Vacation Part 2

Sunday morning Jon wanted to go to a particular church near Orlando whose preacher is a rather famous theologian. Thus, Jon was up bright and early, showering, getting clothes laid out for the kids and packing up the car. I'm more the slacker type when on vacation and would prefer sleeping in, brunch, and a long leisurely stroll on the beach with a visit to a nearby church with a late morning service. We were in the car ready to roll 24 minutes early (9:06 am), thanks to Jon's efforts and made it in plenty of time.

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.

Random Thoughts

What was in today's headlines:
*New York Time's reported that Nancy Pelosi visited a mosque in Damascus, Syria on Tuesday. She would have looked better in a burka.
*France's FM is concerned about Iran's latest announcement. They're going to have to sew more white flags.
*Coffee Users are at a lower risk for Parkinson's. Yes, it was stated Coffee User. Drug user, coffee user. Mmmm.
*I really loved this one. "Waistline measurement a 'new vital sign' ". Are we really that stupid? Gee, I had no idea that the measurement of my waist was an indication of how fat I'm getting. Fancy that.
*Oh, this one was fun: "Heart failure, sleep apnea can be a deadly combination"- can be a deadly combination. I'm laughing out loud.
*Clinton, Obama to skip Fox-Sponsored Debate. Well, lookie there. Clinton and Obama are in one accord about something. Not debating.
*You gotta love this. NY's top Judges are finally demanding justice on something- raises for judges or else they're gonna sue. Lol.
*Here's a sobering one: what happens when the government gets involved with healthcare."Texas court may pull plug on 17 month old child" and then it's added (because human life isn't valuable unless the mother wants the baby "despite mom's wishes."
*Sheryl Crow, founder of Stopglobalwarming.org begins a Stop Global Warming College tour. In order to emphasize her personal devotion to eliminating pollution, she'll be driving a small hybrid car to the different campuses. Had you going for a moment, didn't I? Just kidding, she'll be taking her personal jet and entourage everywhere. It's important for the little people to stop being polluters, not the the upper class of American society. Reminds me of when good old Al Gore was asked if he would personally pledge to abide by the legislation he wanted Congress to pass for the average people in america to minimize pollution. His response-"Well, I'm in the middle of remodeling my home" and he added that he could afford to pay for the increased price of special energy sources.

Vacation Party 1

A vacation involving 6 children ages 10 and under all staying in a tiny motel room is fodder for humor, though perhaps not at the actual moment, but definitely in the remembrance. When I called to make the reservation, the receptionist told me to forget it. But then I requested being transfered to the manager, and after telling her that I was the grand-daughter of Mimi, she relented and let me have a room. First and foremost we were able to single handedly lower the standards of an entire row of lower level patrons at the motel. Though at first they perhaps evaluated the cleanliness and convenience of the room, upon our arrival, quiet was all that mattered. Fortunately for the motel, there were plenty of rooms on the other side of the parking lot, and everyone happily collected their belongings and moved. And so began our auspicious stay at the Dixie Motel in Cocoa.

Clearly when you are on vacation, besides a place to sleep, is the issue of meals. I strongly dislike eating out with the kids. Spending $50 on a meal that I could've prepared for less than $10 absolutely kills me. The solution- a crockpot and cooler. Even though our motel room was pintsized, it included a small fridge and a microwave a little bigger than a sardine can on top. Jon is accustomed to eating lunches at nice restaurants with people wearing dress clothes. I, on the other hand, am accustomed to a cup of coffee for breakfast and random scraps for lunch. These are not the kinds of standards that have a problem with sitting on the curb at a motel eating dinner from a crockpot on a paper plate. But then I also enjoy shopping at Goodwill and playing tag with the kids on the lawn of the Kennedy Space Center. Jon finds himself mortified by his wife on a regular basis. I do refrain from wearing my lime green crocs in public when in the company of my dear husband- but I digress. Back to vacation meals. Did you know that Reynolds makes liners for your crockpot? After dinner, you lift out the liner and voila! The cleanup is done. However, the liners don't remove the smell in your cooler from the chopped onions and garlic which arrived fresh to the hotel room and the smell remains long after the vegetables are cooked and consumed. Don't forget the box of baking soda! Milk and cereal are a disaster waiting to happen as Caroline demonstrated by dumping a loaded bowl on the floor. Next time I'll stick with cereal bars or cream cheese and bagels for breakfast. Did you know that Cocoa, Fl. does not have a single StarBucks? I didn't realize civilization was possible without one, and where are we supposed to get fabulous coffee and wireless? Certainly not at our motel which boasted in room phones as one of their special features.

