travelogue:
DAY FOUR One thing I haven't written much about is how much the kids have been enjoying the hotel pools. All our bookings have been at Comfort Inns. Pop John was organized and planned out our route in advance as well as making all our hotel reservations...and he did great! All three of the hotels we have stayed at have been really good. The one we are at now (in the little town of Shelby, Montana) is my favorite so far. It's pool is smaller than any of the others have been (none of them have been huge)...but it wound up being so much more user-friendly for the kids. At our previous two hotels, the water has been over Doug and Rayna's head (even at the most shallow point). Notwithstanding, we still managed to swim an hour each evening before I pulled the kids out. But, last night, our hotel had a little pool that is designed for swimming in place. It was four feet deep all the way through (up to Darcy's neck), but it had a nice wide ledge wrapping around three sides of it that the two little ones could stand on and be above water. It also had "twirl jets" that made the water in the ledged end of the pool choppy--much to the kids' delight!--and it had "swim jets" on the other end that produced a current in the pool, so that, I could swim in place. I had read about such pools, but had never experienced one before. I really liked it. I spent quite a while swimming in place on my back, completely able to watch the two littler ones and never having to worry about running into the end of the pool! (You can't swim HARD or you will overcome the current...but swimming at a relaxed pace, you just stay in one spot!)

Of course, all the hotels have had hot tubs, too, next to the pools. Pop John and Yea Yea (Vonnie) relaxed in the hot tub last night while the kids popped in and out (gleefully torturing themselves going from very hot water to very cold water!). The kids swam an hour and a half last night before I finally pulled them out. Then they spent a considerable amount of time in the shower up in the hotel room rinsing down. They all LOVE the "hotel experience". Doug keeps asking (ad infinitum) "Home?", "Home?". Then we tell him, "No. We are going to another hotel," he whoops with joy. He doesn't "get" the concept of "Canada". We keep telling the kids "We are going to CANADA", but then we never get there! Yesterday when we pulled over at a little rest stop to eat our PB sandwiches (just a grassy area by the side of the road...no tables or anything (turns out we stopped two miles too early!...but it was a serendipitous error, as the kids had a really good time there and discovered a tiny, little well-hidden crooked trail that led down to the mountain stream)), but, anyway, as we piled out of the car in the middle of nowhere, Doug looked around and asked expectantly "CANADUN?". No, Doug...this isn't Canada, yet!

John took photos last night of the kids at the pool, but I don't have those photos on my computer yet, so I will post some pool photos from a few nights ago...
 
 
 









(Last night was the first night Vonnie got to swim with us. She had forgotten to pack her swim suit...thus our excuse for stopping at the last three Wal-Marts we have gone to! (Takes a while to find a suit that fits...especially in the "off season"...all the Wal-Marts up this way have already put their summer stuff on clearance and have the fall inventory out. All three of the kids got new swim suits a couple of days ago (the girls insisting their old ones were tight and their mom not able to pass up a good clearance price!...then I had to buy Doug a new pair of trunks because they had SUPERMAN trunks on clearance and the poor child has never had any super-hero swim trunks of any sort (always just plain black ones or navy blue ones)...so, of course, I had to get those for him, even though his trunks are no where near too small yet!) Vonnie found a swim top that fit a few Wal-Marts back...but no bottoms...so she didn't get them. This last Wal-Mart, she just settled for some gymn shorts and a gymn top that would work as swim wear in a pinch. However, the over exuberant jets in last nights' hot tub (these were jets in OVERDRIVE...making the water shoot up about five inches} had an amusing effect on her swim wear. As she began inflating, we all got cracked up. (Well, GRANT, didn't...because he wasn't there! He has managed to avoid all of the pool experiences so far! He gets to channel surf and relax in solitude up in the hotel room while we swim. He has offered to put in his time at the pool, but has been really relieved when told he doesn't have to! Poor guy...he needs time to relax...he is REALLY dreading the next five days. It is stressful to him to think about going into another country where the money is different...and he HATES camping....and he doesn't like horses...and he has a deep-seated aversion to grizzly bears (and is certain that we are about to place ourselves in the midst of them). He truly does love me to go on this trip for me. He keeps telling me, though, that this is "to get Canada out of your system...we are NEVER going back!"...and that before we have even GOTTEN to Canada! I'm not worried, though...I remember how he dreaded China. Now, he would go back in a heartbeat...in fact, he wants to go back and keeps promising the kids that we will all go back again, once Rayna is old enough to really absorb the experience!

You wouldn't think car riding would tire children out much (but, then, MY CHILDREN have NEVER slept while riding, even when they were babies). Maybe the swimming each night has worn them out. Whatever the case, Rayna told me at supper our first night on the road that she was tired and wanted to go to bed! (We had left the hotel to get a bite to eat.) True enough, she climbed straight into bed as soon as we got back (about 8:00pm) and drifted off to sleep before she had to. Then, the second night, it was DOUG who declared, "Nap. Nap, pease." And HE fell asleep before we turned the lights out or the TV off! And, last night, they both went to sleep again very quickly...and before the lights were turned out. The kids LOVE the whole "hotel" thing. I think, just all sleeping in the same room is something that is so novel to them....like a giant family slumber party every night!

Vonnie and I have to do some planning now...we are all out of excuses to make the men stop at various Wal-Marts. Of course, we won't have to worry about that these next five days as there are no Wal-Marts out with the grizzlies...but, we need a reasonable persusion to get the men to let us shop on the five days journey back home again. (They HATE having to make Wal-Mart stops and keep insisting, "You can shop at Wal-Mart AT HOME...THIS IS VACATION!" What they don't GET is that each Wal-Mart is a unique experience. They just do not comprehend it at all. When Vonnie didn't have a swim suit, we had an iron-clad NEED to stop at at least one Wal-Mart a day...but, now, alas, she bought something to wear in the pool...so, now we need a new reason to HAVE to stop at Wal-Marts on our way back home (we are going a different route...all new towns, all new Wal-Marts!)...anybody have any tactical suggestions????  ¶ 7/20/2006 02:54:00 AM