Most of you know that Eric and I are not cookie cutter parents. We like to take on things that keep some parents bound to their house and feeling like they're missing out. There is a happy medium.. you have to dare to take your kids in public! This doesn't mean that you have to be the person that forces it to work. By having patience, some set rules and exposing your children to life outside, you will find yourself with well mannered and respectful children that are easy enough to travel with. If your kid is tired, you have to come to terms and figure out something creative to do at home. But the other 85% of the time, you have to dare to be out there with your kids trying new things and attempting to travel. Yes. Travel with your children.
Eric and I don't take big vacations, in the last four years we have only gone as far as Costa Rica and Vegas (which we went alone and paid for child care). Our "vacations" consist of a weekend at the coast or anywhere within 3 hours of Portland.
Preparing for these little trips isn't hard, and neither is the traveling part (minus the little arguments between our 5 and 9 yr old). It's the actual stay that can be a challenge. See, Hattie (our 2 yr old) will fall asleep easily for us anywhere..as long as no one is in that room, we have her sound machine on, and she has her own blankets. Simple enough right? Wrong. We can't just make simple reservations. I have to call and double check that the second "sleeping area" is an actual separate room with a door.
Now that we have a system, we know what we need to make our travels smooth.
So this last weekend we made a trip to Tacoma, WA. We were only going to be there for the night. I found a hotel with a great price and decent ratings. I called to double check the details of the second room and we were set to go. Sweet! A fun little getaway!
After we made it home Sunday afternoon, I realized how comical it is traveling with 3 kids. I say comical because it wasn't hilarious (to us anyway, it probably will be for you readers), and it was more often than not..difficult, yet we still enjoyed ourselves. Yeah, we're nuts.
Here's a little look into staying at a hotel with 3 children ages 2, 5, & 9:
We walk into the room, set our bags down, and look around for the light switch. "Click!" the lights are on..I look around and the kids have already found the beds (children have night vision, they're like little cats) and they're jumping from bed to bed. Now that I feel at home (Our nicely made bed is all jumped on and crumpled), I check out the amenities **To be clear, I don't mind that my kids want to jump on the beds, that's what hotel beds are for :)** When I walk back into the main room and your 5 yr old is on the phone. She informs me that she is calling her friend that recently moved to Pittsburgh (this happened about 28 more times during our stay..kids are enthralled by real phones).
Next is the question the kids have already asked us 45 times during the drive "when do we get to go swimming?!" Well kids, the front desk failed to tell us that the pool is actually outside and that it is closed for the winter (why do hotels in the NW do that?). So now you are hoping and praying to God that they have decent cable with cartoon network and the Disney channel.
By now I have sent Eric out (to give him a break and..) to get dinner. There are two bathrooms, so I put the oldest in the shower and the other two in the tub. I pause between the two rooms and take a deep breath. The dogs (yes, DOGS..we're absolutely crazy) are giving me the "we really have to go pee!" look, which really means "we have to go smell every square inch of the grass again even though we did that five minutes ago".
During this short pause to gather my thoughts the kids have opened all the plastic covered cups (we stay at very classy hotels obviously) and have them all in the tub. Better hope we brought in the bottled water, because all the cups are now covered in soapy bath water.
I let the kids be kids and have a fun time (within reason), which usually includes them splashing around in the tub making noise.
I'm sure the guests in the room below us are loving life right now.
Are you relaxed and having a good time yet?!
Okay, now the kids are clean and I have them all in ONE room watching TV. I start to assess the rooms looking for the prime spot to set up the playpen. This is important, the playpen has to be against a wall so Hattie will feel at home. I set up the playpen and sit down to have a moment of peace.
Eric walks through the door with dinner and wine in hand..he's a good man! We eat, we laugh, we let loose. We watch some TV and hang out as a family. THIS is what makes it all worth it. Hanging out, enjoying life together. After a while we put Hattie to bed, then the other girls followed. What time is it now? Oh, it's 10:30 pm. We walk the dogs one last time. At home this would all have been said and done by 8-8:30 pm. But this is how it goes when staying at a hotel with 3 children and 2 dogs.
Eric and I relax, drink some wine and watch some cable. At home our kids usually wake up around 7am. In hotel-land they wake up early-er because "it's so exciting!". Hattie woke up at 5:30am. We brought her in bed with us, which is like inviting a kangaroo in bed with you. She's all over. Jumping, climbing, watching 2 minutes of funny cat videos on my phone, jumping, climbing,...and on it goes. By 6:30 all the kids are up and we're pretty much forced to get up and ready for the day.
We head out to investigate the continental breakfast. Kids love the free breakfast as much as the parents do. We file in and sit the kids down near a large TV. Me, being the morning person that I am (full sarcasm here) seeks out the coffee.
Let me tell you something, hotels would make bank if they served free espresso (good stuff not gas station espresso machines) with breakfast. Moms like me would kill for good coffee after getting lousy sleep while on vacation.
I locate the coffee, fill my cup and hope for the best. It turned out to be okay but my eyelids still felt like they weighed 10 lbs each. But we powered through it. We ate and enjoyed being together in that odd little hotel dining room while eating pastries and cereal.
When we got back to our room we let the kids watch TV while I packed up our bags. We hopped in the car and spent the morning exploring the town, getting coffee, and playing at a park before hitting the road back home.
So much fun!
I know, this probably sounds like the worst trip ever or like something that would keep anyone from traveling with children. But you HAVE to go for it! It does get easier, you learn, the kids learn, and it is so worth it. We came home tired, but our hearts were full. We spent quality time together with the kids and took on a new adventure.
Don't let the challenges keep you from living your life. Learn to adapt and push through the hard moments. Most importantly, you have to have a sense of humor. If you can't laugh when you realize you forgot to pack clean underwear for ALL of your kids, then you're going to have a real crappy time (no pun intended haha) . Laughing at the small things lets you really enjoy yourself and enjoy your children.
Back to the wine: We didn't have a cork screw and neither did our classy hotel lobby.
When in a pinch, push in the cork with keys, then add a stir straw to keep it down.
Yes! Keeping it classy.
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