The ultimate point of our trip was to visit with my grandmother (whom I renamed Grams at some point in my childhood) and my great grandmother (known as Little Grandma for reasons beyond my knowledge). However, since I wanted the memory of our visit to be pleasant long after we were gone, I decided that several brief encounters rather than days on end would be best. Thus we spent two days at the Kennedy Space Center-where with six kids in tow we created a sensation every where we went, and saw Grams at breakfast or dinner each day, where we tried to avoid sensations. This worked very well. I think Grams decided that she had six decently behaved great-grandchildren by the time we pulled out of Cocoa and headed for Ft. Meyers.

We didn't go on a family vacation last year. I had Vivian in May, and quite frankly after a rotten school year was not up to the challenge of hauling the kids somewhere. So the kids were really excited about going to Florida and seeing the sights. Charles the Disgusting, discovered that he had a trapped audience when using public bathrooms. He enjoyed making lots of grunting noises, announcing his toilet delivery as it dropped, and proudly proclaiming when he was finished and in the process of wiping his keester. Unfortunately, since Jonathan was the one to accompany Charles to the bathrooms, we were not aware of this development until we were driving to Ft. Meyers. Charles grinned proudly waiting for the compliments. Yuck! Other bathroom habits of our family- Caroline can spend longer in the bathroom than the time it takes 4 other family members to get through. Also, Gabriel pretends to be uncomfortable in public, always requesting to go back home, and remaining in a general state of morose annoyance. If a kid can load his pants, he's perfectly comfortable in his surroundings. Gabriel is very, VERY, comfortable anywhere.

Vivian started teething with a vengance the day before we left Atlanta. One tooth has poked through thus far. Generally, she's been rather irritable, and given to throwing her head around violently. The Be Still command has been a definite help.

Jon and I love the beach best in the evening. No chance of everyone burning, the crowds are gone, the breeze is fabulous, and the sunsets are beautiful though not over the water on the East side of Florida. The first evening, after unloading our stuff at the unfortunate motel, we loaded the kids up and headed for the beach. The entire time we were driving the kids wanted to know, will they see a shark. Our answer-No!-so stop talking about it. We arrived in good time, parked and headed for the sand. After 30 minutes of walking along the shore, lo and behold, a shark was wandering around very close to the shoreline. We had to shout to a couple kids to get out of the water. One tyke around the age of 3 or 4 was right close to the shark. I ran up to the water and shouted to him to get out. I didn't bodily remove him, because he was a rather sizable kid, and I thought that it might impede the promptness of his removal from the water to have a stranger take hold of him. He did respond promptly, but when I turned to shout to his Dad several yards off, the kid returned immediately to the water. I think the sun had fried his brain already. Fortunately, the shark had decided to head for the larger meatier kids past the toddler, who were more responsive to our shouts of shark, and the dad hustled the kid out. No one ended up being nibbled by the shark, though it did make the evening news, and our kids was ecstatic to be a part of the action.

We have listened to 9 Eliot Engel lecture tapes since leaving Atlanta. The lectures are on different authors- Chaucer, Poe, Dickens, Bronte sisters, Clemens (Twain), etc. Definitely helps keep the driver awake and the little kids asleep.

Must get to sleep. Shall type more tomorrow.

Family Circus

Yesterday in the car the kids were having a very silly exchange. I admonished them saying, " Stop this ridiculous nonsense." Oliver looked at me puzzled and replied, " It isn't ridiculous nonsense, it's funny nonsense.
Oliver's behavior over the course of the day was less than exemplary. " Oliver," I demanded a few hours later," Are you being bad?" He thought about this for a moment very seriously and answered, " Well, not very bad."

