The pastor of choice was in fact delivering the sermon, much to Jon's satisfaction, and it was a very good sermon. There was a "cry room" for babies that aren't yet church trained- so the parents can see and hear the service, but the service can't see or hear the babies. Not many churches have such a thing, but as far as I'm concerned, every church should have one. I stayed there with the loud Vivian and Jon remained in a pew with the rest. One thing is for sure, that was a very large congregation, and it made me appreciate our little church back home greatly.
After the service, we were on our way to Ft. Meyes. We had a pit stop at a Wendy's, where the staff was a lot of things, and fast was not in the top 100. I would have preferred taking the cooler into the church kitchen and having lunch there, but Jon felt a little sheepish about that idea. And as it was not the most friendly church we've ever been to, I think I would have been a bit sheepish as well.
We located my Little Grandma without difficulty. She was pleased to finally see us after 11 years. I thought she'd seen Jonathan, but apparently the last I saw of her was at my wedding. Oops! Big F for me. Ft. Meyers is beautiful, small and has a Starbucks! After visiting with Grandma for an hour or so, we headed out to find a hotel. I opened my laptop and began the search via Orbitz, after we drove around in search of an internet signal. Finally we found one, and yikes! The battery was running low on the iBook. I quickly searched for hotels, made a brief view of the map site, and then booked the place just as the emergency power was about to be gone. We had to close the iBook or risk memory damage. After driving around for a little while, we realized that we were lost. So I went into a gas station (after a couple attempts- it would appear that gas stations in Ft. Meyers close for Easter) and asked if they knew of the Nautilus Hotel. They'd never heard of it, and it wasn't in the phone book. Having just spent $114 for a room online, I was getting a little concerned. I explained about the laptop, and they nicely said I could set it up and plug it in on the counter. Within a few minutes (and just as customers were piling up!) I figured out where the place was and we were on our way again.
Having had a lot of trouble trying to book a room with 6 kids before, I had decided not to say anything about the kids unless asked when checking in. Jon stayed in the car with the clan while I took care of getting our room keys. The guy behind the desk never asked about kids, so phew! Just to play it safe, I took four of the kids through the back entrance by the pool and bar where a lot of drunk people thought the children were adorable and shouted hellos. Jon brought our stuff through the more convenient front entrance with Jonathan and Caroline's help. We left for the restaurant by the same back entrance, this time with the whole family much to the delight of all the bar people. The kids hammed it up saying hello, and Charles was shaking hands. Our stay was without incident- maybe because we had a lot more room or maybe because the hotel was basically empty and we were on the fourth floor. Whatever the case, the front desk was never the wiser.
The next morning we spent another hour with Grandma- just until the kids started to get too comfortable and therefore annoying- before leaving for Atlanta. Grandma was sad to see us go of course- especially since we hadn't seen her in 11 years! But I promised to return late in the summer for a longer visit. The drive home, not including stopping for gas, bathrooms and food, took 9 hours of driving from Ft. Meyers to Acworth. Including all of the above it took 10 hours. We are GLAD to be home. Shall add pictures soon.
