Vacation-All I Ever Wanted!

About a month ago, I decided it would be a nice idea if just the five of us went away for the weekend. I know we went on vacation when my in-laws were here, but I wanted to do something with just our little family. I looked on line and found a Marriott in Newport Beach at a cheap price. See, my Dad works for Marriott, so we get discounts on all Marriott hotels. You have to find the right time, the right hotel and I can't always get his rate, but most of the time I can. And when I can, it is REALLY cheap. He is never allowed to stop working there. At least not until someone else in the family gets a job working for them.

I thought this would be the perfect little getaway. Hotel near the beach, we can relax, go to the beach, swim in the pool have dinner out. Most importantly, I don't have to cook or clean. Then again, I sometimes forget that I still have three small people who still need LOTS of attention. Damn them! I was looking for relaxing! I also forget that in order to do these trips I have to spend an entire day packing and getting everyone ready, then an entire day unpacking and cleaning up after everyone. Is it worth it to have two days of no cooking and cleaning? Okay, well maybe, but still. It ends up being a lot of work. Going on vacation with kids, I realize, will ALWAYS be a working vacation no matter what. We did have some fun, even if we had a couple minor problems. Like the fact that I forget to pack Andy's bathing suit. On a trip to the beach. And the only one he could find at Target was white with fuchsia flowers. Good news! It was ONLY five dollars!! Oh, and then there was also losing Lana's blankie.

We drove down there on Friday night. Newport Beach is only about 45 miles from our house, but you never know how long that will take with L.A. traffic. I wanted to leave in enough time for the kids to NOT fall asleep in the car, but since we didn't leave until almost 8pm, that wasn't happening. Oh well, at least we missed traffic. We got to the hotel around 9pm and after checking in, I grabbed a luggage cart to use. The girls were all passed out in their car seats, so Andy piled all of our bags and whatnot on the cart, then went up to the room while I stayed with the girls. He came back and we loaded the girls onto the cart. This would have been perfect if they had stayed asleep, but since none of them are four months old anymore, they all woke up. When I put Lana on the cart she had her blankie with her. Five minutes later when we were in the room, she did not. NOOOOO!!

We had them in bed when Lana realized she didn't have her beloved blankie, so we started an all out room search. Luckily, it wasn't that big of a room and we hadn't been there long enough to trash it yet, so it was an easy search that unfortunately, turned up nothing. This was NOT good. I told Andy to backtrack downstairs, search the cart, etc and see what he could find. Meanwhile I continued to tear the room apart. Before he left, he told Lana that she was just going to have to do without it if we couldn't find it. Yeah that's all fine and good, but who's going to be up with her all night as she rocks back and forth, crying for blankie like some jonesing addict? I'm pretty sure that will be ME.

NOT PART OF MY VACATION PLAN!

He came back to the room, having found nothing. Then I asked if he checked at the front desk when he was down there.

"Uh no," he replied.

REALLY? See now THAT would have been one of the first things I did, but for some reason he does not think this way. And I don't mean to single him out, because I'm pretty sure there are plenty of husbands out there who wouldn't have done that either. I see you wives nodding in agreement. Do we really have to think of EVERYTHING?

So, I made him go back downstairs to the desk to check and if nothing else to let them know we were looking for it, should it turn up. Five minutes later he came back with a smirk on his face but nothing in his hands, shaking his head no. Then I noticed the little blankie tucked in his back pocket. He walked around for a few minutes, still pretending he hadn't found it, letting Lana squirm a bit more. Then she spotted it, smiled and yelled,"DAD-DY!" She grabbed it out of his pocket and giggled, and immediately started chewing on it. Blech! I don't know how she can do that. Whatever, at least it was back!

My nights sleep was saved-for the most part. Getting them to sleep after their little nap in the car was no easy chore, but we weren't having to do it without a blankie. I still shudder at the thought. I realize I've created monsters with the blankie situation in my house, but now is not the time to tackle that one. I'm thinking more about attempting it when they're say... 22? That's good, right?