland, BG also insisted that if anyone asked we should claim to be from Maine, so as not to embarrass either his hometown of New York or our current home in Massachusetts. (He also seemed willing to admit he was from my hometown of Chicago, but we didn't go there.)

We experienced a very pleasant, but to us strange occurrence. Staff at both a Bob Evan's in Southern Pennsylvania and a Cracker Barrel in West Virgina asked us if we wanted complimentary refills (or in one case complementary first fill) on our beverages to go. My husband thinks it's because it's part of their customer service and they probably offer it to anyone who has ordered refillable drinks. I have another theory. I think it's because they can see a gleam of hysteria in our eyes from listening to the Laurie Berkner band for hours on end. I think they saw that gleam reflecting off of the mac and cheese smeared on our shirts and the oatmeal smeared on our pants and knew that we were on a road trip.

Alas, not all is as comfortable here in West Virginia. Our hotel has no swimming pool and no fitness center, and our room has two double beds and no jacuzzi. Of course the important thing is that now when we read the ring bearer book to YS, he acknowledges that he is the boy in the picture wearing a suit. Of course, he also announced that "Daddy has a wife too," and then pointed to one of drawings of the groomsmen. I guess you never know.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Look messy - earn free soda.

Labels: Travel

posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:02 PM 4 comments

4 Comments:

At 5/03/2007 8:18 AM, Suzanne said…

Glad to hear that things are going so well. I can't believe OS threw the ball off a cliff!
At 5/03/2007 9:55 AM, Cori said…

Good luck Alex! Have a safe trip.
At 5/04/2007 11:42 AM, soccer mom in denial said…

We've broken down and borrowed a portable DVD player for long trips. Unfortunately my husband is more of the "get there fast" traveller while I would like to be slower and see what there is.

We'll have to start wearing mac and cheese more often. Or, it could be they are nicer in those southern locales?
At 5/04/2007 5:00 PM, Suz's mom said…

Thanks for the compliment!

My Profile

Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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