ON NOT BECOMING (OR RAISING) TRAVEL SNOBS

John and I love to travel.  It's one of our greatest commonalities, because we both absolutely light up with possibility and enthusiasm when the smell of a trip is in the air.  We've always found ways for travel to be a priority, even when we were newly married and lacking in material resources.  We've stayed in all kinds of places ranging from pretty fancy to extremely not.  We've traveled on mission trips, study trips, business trips, vacations and family trips.  It's kind of our thing.

Every trip adds to our memory bucket and gives new shades of experience to our repertoire.  There are always highs and lows, because that is life.

On this most recent trip to Kansas City, I had a revelation of sorts.  The more of anything that you have to compare, the more critical you can become.  This is true about most things in life.  And it most definitely has pros and cons.

We stayed at a really fun hotel and had a really nice room.  However, every time I stepped into the bathroom in our room, I was annoyed.  There was a tile that was loose in the floor and not grouted in. The overhead light flickered.  None of the drains were great at doing their job.  The outlet next to the sink did not hold plugs well, so my flat iron kept turning off.  The hair dryer made me feel as if I was taking my life into my hands with its strange spasmodic waves of heat.

Now - our bathroom was certainly not a major part of our trip.  Obviously, we had a great time in spite of the inconveniences it contained.  But - it was a disappointment, and no doubt - those things should be addressed by the hotel.  I realized very quickly into our trip that I had a choice.

I could choose to fixate on those annoyances, or I could blow them off.

I also realized that I could set the tone for everyone else in my family.  I'm thankful that it did occur to me that if the girls heard me complaining about any of those things, then they would pick up on those things and remember them later.  Negative things have a way of coloring both present and past.

I want to remember getting into the room and changing Bella into her swimsuit as she squeezed her cheeks with her hands and said, "I'm so so so excited!"  I want to remember Ellen reading a bedtime story to the pajama clad children.  I want to remember William and Violet clapping every time anyone would say "Yay!"



The truth is, it was a fantastic room for our family.  The twins slept in the master bedroom, so we could shut the door.  The girls slept on a pull out couch behind a partition, which left the rest of the room free for us to hang out in quite easily after bedtime.  If you have ever stayed in a hotel with young children, you know how valuable all of what I just said truly is.

I want to cultivate the attitude of gratefulness in myself and my children in every situation we are in.  There will always be pros and cons, and we always have a choice about what ways to frame it in our minds and hearts.  It was a good reminder that I do not want to become or raise travel snobs who thumb their noses at anything that isn't "perfect" or "as good as" or "better than" the last place we were.  Getting to travel is always a privilege and a gift, and I want to treat it as such.

KC TRIP: DAYS 3 & 4, HIGHS 7 LOWS

(Click here to see the first couple of days!)

I feel like we are on the same song, 20th verse when John and I look at each other and say something brilliant like, "We may have packed too many things into this trip."  Sometimes it happens like that, and we overextend ourselves a bit.  Or a lot.  But - there are always SO MANY THINGS TO DO and SO MANY THINGS TO SEE and SO MUCH FUN TO BE HAD, that I understand how we end up here.  Here's the trip wrap up with highs and lows.  Because there were definitely both.

Low:  We paid a lot of money for a breakfast that was just okay.  We were paying for convenience, and sometimes that is worth paying for.  Double bonus - everyone was together at one big table so we had a lot of help.

High:  Time together.  I just love being with my people and seeing them enjoy life.

High:  We headed back to Crown Center to go to SeaLife Aquarium, which happens to be exactly next door to Legoland.  We had a grand time perusing all of the sea creatures and taking pictures in the aquarium bubbles.

High:  We got this awesome group shot that I actually took the plunge and purchased from SeaLife.  So funny.  Also, it's worth noting that parts of my kiddos disappear since they were wearing green against the green screen.



High:  We walked to Union Station, which was beautiful.  And we got to see the miniature train room, which was huge and amazing.

Low:  By lunch time, my crew was pretty tired and whiny.  Never a good place to start a meal.  I love it when my kids don't want to eat food they usually like.  Except that I don't.

High:  We hit the waterpark again in the afternoon.  So much fun.

Low:  The kiddos were pretty worn out by all that we had already done.

High:  We all headed to the Dodgers/Royals game for a really great night out.  The weather was perfect.  John's favorite pitcher - Kershaw - was pitching.  The kiddos did really well.  And the Dodgers won!  All in all, a perfect way to end the day.

