At the Hotel May 2014

 

 

 

The kids were just as excited about swimming at the hotel as they were anything else. That was always what our kids loved best too. Lindsey's family didn't bring their swimsuits so after they left for Logan and we checked in the first thing we did was take off for the pool. Callie had to go to the airport and pick up Smash (Ashlee). Jeff was VERY ready for some time to his self and so Jamie and I headed swimming with the kids. The boys loved it. They had a hard time remembering they can't swim so it was hard for me not to worry. The pool is pretty shallow and they did pretty good at staying where they were safe. Braelei had never been in a pool before and she was a little hesitant at first. We played there for a good hour. It was nice for Jamie and I just to have some down time to talk. Our day up to that point was crazy. I wish Lindsey's family would have stayed to swim so we could have visited with them more. Jeff showed up after awhile with the camera, which is good to capture the kids and NOT good for me!

 

Braelei was really tired so toward the end I started singing in her ear and she relaxed and almost fell asleep.

Brodeyn wanted to be in the hot tub, but it's not super safe for little kids so we made him stay out for the most part.

Back and forth, back and forth...



Braxton was very concerned about why his fingers were so wrinkly. I had barely heard about what causes that, but for the life of me couldn't remember. I assured him it was normal and showed him mine. Kashden looked at his and his looked untouched by water. Who knows why? Maybe someday I will remember.

When the kids were getting close to being done, we had Jamie go up to shower while the boys and I finished playing. Callie was back with Ashlee so they helped with Braelei before we came up. Jeff headed back to the room, Brodeyn the "run away" took off after Jeff for the millioneth time and gave me another scare, but we all made it back to the room for showers and clean up for dinner.

After much debate and thought we finally decided the last thing we wanted to do was drag everyone somewhere to eat. It took us FOREVER to choose pizza and they FOREVER to decide where to get it. Finally Callie and Ashlee took over everyone's no decision making skills and ordered some Pizza and took off to get it. Yay girls!
The kids settled in to watch TV while Jamie tried to get Braelei a little downtime in her room. The girl was exhausted, but needed to run and run and run!
We had pizza, chatted and Hafens took off for bed. It was only about 8 ish but it had been a lot of traveling an adventure for all of us and Jamie wanted to get everyone to sleep, including her self. Callie and Ashlee took off for Provo so Ashlee could go home. She had been in New York for 7 days so she was done too. Jeff and I were happy to have a little down time before Callie came back and we all settled in until...

Around 8:30  Jeff was kicked back watching T.V and I was somewhat cleaning up the Pizza mess and organizing all our stuff when the Fire alarm went off. If you think the alarm in your house it loud, you should be in a hotel. Along with blue and red flashing lights the sounds was deafening. Jeff grabbed his boots and left the room. I know right? Thanks for helping... He went to see if there was smoke though and came right back.  I am sure that was the first thing he thought of, but my thoughts turned to Jamie.
I grabbed my purse, put on flip flops and went next door. I started pounding on her door. She was asleep, so it took  her a minute to realize what was up. When she opened the door she was seriously mad. All her kids were asleep and she asked me if there was really a fire. An employee came down the hall and told us to get out. I grabbed her purse and pulled Brodeyn out of bed and threw him on my shoulder, and woke up Braxton. I told him to grab his blanket and come with me. Kash woke up and followed Jamie who had to pull poor Braelei out of bed. We were really close to the stairs, so down we went outside to wait with all the other people and see what was up. Within 2 minutes there was a fire truck pulling in with lights and sirens and in they went.
The poor lady next to us, had grabbed her 2 little kids out of the tub, wrapped them in towels and headed outside. It wasn't cold thank heavens, but it wasn't warm either.  At least it wasn't snowing!
Braxton and Braelei had blankets, so they were fine. Braxton sat by Kashden and they shared his. Finally the Grandma of the little kids got up and walked back in and got her grandkids p.j.s and a few things. I thought that was funny. She was very matter of fact about it.  By then we knew there was no fire. We could see the firefighters going from one room to the next. Jamie called Clint, who didn't believe her because this had happened to them once when Braxton was a baby. That night the alarm had gone off more than once, so they loaded up and drove home in the middle of the night.
I told her she must be bad luck. They rarely stay in hotels so the odds were against us.
While we were sitting outside waiting, I sent Callie a text and she thought I was joking. I thought crap we didn't even have our car if we would have needed it.
I told Jamie that I had 3 different promptings about this. Dumb things I would never give a second thought, until we were sitting on the curb.
Then all the sudden they made perfect sense.
 The first one was at home when I was packing. I went to put my "Granny Nightgown" in the suitcase, when I had the thought that I should take jammie pants instead. I brushed it away and threw in the nightgown. Again I thought, I should trade it for the jammie pants and t-shirt in case there was a fire and we had to leave in the middle of the night. I justified my feeling with the thought that Jamie and the kids would be there, so I might be going out in the hall to her room a few times. I also threw in my flip flops which I hadn't planned on taking and ended up wearing. I am SO grateful I wasn't standing out side in my "Granny Nightgown"  I wouldn't have taken the time to get dressed with Jamie's family there. Also having my flip flops meant I did have shoes on at least.
Prompting #2 was when we were sitting in our room before I put my jammie's  on. I remember looking at the smoke detector to see how bright the light was. (I hate all the  lights in hotel rooms) Then I thought what if the dang hotel caught on fire? What would I grab and what would we do? I decided I would grab my purse and go help Jamie. Sure my worried mind was thinking of crawling out to avoid smoke, and trying to keep the kids together. I even thought of how we could cover Braelei face with a blanket and worried about the boys. K, I thought of all that in about 3 seconds because that's  the way my mind works. I also took note to be grateful we were near the stairs and only on the 2nd floor.
Prompting #3 was I remember feeling very strongly that I wanted our rooms side by side. I requested that when I reserved the rooms and they said they would "try" to accommodate me. I asked when we arrived and she checked and said she could do that.
 Of course I was thinking it would be more convenient and that Jamie would probably appreciate it too, since she didn't have Clint there.
 Anyway after about a half hour we were let back in the building to resume our night.  As we walked back in we could smell burnt popcorn. Jamie said, I am going to be so mad if we went through all this because some  %$#* idiot burned their popcorn. (The next morning when I asked the front desk, they said a bag of popcorn and exploded in a microwave).  We were all a little shaken up and Jamie had to get all her kids back to sleep,  But of course that was better than a real fire for sure. I guess I should always make sure and listen to my promptings, no matter how meaningless they seem to be. I am grateful Heavenly Father gives them to me and also that everything turned out just fine. Callie came back, we all slept ok and were ready for our new adventure the next day. And an adventure it was!