I thought I would try to blog about every day of our vacation. You don't have to read it if you don't want! :) But it's a good way for me to journal before I forget all the cute, funny and crazy stuff that my kids do while we're here. And if you don't know, we are here because Jon is working at the hospital down here just to help out as an interim CFO as needed. He asked if we could come down with him one of the weeks that he was here so he is working all week, and I'm with the kids!! He did find a great resort for us to stay, though, so no complaining--at least not yet!!
We left Naples yesterday around 4:30. Even a 12 passenger van is not big enough for 8 people and their stuff for a trip to the beach!! Poor Trand. It was his 14th birthday, and we had been telling him that on his birthday he could pick anywhere he wanted to eat, and we would go out--just the three of us. Jon and I have a purity ring that we want to give him and talk with him about so we wanted to make it special. Well, those plans were foiled, and we just told him we'd do it when we got back. He seemed fine about it, but we let him pick where he wanted to eat on the way down last night. He picked Applebees.
Jon found an Applebees in Miami on his iphone that was on our route. When we walked in, you would have thought we were the only white family Miami had ever seen with six kids!! We got all sorts of looks and some not so quiet comments from the couple next to us. And the kids were pretty crazy. They had been cooped up in the car for 2 1/2 hours and then Shepley and Cama-Jane kept arguing about who was going to sit next to me. Oh, it's great to be loved!! :)
We finally got out of there and back on the road. Last night we stayed at the Holiday Inn and Suites here in Marathon. We knew we would be getting in late and Jon didn't want to spend more of the company's money on another night at the resort so we stayed there. You would have thought we were in the Ritz Carlton at the way the kids exclaimed over the place. I guess the little ones don't remember the last time we stayed in a hotel. They thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. And then they did what every kids' favorite thing to do in a hotel is.... jump back and forth from bed to bed!! That was the best! We let Liza-Hill go up to the 2nd floor with Trand to find the ice machine, and she was completely thrilled. We finally got everyone settled with us in a bed, Cama-Jane and Shepley in a bed, Breck and Trand on the pull out couch bed, Liza-Hill on the floor, and Cedar in the bathroom. Oh, and everyone went to bed smelling the garlic that I rubbed all over Cama-Jane before she drifted off. :)
So this morning I had to take Jon to work. We took Cedar and Cama-Jane and left the others there with Trand watching cartoons. When I got back, the kids were dying to go to the free breakfast there at the hotel. Jon had told me it was packed in there. So I got ready and we went. You can imagine me walking in with my six kids. We got quite a few stares, and I believe everyone's worst fears probably did come true. They asked if they could have cinnamon rolls. They were hot and fresh and looked really yummy. I said, "yes," because I knew this was the only time they would get them, and I thought *what the heck.* It was like an immediate swarm over the cinnamon rolls, and they attacked them like a shark attacking a school of tuna. It was really rather embarrassing! I seriously think they each got two, and by the time we left the breakfast bar area, the cinnamon rolls were looking sparse!! So then we had to split up because there wasn't enough room for all of us at one place. The two tables that had surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) come available since our arrival were are complete room apart. So four of them sat at one, and I sat with Shepley and Cedar at another. Cama-Jane was having quite a hard time and kept hollering out and whining. I kept going back and forth between the tables with a baby on my hip. Breck was really helpful and did everything he could to make her happy.
Finally back in the room and getting everything packed up and ready to leave, I let the kids go and see the other floors with Trand. They were so excited about this even though every floor looks exactly the same!! I can't imagine people's thoughts as they saw the motley crew roaming the halls. We finally got in the car. We needed to get Trand a bathing suit. I saw a Beall's outlet, and I thought I could get something cheap there so we stopped. I have never seen anything more unorganized in my life. I went to his size, which is a 28, but there was everything there from 28 to 42. Trand is very picky. He is Mr. Conservative like his dad, and he is not going to wear anything colorful or remotely flashy so anything that I could find that he would wear was way too big. We left because I knew I couldn't get anything done with six kids. We did find another store, but it was a full price store, and I ended up paying $40 for a plain black bathing suit for him!! Seriously should have gone to Wal Mart before we left!
