Mini Vacation ReCap

It's sad when you call going somewhere 2 hours away a mini vacation, but my husband works so much that it's hard to go anywhere. I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and he made an appointment for his semi to get detailed at the same time, so we just stayed in Spokane for a couple of days. We stayed at the nicest hotel in town called The Davenport Hotel. It's absolutely gorgeous. We stayed there for our honeymoon a few years ago. May I just say that it was more relaxing the first time. I should have remembered that staying in a hotel with kids isn't relaxing. I just did it a few weeks ago in Iowa. Apparently, I have lost part of my short term memory that remembers painful experiences. Okay, it wasn't THAT bad. It just wasn't as relaxing as I hoped.
We ate some really good food! That's a highlight except for the part where I am supposed to be watching what I eat.
We met some interesting people. By interesting I mean weird and frightening. For instance, we took Byron to the children's museum there called Mobius. We got there less than an hour before closing, but it's not a very big place. So you would think they would offer a discount at that time of day, but they didn't. So anyway, we are paying to get in and the lady asked if we wanted a year membership. We told her we were from out-of-town and so that wouldn't work for us. Just then a strange little man pops around the end of the counter and says "where from?" So we said "Moses Lake."
To which he says "oh, I'm sorry." (are we in 5th grade? who says that?)
The lady taking our money said "oh don't say that John it's rude."
Then he began rambling on and on about how he drove through our town once and how terrible it was and boring and blah blah blah. My husband and I were just looking at him with complete blank stares as he kept digging himself into a hole. While he was talking and I was blank staring I was also thinking to myself "Okay Mr. I Haven't Brushed My Teeth in a Month and I have a Rat Tail....You really aren't convincing me that Spokane is any better."
Our town is kind of boring. I'll admit it it. It's small, but I like it better than Spokane. We have our little town weirdos that you see on a regular basis, but after a while they become normal to you because you "know" them. Like the guy that walks around and lays in the road with his shoes off and placed neatly next to him. Or the guy that walks his dog in a Rascal (one of those motorized wheelchairs) wearing a coonskin cap. Or the old lady that walks around with her hair in a side ponytail, and leaves her teeth at home. But in Spokane, there are those same weirdos times a 100,000. So I don't know what he's bragging about.
Later last night we went swimming in the hotel pool and there was a family with 3 kids and the mom was pregnant again. There isn't anything weird about that, except for the fact that she was gorgeous, skinny as a toothpick and had long, perfectly straight hair. I was thinking to myself "she's pregnant and she skinnier than I am AFTER I had a baby." Not just skinnier than me, though, she was like a size 2. Life isn't fair.
Today before we came home I had to stop at the Department of Licensing to get a permit for my husband. I get this permit every month here at home, but I forgot to get it before we left. My husband needs that before he leaves on Sunday night for work, and of course nothing will be open on Monday. So I go into this local office, and the first lady I see says that she can't process my permit, because I don't have a Heavy Road Tax on file there. So I asked her if she can call the Moses Lake office and have them fax it. Well, she just "doesn't know what to do." So I have to wait until the other lady, who I will affectionately refer to as the HBIC (Head B*tch In Charge) from now on, is done explaining to another customer why she can't do anything to help her. (I don't know what made me think it would be any different when it was my turn.) So then I get up to the HBIC finally, and I explain her her that I need her to call and have them fax the tax document here. So she reluctantly gets up from her throne and gets a book that has all the licensing office numbers in it (why didn't the minion know about this book?) and uses her red and silver 2" long nails to page through. Then she calls the office and they fax it over no problem. I'm a regular there and they know me! Then the lady gets the paper and looks it over and notices that the serial number is different. *sigh* Last year the DOL sent me the renewal notice for the wrong truck, so the tax got paid for the wrong vehicle and it was totally FUBARed. It wasn't my fault though, and the ladies here understand that. The HBIC, however, rules that she will not sell me tonage, even when I explained the situation. A total waste of my time, and I let her know it. If it wouldn't have resulted in the police being called I might have thrown some magazines at her. When I called the office here the ladies couldn't believe that she was being so ridiculous.
The rest of the day after that was uneventful. So this concludes our story! :)

