I am not ashamed to admit that my mind is a treasure trove of useless trivia about many things related to television shows and television stars. I am also not afraid to admit I grew up a child of the 80's and was a latch key kid who came home after school and headed for the television until dinner time.I couldn't miss the after school special!!! I say all that to say that I frequently read stupid articles about television stars and their lives on Facebook and other online sources. Many times I have read that this star or that one has taken residence in a fancy schmancy hotel or maybe that was more of a thing they did in the 60s and 70s, but anyway you know what I mean. I think now we would call them concierge apartments in the big cities.
Well life in a Jefferson City hotel is a far stretch from New York or Los Angeles. We spent the first few days in a hotel across town from our neighborhood and away from all the things we do. The hotel was adequate at best and at the risk of sounding like a snob it wasn't our typical hotel standard. It just had a weird feel to it and just didn't feel comfortable. Plus our three rooms were scattered across two floors which was so unhandy for the kids who liked to go back and forth frequently. So after four nights there we were able to move to a nicer hotel across town in our neighborhood.
Originally we were scheduled to be moved to a different hotel, but it was hit by the tornado and we had to scramble and get a new reservation somewhere else before the whole town was full. The insurance company got us booked into the new Holiday Inn and Suites and it is a lovely hotel and has only been open a few short months. A great indoor pool and work out facility. There is a restaurant on site if we get hungry.
While we are blessed to be in a safe, clean and comfortable place for the time being, hotel life has it's challenges. If you have met my children, you know they are not the quietest of children. They are easily excited and frequently loud. Who am I kidding they are always LOUD, we are just a loud family. I can't help it and we are not even Italian. We are always aware of how loud the kids are and our new favorite word is SSSSSSHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh.... you would think that would be easy to catch on to, but NO, not our kids! They can't even walk down the hall quietly.
Oh and why do these hotel doors have to be so noisy and heavy. So it sounds like they are slamming every time they close. I am deaf and can hear doors closing down the hall with my door closed. So when it is my door or Julie's door it seems to be 100 times louder. Which is frequently especially in the morning hours as we are getting everyone ready to go and out the door by a little after 7 am.
There is no such thing as privacy in a hotel room full of children. Julie has a room and I have a room and the kids go back and forth as they are next to each other. I don't think they make hotels with adjoining rooms anymore....why not for those of us with larger families...that makes no sense to me. Every time I turn around there is a child. There is no where for them to go. No where for me to go, except to hide in the bathroom and all you parents know what that means. They eventually follow you. There are good locks on these bathroom doors.
Elevators are a great novelty for my children. AJ is always running down the hall ahead of trying to get to the elevator and push the call button. He has made the elevators beep and ring and do all kinds of funny noises in the few days we have been here. Let's just hope he doesn't figure out the emergency stop button. For some reason they put us at the opposite of end of hallway from the elevators. It is quite a hike. So we get to the elevator and AJ is the call button pusher. He would make a good elevator attendant...do they still have those anywhere? He loves talking to people in the elevators and he is always seen as charming, darling and so well spoken and thoughtful. Why can't he be that way with his family. I am grateful he is is that way to strangers. Luckily the elevator ride is about 30 seconds or I am sure he would tell everyone he met in the elevator the story of how I said a curse word and yelled fire and told them to evacuate.
Why do hotel beds have to be so fun and set in such a way in the room that they are the perfect distance from one another that the kids think it is a good idea to jump from bed to bed and pretend there is lava on the ground between the beds. Come on out there, how many of you did that at some point in your life? It can be fun!
I do like having fresh towels everyday and fresh sheets every couple of days. Everything is clean and nice. It helps motivate me to keep the room neat and organized which is my natural way anyway. That and the fact we don't have that much anyway. The kids have one plastic tote box of stuff that have been given to them so far. We are specifically telling folks we don't have room for stuff right now just for that reason.
The dresser and closet is nice and I have unpacked completely my one weeks worth of clothing and that of the kids as well. If we are going to be here indefinitely we might as well be comfortable and make ourselves at home.
One downside is we almost have to go to bed when the kids do. And I can't watch tv after they go to bed. I know, I know, poor me but I have cable here and all my favorite channels and I don't get much chance to enjoy them. Hey we have free wifi and that is a great perk.
Another challenge is that we don't have a kitchen and have to do all of our meals outside of the hotel unless we order delivery or carry it in. Which gets expensive and tiring after awhile. Every afternoon we have this discussion of where to go to eat dinner. Thanks to many good friends we have lots of gift certificates which provides us many options, but still it is not the same as being at home and eating the foods we enjoy. It will get old quickly.
Grateful we have a place to rest our weary heads at the end of each day, but the kids have no where to play outside and at home we let them go for hours and they are happy happy happy. Here we have a highway outside of our hotel. No where safe for them to go without our supervision. We miss our home, our yard and our neighborhood! Already longing for the day we can return home.
So if anyone in the Jeff City area knows of any rental properties that we should check into let me know. Hotel life is for birds....and frankly the birds can have it!
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