It’s February and we have been going stir crazy up in here!
We needed a vacation. This working parenting thing gets pretty monotonous and Kevin and I are definitely road people - feeling our best on the move. Currently we are growing a person from a baby to a child and because she needs stability in her formative years, we are making a home here in the Outer Banks for now and for a while longer, where we know all our neighbors and our dog has lots of friends to play with.
So Kevin took Friday off from work and I planned a little getaway for the four of us. As a parent, the phrase “family getaway” is an oxymoron. C’est la vie.
Our main goal was getting a hotel with a pool so we could swim swim and swim so I made a reservation and asked the guy on the phone several times if he was sure there was an indoor pool. He assured me there was and the call was recorded for quality assurance purposes so you know he wouldn’t dare lie to me. Great!
I researched the town of Selma, North Carolina and they were having a daddy daughter dance that weekend so I grabbed two tickets for that and then found a couple museums; the tobacco farm life museum advertised a two for one valentines deal so I figured we would hit that up. Had a loose outline for the trip prepped. Packed everybody’s bathing suits for all that swimming we were gonna do.
When I pack for a trip I’m always thinking that’s really the only things I need in life, burn the rest and let’s get on with it!
When Kevin got home from work on Thursday, we were psyched. We uncharacteristically ignored Margot who was playing in her room while we played keep-it-up with a big pink ball. After almost knocking over the aloe vera plant in the window we thanked goodness there weren’t any parents home to stop us haha. Then when Margot yelled for us from her room, Kevin hollered back, “Be careful; don’t get yourself into any situation I wouldn’t get myself into!” And we laughed and laughed at that as we hit the bouncy ball back and forth giggling all the way. If you knew my husband, you’d be laughing at that one too.
Friday morning I took the girls (15 month old daughter Margot and almost two year old dingo lab mix Coral) for a mile or two walk before we left on the car trip. Kevin loaded the bags and off we went!
Kevin drove the three hours west while I played Amos Moses and Thank God I’m a Country Boy from the backseat. We only made one brief stop on the way to stretch our legs at a river.
We made it to the hotel and while I was checking in for our two nights and Margot was running amuck climbing on the luggage racks I asked what the pool hours were. “Our pool’s closed for renovations. See the sign right here.”
“WHAT! You have got to be kidding me”
So I called other hotels in the area and they either didn’t have an indoor pool or wanted to charge $75 for a pet non refundable. We were pretty aggravated but checked in for one night only and we would figure it out later. While Kevin was bringing in luggage he noticed the hotel sign outside that read POOL OPEN and brought that up to the clerks who told him there was nothing they could do about that.
While he was out there I started ironing Margot’s dress for the dance. Standing at the mirror with iron in hand, I heard the door slam beside me. The girls were gone on their own adventure. I went after them and locked us all out of the room. Once we got another key and I picked the dress up again, I pulled a loose thread and all the buttons fell off. So I took Coral on a trip to the Dollar Tree for a sewing kit. On the way back, my GPS tried to convince me our hotel was in the middle of an intersection nowhere near where our hotel was. I was getting flustered but we found the pool-free hotel and I sewed the buttons back on.
Remember when it used to be a treat to watch tv in a hotel room? Boy, not anymore. I found the commercials unbearable and missed our set up at home of library movies without commercials or other channels. Margot was too excited to nap so eventually we got her and Kevin ready to go to the dance!
While they were at the dance and I was wrangling us a different hotel for the next night and reading with the tv on in the background, I had a spiritual realization. I’d been feeling uneasy about something the past few times I heard Kevin pray, and I finally understood what was bothering me and that it was my own dumb fault. With the help of a Christian parenting book and the fact that house hunters is the only thing on HGTV these days, it hit me that I have been leading my own family astray spiritually. I’ve been focused on us getting more money and trying to force that on the Universe. Just because I want someone to help us clean and to own a boat and a house and get quality tutors for Margie and travel all over the world, and take classes and get massages, I let myself get convinced that money was what we were searching for. Doh! Wrong! For one thing, everything I have ever needed has always been provided. For another thing, we should be praying for the wisdom and patience to be the best parents we can be and trusting that the Universe will continue to provide for us. That whole money thing is propaganda. When Kevin got back, after he told me all about the dance, I shared this and apologized for being way off and he said duh. Okay well good.