The last 3 Days & Flying home: Part 3

Okay, before I get a case of "momnesia" and forget what happened the last few days of our trip I had better write about them. Although they were MUCH better than the first three. Byron really calmed down a lot on Friday. I don't know if it was the combination of swimming and more sleep or if it was because we went to eat and then just went to play at my friend Kelli's parent's house. Whatever it was he was acting like himself again. I mean he still asked to go home all the time, but he wasn't being dramatic and throwing a fit. We made dinner at their home that night instead of eating out, and Byron ate a ton of a green beans. Nothing else, but I'm not gonna argue with him for eating his vegetables! Then we went home and went swimming again, and to bed.
The next day was Saturday, and a gorgeous warm day. We went to the zoo with Stacy, Brooke, Kelli, and all the respective offspring. It was a total blast! Byron is still talking about the "animools." Those 2 1/2 hours were probably the only ones the whole trip that he didn't ask to go home. I did, however, get my first dirty look for breastfeeding in public. This has seriously NEVER happened to me in Washington. I was using a blanket to cover up too, which I never used to do with my son, but have suddenly become more modest! My friend was also changing a diaper on the bench next to me, and this lady walked by and rolled her eyes and said "oh my gosh." (Or something of the like) RIDICULOUS! I'm sorry feeding my kid wasn't convenient for you lady. None of us could believe it.
The last day we spent with my brother at his house just relaxing and eating Chinese food. Byron asked to go home a lot, but I could tell him that we were going "as soon as the airplane comes to pick us up."
So at about 5:30pm we loaded up and headed for the airport. We got checked in and then realized we had to go down further to a different counter to check baggage. Once we checked the bags they informed me that I needed to take the bags over to the security scanning area. This gave me a miniature panic attack. I had 2 car seats (one with wheels and a kid strapped in it), and one infant one....then I had a backpack for me, and a backpack for Byron, and a large wheeled suitcase for Lillie and I and a duffel bag for Byron. I wasn't sure how I was going to get all that the 50 ft across the airport. (In hindsight this seems ridiculous that I was mentally freaking out, but it had been a VERY exhausting week.) One of the ladies from the counter helped me over there though, and we went on our way through the checkpoints to our gate. We were pros at this by now, already knew what to take off and such. We got to our gate and Byron spied the candy machine...and I thought what the heck...he can have a treat for being good today. Now, this could have been bad. Once he had eaten most of it I was thinking..."you're an idiot you have to fly with him on a plane for the next 5 hours." But fortunately he was so tired that it didn't matter. We got on the first plane and he was out! We got to the next airport and he did good most of the time, but did have a little tantrum about eating. He wanted to get out of his car seat/gogo kidz, and I said "no." (More like a HELL NO, because we are in a busy airport and I have a baby strapped to my chest and a huge backpack on and I don't want you thinking it would be funny to run away from me.) So he didn't want to eat his pizza, because I wouldn't let him out. I just kind of ignored him and got all set up and fed the baby and ate my food. Of course after Lillie was done, this lady came over and said that there were nice family lounges just down the breezeway. Too bad I didn't know about that BEFORE I fed us in the middle of the mall inside the airport that was packed with people. I went there after we got all done eating to change the diapers, and I thought "how relaxing...too bad I didn't know about this before."

Being as our flight was at 9:30pm I thought that it wouldn't be very full...boy was I wrong. That thing was packed! Who would have thought so many people fly from Minneapolis to Spokane on a Sunday night. We got to our seats and I thought it said we had the aisle and middle seat, which sucks if you're putting a car seat in...so I put Byron in the middle seat and sat on the aisle. Well, I was wrong, and a man had the aisle, so I squeezed past Byron into the window seat. All well and good until mid-flight Lillie craps her pants. Not just a little one either....all the way up her back! I couldn't get out because Byron was watching a movie and that guy was sleeping, and the person in front of me was leaned all the way back. I had like 1 foot of space over my lap. I had to reach into my bag and get everything out by feel. I don't know how I managed to get all that poop off and her clothes without getting it everywhere. I mean most of you know how runny little baby poop is! When I was almost done Byron started thrashing around and knocked the poopy diaper and all the wipes I used onto the floor. So I had to pick them all up BY FEEL...and then use another wipe to wipe off my hands. However, that was the end of the mid-flight pooptastrophy. Then about 40 minutes from our arrival time Byron just decides that he is done. No more travelling, no more flying. He is going to let us all know how tired he is and he just starts screaming and crying. Lillie is asleep at this point so I'm trying to calm Byron down, but not wake her up, and this lady across the aisle switches places with the guy sitting next to Byron and saves the day. She was a Grandma. She showed Byron her pictures on her camera of her grand kids, and a cute little cookbook she bought them. I am so thankful for that lady saving my sanity.
Then we arrived, and somehow I managed to get us, and all of our luggage curbside for the shuttle to pick us up and take us to our car. After that it was all gravy. We got in the car and the kids were out in minutes, and we were home in less than 2 hours. I was so glad to get home I had to Facebook before bed and didn't get to sleep until after 2am.
Since we got home we have all slept in everyday for the last week. There's no place like home!

