Weekend Warriors

We had a nice little excursion to Pittsburgh this past weekend.

The idea to make a family affair out of a Reserve weekend is almost funny. Every single time Daddy goes (and doesn't stay with our friends), he stays in a hotel rather than on base. This isn't his choice, but he's not complaining about it. ;)
The first time he called me from one of these said hotels and proceeded to tell me about the MINT they left on his pillow, I wanted to reach through the phone. Not only was he getting a weekend away from everything, he was getting the "special" treatment.
When he called last month and was, yet again, holed up in a fancy hotel I put my foot down. "We're going with you next month", I said.

It was an adventurous weekend but I think next time, we'll just let him go alone.

When we arrived on Friday afternoon, took care of a couple errands on base and then headed to our new home away from home. We stayed at the Sheraton Four Points. It was a wonderful hotel. It would have been more wonderful if it had been just the two of us.

This brings me to the next stage of my weekend: Toddler Entertainment Time.

After a rough Friday night, Bubba and I wake at around 7:30 Saturday morning. This hotel was off my Fancy Meter. No continental breakfast. I could have ordered room service (for nearly $11.00) OR gotten us dressed and went to the restaurant. He's like most kids and doesn't want to do much of anything until he's had something to eat. I plunk him down in the leather covered desk chair (I was planning ahead and figured I could wipe it down if necessary) with a banana, a cup of milk and some dry Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not exactly the breakfast of champions but I was working on the fly so it would have to do. He seemed happy so I just rolled with it.

I had planned to meet a school friend that day. She was swinging by the hotel at around 9:45. That meant I had roughly two hours of Toddler Entertainment Time. Since the hotel was still fairly new to him (this was his first time in a hotel room), he enjoyed diving on the huge pile of pillows and driving his tractor on the bed. We did end up going for a ride on the elevator and took a quick walk around the building.
Thankfully at around 10:00 M arrived. She was smart and brought presents (aka bribes) It takes Bubba a while to warm up to strangers. He's normally very shy around new people. This time, the new person brought a plastic bat and ball. Jackpot! She also brought his favorite-animal crackers. I'm not sure how she knew but she sure guessed right!

After a quick baseball game, we headed to her house to run outside and play with the dog. He was in heaven again with a big dog to fetch with and a dirt pile to play in. He enjoyed the dirt so much that I literally had to scrub him and change his clothes before we could go and get some lunch. He was having fun so that's all that matters.

M dropped us off at our hotel at around 3:00ish. Little did I know that I had nearly two hours of Toddler Entertainment Time ahead of me. This time, it didn't go as well because the toddler in question was hot, sweaty, dirty AND hadn't had a nap.

Daddy finally arrives! We decide to just stick close because I can tell Bubba isn't up for another car ride. The notel's restaurant was very nice but it wasn't what I would call kid friendly. There was literally nothing on the menu that he would have liked. We didn't want to be rude so we drank our Yuenglings and ordered an appetizer. Our usually very well mannered restaurant going toddler morphed into another kid. He was running away (no high chairs) and throwing fits when we would bring him back to the table. Remember, no nap.

I was so tired that I finally lost my patience and took him back to the room. I remembered to grab my beer. LOL We made it back to the room in about 45 seconds. He was just happy to be out of the restaurant. I was just happy to be out of public so I could cry. Daddy arrived about 10 mintues later with our leftover food. He then proceeded to go to Sheetz so we could all actually eat.

Thankfully bed time went much smoother Saturday night. I think we all needed it. If I had only known what I was in for on Sunday, I would have gone to bed much earlier.

TO BE CONTINUED...