I know, I know. You REALLY missed me, right? Well, calm down. It's over now and I'm back home.
We hurried out of here Tuesday morning at the agreed upon time and arrived at Jen's house to find her harried and hurried, trying to get the kiddos out of the house. They hadn't eaten breakfast yet and we were looking at one of those "have another bag of peanuts" flights. So, they had to be fed. We got to the airport without incident and it was wheels up shortly thereafter.
By the time we touched down in Jacksonville, it was late afternoon Florida time. Jen went into a bit of a panic because she could not remember which rental car agency she'd used to reserve the car. She guessed Dollar and that guess turned out to be correct. They gave us a free upgrade to a van, which, with three kiddos in car seats, was almost a given. For sure, it was a luxury and invaluable. We barely made it out of the airport before Jennifer declared it was dinner time. We found a place called the Old Mill and stopped there. It had the look of an old building that had been refurbished into a restaurant. Whether it was ever a mill was a question that was never resolved (and barely considered) as we stuffed our faces. They made noises about having gluten free food, but both Jennifer and Atticus had stomach problems the next day, so obviously there was contamination along the way.
From the restaurant, we made our way across Jacksonville to the hotel. We stayed in a Marriott on Salisbury Blvd and it was very nice. We were all crammed into one room, but we managed to make it work. They brought us a small fridge which we used primarily for the storage of breast milk. They also brought us a roll away bed which was supposed to be for William. Turns out he actually did use it, the second night..... The first night Jennifer's double bed was filled with kids, Elizabeth, Atticus, and William. How she sleeps like that and is functional in the morning is more than I can even imagine. Unfortunately, when I was mother to a young child, I was a long-standing "victim" of undiagnosed thyroid disease. I knew instinctively that if I didn't get a decent night's sleep, I'd be totally unable to meet the challenges of the next day. So, the thought of trying to manage a decent night's sleep with three kids and me in a double bed is beyond my ability to imagine. But she did it and was up early the next morning to take the kids to breakfast and for a swim in the hotel's pool. I was not functional and just kind of grunted here and there as I attempted to ease myself into the day. The kids and I had a late lunch in the hotel and Jennifer went to her conference.
Elizabeth is so pretty and such a charmer that we were welcomed most everywhere we went. Of course, Atticus is a beautiful little guy too and that didn't hurt. We started off, trying to achieve some lunch. The restaurant in the Marriott is a bit of an after thought. I think they probably do a business early in the mornings as business travelers attempt to grab a bite to eat before their respective meetings. And they seem to see some business in the evenings. Lunch is a bit of an impromptu thing, particularly when one arrives late with three children in tow. We got good service, but as was the usual on this trip, our choices for Atticus were limited and we were never sure what we got was what we SHOULD get. Then Jennifer dispatched us to find a local Target.
The kids were good in Target. I had visions of Atticus coming unglued over some toy we passed here or there as we did what we needed to do in the store, but he was good as gold. We grabbed diapers for both Elizabeth and Atticus, some snacky type foods we could keep in the hotel room (primarily some string cheese) and even picked up a pair of gym shorts for one of the women at the conference. Next problem: by now it was dinner time. I had noticed that there was a steak house in the area of the Target store and that was my original objective with the munchkins. But after checking the place out, it turned out to be a bit starchy and staid for me and my crew. We ended up at Wendy's where we purchased enough fast food to get us through. Atticus got a baked potato with "white ketchup". For Atticus, any food is made better with ketchup. Unfortunately, Grandma forgot to order ketchup for him. Between William and I, we managed to convince him the sour cream that came with his baked potato and broccoli was "fancy white ketchup". We chowed down in our room and then it was bedtime. We didn't do very well getting everyone to bed as Jennifer showed up with several friends and wanted to take Elizabeth downstairs to be shown off to friends. The kids love their Grandma, but MOM is just magic where they're concerned.
The next morning, Jennifer left early for her conference. I was left to get everything rounded up and re-packed as well as take care of the kids. I find that without determined effort, most hotel rooms become pits of disorganization and mayhem. And when you throw three kids into that mix, they're even worse. Sure enough, the idea of trying to sort out all that stuff and get it all back into suitcases and get all that loaded into the van seemed overwhelming. William and I worked and worked. There was one suitcase shared by the boys. There was another suitcase for Jennifer and Elizabeth. There was a third suitcase with toys. It seemed there were a zillion small carry-on type bags, though I'm sure the number was a good bit lower than a zillion. And there was my bag. My stuff was pretty much centralized in the bathroom area with a sprinkling on the nightstand. Everyone else's seemed to be just anywhere and everywhere. First, we made piles of stuff by owner, a pile for Atticus, a pile for William, a pile for Elizabeth, and a pile for Jennifer. Then we sorted through the piles and pulled out the dirty clothes and used the hotel's plastic laundry bags for all those. Then I began the task of re-folding and re-packing the three suitcases. In between were the times when all packing and sorting stopped for a diaper change here and a diaper change there and a cup of yogurt here and a jar of peas there and for me to run downstairs for a 7 minute cigarette. Thankfully, Elizabeth napped a large part of the morning. Jennifer had told us to try to survive on the food that was in the room. We counted and our food stash consisted of 4 yogurt cups, 3 bananas, some leftover fruit, and cheese sticks. We did manage to make that work for breakfast and lunch by spacing it out over the morning and early afternoon. Jennifer had made arrangements for a late checkout.
