One Night at a Hotel

Man oh man, one night at a hotel offers A LOT of blog material! I am used to traveling and checking in a hotel with four kiddos by myself, because of our summer travels to visit our Alabama friends often include Dad flying to join us for just some of the time, with summer being his busiest season of work. So the strange looks of having four children lined up following me, all totong their belongings into the lobby while I check in I am used to :-) One man was in the check in line in front of us (while his wife and two kids were hanging out in the lobby). Apparently, this man wanted to make friends with the lady behind the counter and share his life story and where they had been, why they had come, etc. When the gal behind the counter showed no interest, he decided to strike up a conversation with me. Sorry buddy, I am friendly, but not stupid. I will not tell you were I am from, where my husband is, my name, why I am here or for how long.......you are what is called a 'stranger' I will be pleasant but you will not get details, while I am staying out of town with my kids alone. Waiting behind you for 10 minutes is entirely to long when I have to pee and have a little girl doing 'the dance' beside me-quit talking, get your keys and move it! When it was finally our turn and we got our keys, I thought 'relief' is on the way- let's get to our room. On the 8th floor, all the way at the end of the hall-kids were thrilled with the elevator time and the long walk (mom not so much). However, I was pretty thrilled with the idea that the end of the hall meant less foot traffic come bed time. Little did I know that our only neighbors had at least two screaming children. Not just an occasional scream, more like the whole time they were in the room, along with either bouncing off the walls or kicking it constantly especially when my children are trying to go to sleep! However the 'best' of the hotel experience was the next morning as we were headed down to the pool. The lights flickered and then went out, elevators stop-thankfully we were waiting on one and not in one. We choose to take the stairs, only their stairs were only fire stairs-meaning all the doors to the floors were locked, you could only exit outside at the back of the building. We exited a bit dizzy from the round and round of 8 flights, which were really 16 I think, we froze as we walked to the front of the building in our swim suits to get in. By this time I guess the whole hotel had lost power, meaning all the fountains and water flowing down the slides were not happening. So much for a 'water park'. The kids swam in the pool and had a good time anyway, just for a shorter amount of time. All dried off, ready to head up the room...........how to get there.......can't take the stairs because the door to the 8th floor is locked.......a nice maintenance man said he would take us to use the freight elevator (apparently the only thing running on a generator). So several dark hallways and many 'behind the scenes' looks at a hotel later we made it to our room. Told all the kids to take a turn in the shower to get rid of the chlorine residue and there is NO HOT WATER, not even warm, only ICE COLD. Guess they have electric hot water tanks-no showers for us (such a luxury we take for granted). We gathered all our belongings and made the round and round trip back down the stairs. Stood in line to check out, only to be told we couldn't. Excuse me, I understand you don't have your little computers up and running but I am leaving, I don't want you to run my debit card I have cash I would like to give you. One could have thought I was asking them to move mountains, amazing how I had to convince her to take my $. I am sure she would have happily charged me for a late check out and another night when her computers came back up, though.

Besides the hotel craziness, we had a great time and saw some special people who don't get to see as often as we would like. I didn't take my camera, I know hard to believe, I just wanted to enjoy the moment. So I don't have any 'good' pictures only some on my phone. We were able to see one of my bestest friends whom I have known since 8th grade and roomed with in college. She has four precious children, the youngest being twin boys who are 3. Eight kids -10, 8, 7, 7,6, 4,3 and 3 only two Mommmies makes for a busy dinner with not a whole lot of finished conversations but entertaining for sure. (Me and my buddy Gus)

We also had lunch with a beautiful Godly woman and Brother's precious God sister. It was fun watching him take 'ownership' of her and feeding and helping take care of her. He adores her and I wish they got to see each other more often.