Daily Diary

Yesterday was an incredibly frustrating day- one of those days where your husband comes home from work and you first burst into tears and then ask that he either a) take all the kids out for dinner or b) take all the kids and you out for dinner. However, since I'm not the crying type and as it was Passover and I had been cooking all afternoon (with LOTS of constant interruptions) that wasn't exactly an option. The evening proved an immense improvement over the day though the food was lacking. The gefilte fish didn't turn out quite right in spite of dirtying almost every utensil in the kitchen- since I love the stuff regardless, I was more than happy to eat leftovers for breakfast this morning. And the seasoning just wasn't right with the Matzo Kugel. Fortunately- or I guess providentially I should say- Shari made the most fabulous chocolate torte, and chocolate for dessert erases a myriad of dinner sins.

After the guests left, Jon and I cleaned the kitchen carnage. But it was very nice. We chatted away happily and the hour and a half passed rather quickly all things considered.

Today we've been cleaning out closets, taking out trash, collecting clothes for Good Will, doing laundry, and generally preparing to leave for vacation. We do have to go to Dunwoody so I can put elastic in the remaining 20 pair of shorts and pack them up. A bit of a cold front has set in, so it is quite pleasant indoors with the windows open. Hopefully we will be in bed by 8 since we are leaving the driveway at 5am.

Daily Diary

Yesterday afternoon I dropped the six kids off at Margaret's where large quantities of the Jones prodigy were still hanging out. Curtis took care of Vivian, Margaret watched Gabriel, and the other four were given over to "general population" where they are observed in a general way but capable of taking care of themselves for the most part. I made a quick zip over to the Capitol where joy of joys, the security guard at the handicapped entrance remembered me, had found my backpack and had it safely stowed in the Security guard office. I was immensely relieved and grateful. Even my water bottle was still in the side pocked. The guard said he had noticed it soon after we left. Unfortunately, we couldn't discover this via phone though Bobby and I both made a number of phone calls about it. I'm glad that I decided to go down there and check things out for myself.
We had dinner at Jon's parents house last night. i'm not sure how many people had dinner- I think close to 40, if not more. I can tell you it was incredible chaos due to all the little people. Vivian went to bed right before dinner and stayed asleep until we left. Gabriel had the occasional melt down if a family member told him what to do- but other than that, our crew was self-sufficient. We didn't get home until late.
Tonight we are celebrating Passover. I'm making a "quick" trip to Harry's to get a few things including the ingredients for Gefilte fish. My recipe for it is wonderful- nothing like the nasty jarred stuff Publix sells. Yak! Maybe I should post the recipe.

Daily Diary

I didn't even think about the fact that today is April Fools until I was sitting in church listening to the prelude. But then I promptly forgot, and never did any practical jokes. Bummer.

Jon's family reunion to celebrate his grandmother's 90th birthday was this weekend. 78 people gathered at his parents' house- are you sensing the chaos? 29 of the people were under 10 yrs. old. Fortunately, several of the family units within the large family are childcare saints getting sippy cups, cleaning hands and faces, giving out snacks, taking kids potty, etc. Caroline couldn't bear to part with her 2nd cousins that she only sees once a year if that, and is spending the night at her MorMor's house for the 2nd time tonight.

I finished my sewing project for the most part this afternoon. I ran out of elastic, Margaret went to the store to buy more, and the store was out of elastic! So i need to locate 3/4" elastic somewhere in Atlanta tomorrow and put it in 24 pair of shorts. Why is one shorts called a pair of shorts? But the hems and waists are in, so that will be a quick task.

In other news, my sister bought a house- I went to go see it last night. Very great first house. I'm quite proud of Lou- she turns 24 this month. So in all my spare time I'm going to throw her a big house warming/birthday party.

I left my "in constant use for the last six years" diaper bag at the Capitol on Friday! Man, was I annoyed. Technically it was Jonathan's responsibility, and he took it off somewhere by the bathrooms (it's a black Lands End diaper bag backpack with our name monogramed to the front). I didn't realize the thing was gone until I was sitting on 75 at 4:30 that afternoon and asked for the backpack. By then it was too late to cross 8 lanes of standstill traffic and head back to the Capitol. I made a lot of phone calls as soon as I got home but to no avail. I'm hoping for better providence tomorrow! Plus, I had all this important information for a bill that I'm going to be working on so that's even more annoying. Sigh.

Off to bed....