Sitting here in our suite at the Seaview Hotel, 11 pm. The kids are finally asleep, spread out among the sofa bed and the queen. We left to come down here right after school. My husband is coming down tomorrow. My sister is getting married! The day is here. I was eager to get out of town and I thought the kids and I could have a fun night by ourselves. HAHAHAHA! What a sweet, innocent thought. This is how the night has gone:

Multiple conversations about not running in the hallways, being polite and responsive to their aunt and grandparents, not jumping on furniture, keeping their hands to themselves.

Tears and body checks over who gets to push the button for the elevator. Every time, outside and inside the elevator.

The main reason I came down tonight was the indoor pool. Once I realized there was one, I knew it would keep them occupied. So after dinner (at a local pizza place), we got changed and trooped down to the pool. As soon as we got there, my oldest started doing the pee pee dance. So we trooped back out, back through the restaurant, to the bathroom. There was no lifeguard and nobody else at the pool, so I couldn’t leave anybody there.

Back to the pool, get in the pool. I had to swim with them because it was a little deep for the younger two. Approximately one minute later, baby girl has to go poop. Get out of the pool, dry off, find a closer bathroom, take care of business. Force everybody else to sit on the potty so this doesn’t happen again.

Back to the pool, get in the pool. Approximately three minutes later, baby girl announces she has to poop again.

Back to the bathroom. She was not kidding.

Back to the pool, get in the pool. Approximately five minutes later, my oldest says he has to pee again.

“You know where the bathrooms are.”

We did end up having a fun half-hour in the pool, once all the bathroom shenanigans were over.

After the pool, we went back to the room and got changed.

“What are we having for snack?” my younger son whined.

Well. I had brought snacks, but they had devoured them in the car on the way down. I called the front desk, found out which vending area had snacks, scrounged $1.50 in change (all the cash I had), and brought them to the machine (necessitating an elevator ride and the development of a system to track whose turn it was to push the button).

At the machine, everything cost $1.50. Nobody could agree on one thing to share. “Let’s ask Pop Pop to lend us some money,” I said. We texted him; he said yes; we rode the elevator back up and trekked to his room (this hotel is huge). Secured a loan of several dollar bills, trekked back, elevator down.

The vending machine would not take the bills. Not a single one.

The miracle here is that they didn’t really complain. I think they felt as tired, defeated and bewildered as I did. I selected a pack of Oreos. Back at the room, they shared it, along with some pretzel chips I forgot I had. Not long after, they were asleep. It was rather late by this point.

So I haven’t had a chance to get excited for the wedding. I kind of wish the kids weren’t here, so I could have had a fun grown-up dinner with my parents and sister, had a drink at the bar, etc. It’s a really neat old hotel. But at the same time, when they weren’t driving me crazy, they were making me laugh. And the whole thing is a good learning experience for them. I just have to chill out and remember that they weren’t born knowing that you have to let the people off the elevator before you stampede into it.

Bring on the open bar.

In frugality news… I didn’t get a mani/pedi for this event. My purse for tomorrow is borrowed. Tonight was the first meal we ate out since last Saturday. Small victories in an otherwise expensive week. But ready to forget all that stuff and have fun tomorrow. Much love and congratulations to my sister and my new brother-in-law. 🙂