Next Time We're Headin' North!! . . .

A few weeks ago, we decided we would take a short trip as a bit of a "last hurrah" before we found out if the union workers were going to strike at the very large company where my husband works in Manhattan.  He is part of management and would have to begin working a different schedule if they did indeed strike.  This new schedule includes no more than a day and a half off at a time and being unable to leave the area in case he's needed for an emergency.  We knew this may very well be the only family vacation we got to take this summer so we wanted to make it a nice one.  Short but sweet.  Short yes.  Sweet no.

After learning that our mechanic was unable to fix our car's air conditioning the day before we were scheduled to leave, my husband suggested that we rent a car.  I, unfortunately, told him we could deal with it with cold water to drink and nature's air conditioning (aka leaving the windows down while driving).  So we loaded up the car last Wednesday and headed to Washington, D.C. with three of our four children and our niece and nephew.

Tristan, Brendan, Trevor, Annie and Megan.

The ride to D.C. wasn't bad other then my poor husband having to constantly turn around to wipe Megan's endlessly running nose  (I was driving).  She woke up the morning of our trip feeling miserable.  Hmm . . .  do you think we were getting a sign or two that we shouldn't be going??  : )  Our mechanic had thankfully rigged up the a/c so that we would get some cooler air coming thru the vents on occasion and we stopped for food and cold drinks along the way.  The kids were all buzzing with the excitement of seeing the monuments and other activities we had planned.

We arrived at the hotel to find it was under complete renovation.  Workers coming and going, the lobby furniture all covered in plastic and walls torn down.  I've always taught the kids that you can have a positive experience in most any situation and to enjoy the simple things in life so this really wasn't a big deal to any of us.  As long as we had air conditioning in our adjoining rooms and the kids had the pool to jump into life was good.  The a/c was fabulous but the pool not so much.  The picture on the website was very deceiving and it was much smaller than it had appeared to be.  Not to mention the fact that the water was about 60 degrees and our daughter who usually doesn't want to get out of a pool once she's in it wanted nothing to do with being in this pool.  I had just finished unpacking and settled down with my new book, Heaven is Here, and I heard the pitter patter of semi-little feet coming up the hallway.  The water was so cold that they couldn't even swim in it (it was an outdoor pool that got no sun apparently).  So much for a few minutes to myself!!  And I had so wanted to begin that new book finally!!  Oh well.  At least I made it to page two.  : )

You can tell Meggie wasn't feeling well.  It was very difficult to get a photo of her with a smile on her face.  : (

Tomorrow, I'll share photos of our venture into D.C.  Our hotel was actually in Silver Springs, MD.  Much less expensive when you stay in the outskirts of D.C. and only a Metro ride away.

Did I mention that we decided to take this trip while this area of the country is in the grips of a massive heat wave??  Yep.  It is and we did!!


Many blessings for a happy Monday and a peaceful week ~ Wendy