Overnight in E-town

My husband had a meeting in Elizabethtown Saturday morning, and asked if the kids and I would like to go with him. I thought it would be a good idea- a chance to leave the house, stay in a hotel, swim in the pool, and eat some fast food. So, we decided after school on Friday to pack as fast as we could and get on the road, which happened as planned. Ivy packed a suitcase with some toys in it, we packed clothes and we were off.

But nothing happens easily for me. We had a couple of errands to run on the way out of town, which we did, but then the DVD player started acting up by reverting to the "blue screen" every 15 seconds. (I would like to interject here and add that I have no idea how my parents carted me and my siblings on 3 hour car trips every other weekend to see our grandparents without a DVD player!) So, I opened it, let it cool, inserted new CD, and closed it again. It then played 30 seconds of a DVD before the infamous blue screen came back to haunt us.

And, of course, my little darlings couldn't just wait patiently for the thing to restart. Every time the screen came back, Ivy would shout (because she can't just talk in an enclosed space), "Mooooom, the DVD is back to bluuuueee!" (In the tattling voice!) Then, Story had to repeat what she said in gibberish between mouthfuls of cookie, but at an even higher decibel level.

Step two of fixing the DVD player? Change DVD's at lightning speed followed by brief slaps on the screen. Which didn't work AND caused Ivy to tattle on me to Daddy. Daddy already knew what Mommy had done, though, because when I slapped the DVD player frantically he had his head on the headrest where it was attached.

On our way we went, crying/chatty kids, frustrated Mommy, head aching Daddy. As we pulled up to the restaurant where we'd decided to eat, the clouds opened up and it poured. When we got back in the car, we desperately tried to find a Walmart to buy arm floaties (because I forgot to pack them in my haste), but the GPS and the Droid were of no immediate help. When we eventually found one, it was 4 miles away from the exit. Rob and Ivy were asleep in the car, so I woke Rob up and locked him in with the kids. I went into the store by myself, and with only a couple sideways glances from sinister characters, managed to find the floaties and leave.

I got back in and drove. Fifteen minutes later, I had to stop at a gas station and down a 5 hour energy, even though I was only 30 minutes away. Those little funny dreamy-things kept dancing on the road in front of the car.

We got to the hotel, checked in, got everything up to the room, and then my husband crashed. I, howeve, had 4 hours and 30 minutes of energy left. I took a shower, laid out clothes, reorganized the suitcase, and facebooked. I think I went to sleep just shy of 3 AM.

At 7 AM, I had two kids (who could not possibly wake up easily at that time on a Tuesday) bouncing on their bed and mine. I got up, they got dressed, and we went to the continental breakfast. Ivy had a waffle. Story had three botes of a waffle, three bites of bagel, and one of banana. We went back upstairs and got ready for the pool.

After taking the elevator downstairs clad in our suits and arm floaties (which caused a big fight amongst the natives, even though both pairs were identical!), we noticed that the pool door was locked. I inquired at the front desk, and they said the pumps were being repaired and they would call me when it was fixed. Back up the elevator we went, and had been back in the room for 10 minutes when the front desk dude called me and said, "Nevermind, the pool is broke." But, he assured me I could pack my kids, floaties, towels, and purse across the parking lot in the 45 degree wind to the hotelo next door and use their pool. No thanks, dude. Ivy cried. Story whined. We undressed.

Then, Ivy started acting funny. She was pale, said her head hurt, and that she might have to "spill hotdogs" (throw up). I made her lay by the toilet for 30 minutes, but nothing happened.

Eventually, it was time to check out. My husband still had a meeting to go to, and my plan was to get lunch and window shop. I packed the suitcases, gathered the bags, and told the kids to follow me to the elevator, which they did. We got in, I pushed the button to go down, the doors shut, and I looked over at Ivy just in time to see her cover her mouth and throw up the aforementioned waffle. When the elevator door opened, I threw everything out (including Story, I think) and rushed her to the bathroom. We left a trail of vomit and by the time she was next to the toilet, she was done puking.

After I alerted housekeeping, cleaned Ivy up (since when do I only bring one pair of jeans for her??), and got out to the car, Ivy had decided she was fine and wanted to go to the restaurant "that sells pizza and has the big potato on the top." I asked some leading questions and figured out that she meant Fazoli's. I was pretty nervous, but she assured me she was fine and wasn't going to spill anymore hotdogs. When we got there, we had a mini lesson on the difference between potatoes and tomatoes.

Halfway through lunch, Story puked on the table. Glad that I had just finished my ravioli, I cleaned up that mess and got us the heck out of there.

I dragged them into about three stores, bought them antacid and toys to make up for not getting to swim (can I mention that Polly Pocket and long car trips are not a match made in heaven?), and went back to the hotel to pick up Rob. When he started driving, I immediately became engrossed with abusing the DVD player again, and finally made him go to Best Buy so we could get a new one for the five hour trip back home. We ended up getting this one: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-PET7402-37-7-Inch-Portable/dp/B001V3B8YC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1271602339&sr=8-1-spell and it worked well, which made for a quiet trip home.

Well, almost quiet. Story didn't want to watch the Barbie as Pegasus DVD and Ivy tends to scream a lot during Tom and Jerry.

Needless to say, I am staying PUT for the next three weekends!!