I could not believe it, but Marriott allowed us to have the room til 4PM. I'm pretty sure with a checkout that late, they must have just taken the room off the books for Friday. That was a tremendous benefit for us. Elizabeth isn't a bruiser or anything, but she's plenty heavy if you have to carry her very far or stand around holding her for long. Add into that her carseat, and it's about more than I can even conceive of handling. I had no clue what in the world I was going to do with myself and three kids for hours, waiting for Jennifer to be finished at her conference. So, Mr. Marriott, wherever you are, my profound thanks for the courtesy and kindness of your staff at the Marriott in Jacksonville, FL. They were everything you could have wanted them to be.
We did have one small problem at the Marriott. Apparently the word did not get to the housekeeper that we'd been granted a late checkout. It's my experience that the housekeeper can't go home until every room on her list has been cleaned. Three times she came knocking on the door, trying to clean the room. Three times I told her to comeback after 4. My guess is that she didn't speak English very well. Anyway, Elizabeth was napping and it seemed that the housekeeper had it perfectly timed to knock and wake her up every time I got her to sleep. I finally stopped by the desk and very politely explained the situation. I don't know what they did, but that was the last of the visits from the housekeeper; then they turned around and sent someone up to the room from guest services with some little goodies and a note of apology. Again, Mr. Marriott, give those folks a pat on the back for customer service.
Finally, it was 4PM. I made one trip to the car with one of those hotel rolling luggage carts. Then I came back to the room, gathered all the last minutes bits and pieces and children and rolled that luggage cart downstairs (it made an excellent and non stressful way of transporting Miss Elizabeth). Will guarded the last load and his younger brother and sister while I got the van from the parking lot and the guy from the concierge desk showed up to help me get the last little bits loaded up. From there we went to the Original Pancake House which was situated about 5 miles away, near the Target store we'd found the night before. I figured I could get eggs and bacon for Atticus and be reasonably sure there would be no gluten in those. He actually ate two scrambled eggs and two strips of bacon which is pretty good for a little guy his size. Will ordered 4 strips of bacon and 4 sausage links, doused them in maple syrup and ate every bite. I ordered a Spinach Benedict which was nothing to write home about but which certainly filled the holes in my digestive system left by the one yogurt cup and one banana which had fueled all my packing, lifting, toting during the day. We were in no hurry over our food, but after we'd eaten, we went and just sat outside for a few minutes. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, lovely breeze, and it was good to be outside.
Back to the hotel we went. In order to spare me the trouble of trying to find the Law School and then trying to find her, Jennifer took the shuttle bus back to the hotel. I had expected she would be there as early as 5:30. As it turned out, it was more like 6:15 when she got there. I had the van parked up under the porte cochere and the kids were sitting on the benches by the front door. Once again, the concierge, Mike, came to my rescue. I knew if I could get to Daytona, I could get to Deland, and finally to my mother's house. But, I wanted to assure myself of how to get ON the freeway and that the freeway I was going to get on would actually take me to Daytona. Even though we were officially checked out, no longer guests of the hotel, he very sweetly grabbed me a google map to Daytona which helped a lot. By 6:20, we were on the road out of town. It turned out to be excellent timing as whatever traffic we might otherwise have encountered was ahead of us and we had smooth sailing.
I remember Jacksonville as a town we passed through on the way north for our annual family pilgrimage each summer to Pennsylvania. I do not remember being impressed in a positive way. I would have to say that what I saw of the town this trip was quite pleasant and I could easily see myself living there.
We drove for just a little while when Jennifer announced it was time to stop. In reality, Atticus was crying in his carseat and Elizabeth was crying in hers, and stopping somewhere where the crying would no longer reverberate in a closed car seemed an EXCELLENT idea. We pulled into an Outback and got food. Jennifer needed dinner. I was surprised to see Atticus really chow down when only a few hours before he'd consumed two scrambled eggs and two slices of bacon. But he DID indeed chow down. Then, we were on our way again, arriving in DeLand past the time the kids should have been asleep.
So ends the saga of our first two days. More to come on the trip tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm happy to be home. "The kids" are happy I'm here. They seem to be taking turns coming over for some extra lovin. I went straight to bed on arriving home and awoke with the proverbial headache. Gee, it's good to be home. See you on the flip side.