After a night of cable television with all the prescription ads, we joked for the rest of the weekend about itching burning rashes on the outside of the perinium (a rare but life-threatening side effect). Kevin asked me, “if you could live to 200 but only age to 50, would you do it if the only downside was leprosy on your perinium?” Um no.
Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and went to a park.
After the park, we made our way to the Tobacco Farm Life Museum, not knowing what to expect. It was awesome! I highly recommend going if you’re in North Carolina. Informative exhibits, tons of Americana, even an old-fashioned kids’ playroom.
The outbuildings were cool too - an old schoolhouse
A blacksmith shop
Two old fashioned houses. We found the baby cage especially interesting. It kept the baby in one place, in one piece, and bug free while mom worked outside.
It was a great museum!
Although it blew my mind when my normally brilliant husband couldn’t understand what this thing was for:
And embarrassed me by asking. I still don’t get what he couldn’t understand. It says “oil” on it.
After that we went to Aldi for food.
Not thinking about what kind of people frequent Aldi, Kevin told the lady behind us that I’d just asked him if he was retarded. She understood though because he had just asked me which was hotter, medium or mild, and after the oil truck incident, I just couldn’t.
We got to our next hotel in the town of Wilson and saw the pool! Sweet! We got our bathing suits on. I had a new too-small sports-bra type suit and Kevin got some payback asking if that was my gay suit. You forget the old high school panic of being called gay. Do I look gay? Oh no, AM I gay? Kids these days will never understand.
Anyway, we were excited about finally swimming! As soon as we opened the pool room door and felt the chilly air, our hearts sank again. Not a good sign. I dipped my toe and cussed. Water was freezing. Kevin dove in and came up screaming. Margot walked down the steps and really wanted to swim so Kevin graciously swam with her for ten or fifteen minutes. She was smiling big the whole time but shivering violently. So we got out of the pool . . . but at least I still had that dark chocolate bar from Aldi back in the room with nothing but a wrapper and my name on it!
We got back to the room and I glanced down at a chocolate wrapper wide open and empty on the floor then glanced sideways over at Coral, who it just so happens was still alive.
We all took a nap. At about 8 pm, the kids were restless and while Kevin and I would have gladly kept resting (on our so called vacation), kids don’t really like it when you rest. It pisses them off. So we got in the car to go find something to do. Of course after dark, there’s not really anything to do, but we saw a Burger King with a play place so we left Coral in the car and went in. Margot was not interested in the tunnels and after sticking my head in, I decided there was no way I was squeezing myself into those deathtraps either. But Kevin went in. He said there wasn’t a lot of available air to breathe but he made it out alive.
“Dat your granchil’?”
Hahaha oh shit
Sunday morning we grabbed coffees and continental breakfast then we hit the road again.
Our main stop on the way home was a place called Battle Park in Rocky Mount. It was a dam at an old mill with lots of huge rocks and tons of biking and walking trails by the river. We had never seen a landscape quite like that and spent at least an hour walking around. We saw five or six blue herons, our family animal. It was a beautiful place. Lots of photos to show:
Before we made it home, we stopped at another small town called Williamston and visited an antique shop and a tea room.
It was nice to travel a bit and see some new scenes. Looking at these pictures, you’re probably thinking oh what a cute dog and what a sweet baby! Well yes that is true, they are, but what you don’t see is how tirelessly demanding and hopelessly trifling they really are. Being a parent is hard and it is a job with no breaks. Ever. And so we are back home just as tired and worn down as before, but, like this plate at the tea room says, that’s life, so you might as well enjoy it!
Amanda out!
