We have done the very thing we swore we would never do. We took the kids on vacation. Okay, not really a vacation, a weekend getaway, since Jason gets no summer vacation (irony!), but still, it was quite the adventure.
A month ago, Jason decided that we needed a getaway, even if only for a weekend. I used to reason that vacation with small children was a waste, since you just do the same thing you do at home someplace else. Why bother when they won't remember anyway? What I found out last weekend is that even if they don't remember, I can remember for them. When we arrived at Great Wolf Lodge, I got a little teary. It felt a bit like Christmas morning.
Prior to our departure, I decided the best course of action was to forego the regularly scheduled afternoon nap so the kids would sleep in the car on the way. At 2:45, Nicholas conked out on our recliner. When we pulled down the driveway at 4:00, he was wide awake, but we figured for certain Owen and Peter would fall asleep. Not one wink through two hours of traffic on Route 80.
There's nothing like going to an indoor water park resort to show us how very programmed our life is. Why has no one thought of baby-proofing a hotel room? I would happily pay extra for that perk. I was thinking that as I chased Nicholas down the hall after he made his first escape. To Nicholas, who is nightly zipped in to his crib tent, a hotel suite was like Shangri-La. Owen, who still sleeps in a toddler bed, asked if we could take the bed home with us. Our boys, who are usually in their rooms by 7:30 and asleep by 8, were up until 11:00 on our first night there. Peter wouldn't settle in his Pack and Play until his brothers were sleeping, and by the end of the evening, Owen was in one queen sized bed, Nicholas in the other. I slept on the pullout couch and Jason ended up on the floor with a pillow. Good times. On both nights, Jason and I seriously considered packing it all up and heading home. Luckily, that didn't have to happen.
So far this summer, we have visited three area parks, each one of which has its perks. Peter loves the swing, Owen is venturing onto the monkey bars, and Nicholas dabbles in the art of everything. He's equal opportunity. Though I am far from the outdoorsy type, the art of the picnic is not lost on me. Shaking out a blanket and throwing out empty juice boxes is MY idea of a vacation.
I could have posted this story verbatim. We also spent the weekend at a waterpark during which Oliver almost gouged his eye out on the kitchen counter, and despite that we were in a two-bedroom suite, Sam and I ended up on the pull-out couch in the living room with Oliver in one bedroom and Max in the pack n play in the master bedroom. No one slept in the king bed. Have since called off all vacations until both boys are taller than kitchen counters, sleeping in beds, eating food off plates rather than from jars, and using the toilet.
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