Low:  When we returned to our hotel room - very late, I might add, as we all stayed for the entirety of the game - we encountered a medical issue that was alarming at the time.  John called the front desk to locate the closest ER, I called my nurse mom to have her come immediately to our room, texted my dear friend who's a doctor, called our pediatrician's medical exchange, and John ran to CVS.  (We may have overreacted a *teensy* bit.)  It involved forcing medication upon a child who was quite reluctant and being terrified that our hotel neighbors would think we were awful parents.  All in all, not our best night.  We were in bed around 1:00 am, and I had nightmares all night.  And, both babies slept restlessly.

Low:  With the bad night behind us, we did sleep in, which was good.  However, we miscalculated - or didn't calculate at all - the time it would take for us to get all packed up.  This left us scrambling and stressed as we were nearing check out time with lots still to be done.

High:  Our kiddos traveled pretty well for the first part of the day.  I want to give them credit where credit is due.  (Do you like the ominous foreshadowing?)

Low:  Violet screamed literally the entire last hour of the trip, with William occasionally chiming in.  This led the girls to cry about not being able to hear their movie.  It was a lot of crying.  I tried anything and everything to comfort Violet, but she was having none of it.  The best that I can tell is that she was ready to be out of her carseat + tired + probably teething + bored + maybe hungry?  This age is so hard.  As soon as we got home, she was as happy as a clam to be able to crawl around before bedtime.

Usually I am pretty good about getting all unpacked.  Let me rephrase that - John is really good at it, and I usually try to get with the program, since it is nice to have it all done.  However, in this case, it is still not all done.  So - I need to go do that, though I would rather do almost anything else.  Hope your weekend is starting off well!

KC TRIP: DAYS 1 & 2, HIGHS & LOWS

Our most recent adventure found us headed to Kansas City to meet up with a large part of my family for a few days.  As usual, we managed to pack them full of fun.  Here's the high/low run down, because you know it wouldn't be a family trip without a few lows along the way.

High: Our trip there went really well!  We packed everything the night before, and fed the kiddos breakfast in the car, which meant we left a breakfast nook that was relatively crumb free.  We stopped at one of our usual traveling restaurants for lunch - Panda Express.  I wish they would just go ahead and come to Little Rock already.  Violet really enjoyed throwing her food all over and gnawing on the plate.




Low:  We got to Great Wolf Lodge right at check-in time, which meant a bit of a long line.

High:  We were at Great Wolf Lodge, which was really exciting for the kids.  Everyone enjoyed the balloon animals and arriving into our room.

High:  We hit the water park to get the fun started.  Lily and Bella were thrilled right away.

Low:  John and I panicked a bit as we realized that we had four really young children at a water park by ourselves.  None of the girls, including Violet, stay still, and we tried to get our bearings as it felt like we didn't have nearly enough adult eyes or arms.



High:  Reinforcements in the form of Mom and Wes arrived not too long after us, and it was really great to be able to relax as our adult/child ratio dramatically improved.

High:  The girls loved the story time with characters at bedtime, which included learning how to howl like a wolf and meet Brinley the Bear.

Low:  The next day, we kicked off our morning with breakfast at McDonald's.  That in and of itself was actually not the low.  We did have a child pee in the play land, which is never a great way to start the day.

High:  An outfit change and many apologies later, we were on our way to Legoland Discovery Center.  The girls had literally been talking about this for months.  First things first, we headed to the gift shop to use their money to purchase some new legos.  They have been saving for a while, and it was neat to see them figure out what they wanted to get.

High:  By this point in the trip, the rest of our group had joined us, and we all headed into Legoland together.  Cousin time is such fun - we missed Max! (and Ash, and Mike and Ryan, of course)



High:  Legoland itself was so much fun.  We enjoyed the rides, the 4D movie, the Lego sculptures everywhere and the amazing mini-Kansas City made of Legos.  I especially loved the Lego stained glass windows of the Lego church.

It is truly amazing what all they can create with Legos.

High:  We did lunch at Fritz's in Crown Center where they deliver your food via train.  We got in pretty quickly, and the food was good.  Plus - the trains were mesmerizing to all involved.

High:  We hit the watermark after getting back from our full morning.

Low:  I'm sorry to say that one child did fill their swimsuit with poop.  It was a bad moment.

High: The guys headed to the Dodgers/Royals game and sat right behind the Dodger's dugout, which pretty much made John's year.  (Wes was able to navigate the tricky tension between the Dodgers fan and the Royals fan.)



Low:  The Dodgers lost that game.

High:  While the guys were at the game, we had a ladies/kids night out.  It included another character sighting and dinner at the outlet mall on a gorgeous evening.

Our first two days certainly were fun!  I'll post the rest of our trip sometime tomorrow.  Right now, I am swamped in laundry.  Like - totally and completely drowning in it.  That is life with four children, and it is worth it.  I will breathe again someday and that day is not today.

(Click here to see the next couple of days!)