So we are driving down the only strip here in Marathon looking for Tranquility Bay, which is where we are staying. Obviously, we missed it, and the next thing I know we are on the Seven Mile Bridge. Great!! Nothing to do for seven miles!! But while we were on it, Trand found the perfect deserted island for him to live on one day--all by himself. We ended up going to Bahia Honda Key and to the state park there. It cost a fortune to get in so I was determined to stay for awhile. We all went to the restrooms to put on our bathing suits with Trand complaining all the way about how he hates the beach and the sand. I had already determined that I was going to have patience. I was going to keep my cool and be kind to my children no matter what. Because I'm telling you, when you have six children and five of them under the age of nine with one being a 20 lb. weight attached to your hip, life gets trying even in the easiest of circumstances. But standing in a parking lot, finding everyone's bathing suits out of their bags, walking to the restrooms, helping the little ones get theirs own, getting my own on, having them all run around while I'm trying to get the baby's on, slathering sunscreen on, then getting all the toys, towels, bags, hats, etc. down to the beach is not an easy task for this mama--all by myself. But we did it.
We met a lovely older couple who shared with me that their son and his wife homeschooled their three children, and they have a fourth due in July. That's always a nice conversation starter! :) They were very sweet and complimentary to the kids. The lady even offered to hold Cedar while I helped the other kids with things which was very nice and very unusual. That was a big help, and I was very thankful.
I took Cedar out in the ocean with the kids and we realized that he had pooped in his built in diaper bathing suit. I DID NOT want to walk back to the car and do what needed to be done so Liza-Hill and I (very secretively) took his bathing suit off and threw the poop out into the ocean. Thankfully it was really solid which is very unusual. LH and Breck thought it was great!! :) Jon chastised me later, but I know he would have done the same thing!!
The kids decided they wanted to walk down to this bridge and walk down it. It looked pretty cool so I said we could. When am I going to remember that carrying a 20 lb. lug around is not easy!! After walking up and down this beach for half an hour, I thought my arm was going to fall off. By the time we got back, he had fallen asleep so he was truly dead weight. We sat and played another 45 minutes or so and then made our way to the showers. That was quite the spectacle as well.
We finally made it back to find Tranquility Bay. I still had on my bathing suit because I was not going to go through all that involved putting our clothes back on. So I had to go check in while wearing it! And I didn't even have my cover up. So I couldn't find the main lobby. I walk up the building that I thought it was and the door was locked. Pulled and pulled and it wouldn't open, and I didn't see anyone around. I called Jon, and said it was the building that I was thinking. I told him the door was locked. i was totally frustrated and starving by this point. So we were just going to leave to get something to eat, but I saw four ladies walk up to the door and go in. Trand was totally laughing at me at this point. I whipped back around and walked up to the door. Okay, I had to PUSH the door open--not pull it. Wow!
We find out where we're staying, and we had to carry all of our stuff a very long way to get here. And since Jon wasn't with us, we all had to do our share. I had all the kids carry a load before I remembered that we could use those little dolly things. Trand got one, and the rest of the moving went smoothly except that when he got the pack n play out, it fell and broke. We've had that thing through six kids! And it breaks on #6.
The kids once again got to ooo and ahhh over everything. Liza-Hill informed me that she had chosen the bedroom she wanted. How did I know it would be the master bedroom? And she was completely serious. She took me upstairs and showed me the two smaller bedrooms, one for CJ and Shepley and one for Trand and Breck. Then she took me down the hall and said, "This one is mine." I asked her where she thought Daddy and I would sleep. Hmmmm.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We picked up Jon from work and then went to Publix to get some groceries. We came back and ate. Then Jon took the older four to swim. Cama-Jane, Cedar and I went to Kmart to get a pack n play. It took us forever to get through the line. I've had some bad luck lately getting behind people in the 10 item or less lane that have like 37 things!! So frustrating that no one calls them on it!
So we finally got the kids to bed with a promise of another exciting day!
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