The first 3 days: Part 2

As I said before, the flying was the part that I expected to be the hardest. Boy was I wrong. I didn't realize that my son was going to be like a fish out of water for the first half of the trip. He couldn't go to sleep at night. I had to turn all the lights off in the hotel room and just sit there with him on his bed until he fell asleep. This usually took about an hour.

Once he was asleep around 9 or 10pm (which is only 7 or 8 our time) I would lay in bed and watch TV or Facebook until I could go to sleep. I got to sleep around 11pm most nights, so now that I'm home I'm ready for bed around 9 or 10pm. He would sleep well once he was asleep and wake up about 12 hrs later. So that was good, but it didn't seem to improve his mood that much, and it also meant that we missed breakfast at the hotel a lot.

The first day we went to visit my friend Stacy at her house. She babysits 4 other kids under 4 and has her own daughter Nina who is 2. (That seems crazy to me, but she does a good job!) Byron was being okay at first, but the longer we were there the more difficult he was getting. He wasn't being nice to the other kids, and just generally doing things he doesn't normally do. Stacy's daughter wasn't in a good place either, which helped a little (mentally for me.) Byron and Nina kept trading off who got to sit in the Time Out Chair. While we were at her house both kids pooped, and Lillie's was a total blow-out. I had forgotten to throw in an extra outfit, so Stacy was nice enough to give me one of her daughter's baby sleepers. After I had about enough of Byron picking on everyone we decided to leave and go take a drive. I could tell Byron was till exhausted from his cold and lack of sleep the night before our flight. So we drove around looking at familiar places to see how they changed. (The kids fell asleep in a matter of minutes, and this became a daily ritual to keep my sanity. A few minutes of peace and quiet everyday.) Later we met up with my brother and my niece (16 months) for pizza at his house. Byron was a little better, but was still being really pushy with her and not sharing well. Back to the hotel around 7:30, and then we started the nightly struggle to get to sleep.

The next day (Thursday) we were planning to go to the zoo, but even though the temperature was nice it kept showering every so often. So my friend Brooke, her daughter Lily (9 months) and our little troop went to lunch (which Byron didn't eat), and then to the mall. Byron seemed very interested in the little car strollers, and since I didn't bring one with me I went ahead and got one even though I was hesitant. I mean really, $5 to rent a stroller?! Are you joking me? That seems a little pricey. Here is a picture of him enjoying the stroller I paid so much for, and might I just add that this also illustrates his mood the first half of the trip. We thought he would enjoy playing at the indoor play area, but he played about 2 minutes and was done. He liked the cars that you could put 75 cents in to ride, as long as you didn't actually put money in them. He also didn't enjoy the ice cream or $20 wood fire truck I bought him that day.

So here's the thing. I don't normally give in to my kid's every whim. I'm usually much more mean than that, but I was grasping at straws. I needed him to be happy, and I was willing to do whatever it took to get it. Let this be a lesson though, it didn't work. He was still terrible no matter what I let him do. I think he appreciated it more when I started being mean again!

Anyway, for dinner that night we went to a really fun 50's diner called Stella's. You get milkshakes poured on your head, and there is jukeboxes at your table. It's a fun place, but Byron refused to enjoy it. So here is a picture of him yelling at me that he wants to go home and me trying to defuse the situation. He kept trying to squirt me with the ketchup and mustard bottles and I had only one sweatshirt with me.

After dinner (which Byron didn't eat) we went back to the hotel and I decided to try swimming with him. He hasn't been swimming since he was like 9 months old, so I didn't know if he would like it. He fought me the whole way down to the pool, and then once we were there I could hardly get him to leave. It totally changed his mood and he actually ate his leftover fries.