i should have known while i was packing for this trip that it was going to be a little more hectic than it sounded. Bobby really wanted his family with him in the parade and since Quincy is 3 hours away we decided to drive down Friday afternoon and stay at the new Holiday Inn. The kids of course were delighted at the idea. “Is there a pool? (OK now where are those swim suites) Can we eat out? (Definitely!) Will you buy us snacks for the trip? (Oh man not in the car!) Can we bring a movie? (When i was a kid movies were called books) Can i sit in the front? No it’s my turn, no I’m the oldest, soooooo! ( hey guys were not in the car yet so could you wait to argue until we are at least 10 minutes into the trip)” Of course i forgot important things like brush and hair ties. Sorry Olivia! Bobby was kind enough to pack his own things. We stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up some snacks (which i did later regret) and Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium, because i forgot to grab one of the hundreds of movies we already have.
We decided to meet Bobby and Austin (our campaign manager) in Galesburg because they had been there most of the day meeting with College Presidents and local business owners. He was so happy to see us after being away all day. It is so nice to be welcomed with a warm smile by him. Of course the kids all yelled “Daaaaaad!” We left one of our vehicles in a 24 hr store parking lot and we all piled into one vehicle! Well in close quarters this is not always a pleasant ride. (i think that this definitely put Austin’s decision to reenter the seminary over the top!) The two hours passed rather slowly but the scenery was beautiful. Spring sure has a powerful way of bursting back into our lives. When we finally got to the hotel the kids bounded out of the car and immediately begged to swim! (at this point i was not sure that there was a pool and immediately began to pray “Lord if they don’t have a pool please don’t let them punish me with ‘I want to go home’!s” ) Mom, mom they have a pooooool! “Thank you Lord”!
When we walked into the Hotel we were immediately greeted by Republican leaders! They wisked Bobby and Austin away and me and the kids were left standing in the waiting area. Luggage in the car and no key for me. (OH Boy, not a good start!) Of course the kids after being in a car for 3 hrs were running all over checking out everything! They were not at all inhibited at being in a public place and if the idea of jumping on the couch sounded like fun there was no processing of consequences and even when they saw me moving in their direction this did not detour them from having the fun of running down the length of the couch and jumping off the arm. Poor Sophia was very thirsty and really wanted that half empty bottle of beer that was sitting on the coffee table. Of course a fit was the only option for her and i proceeded to do something really dum and that was to reason with an 18 month old. Now i know that a beating at this point is exactly what they really wanted, but since they were behaving so badly i was not going to reward them with what they wanted. So i took them into the work out room and put them on the tread mill. Olivia who is 7 did great on this and wanted to go faster. Sam who is 4 and needed this punishment more than any one, had a hard time staying on the treadmill, so i decided to allow him to roll off which turned out to be again not such a great idea. He thought this was tooooo fun and kept repeating this wonderful ride! Sophia thought that she too would enjoy such a wonderful spree of laughter so she ran to Sam’s side and before i could catch her was knocked over by his thrust. (Oh good no sign of blood!) By this time embarrassment isn’t even an issue. We just needed food.
Finally our table was ready! Great! Only i was at a table with our 5 youngest kids and Bobby sat with the very well behaved Republican leaders. i cast a loving look at Bobby and he smiled ever so sheepishly and mouthed “I’m sorry”. No problem i will get these kids fed and in the pool and off to bed. Of course we can never make it through a dinner with out a spill. Knowing this and being a genius of a mom the kids had cups with lids. Me being a grown up did not ask for a sippy cup. Silly me! i spilled my drink on Rachel. “That’s OK mom” (i wonder if i would have been as nice if she spilled on me?) We ordered, ate, and waited, and waited, and waited….It finally dawned on Austin that he had the keys to the car and the hotel room! Nice! So at 10:00pm we hurried up to the room put on their swimmies and ran down stairs to swim until 11:00! Then up stairs to the room popped some micro popcorn, watched some TV and asleep by midnight! OK, only one more full day of this!
We were up bright and early of course. Rushed to get ready, pack everything back up and into the car, ate breakfast, and rush to the car to be at the parade for line up at 9:00am only to have the car go click,click,…click,click…Sigh! Well thankfully a very nice maintenance man was out side and offered us a jump. So he brought his truck around and hooked us up to his and…click,click…we gave it a minute…click, click….another minute…click, click…15 minutes still click, click…Austin came up with the idea of saying a prayer before we try again. So we did and…the car started without even a hesitation. Of course by this time we are really running late and our spot in the parade has processed down from where we were supposed to be. We had no idea where to look so we drove down the street a ways and found a parking spot, jumped out of the car grabbed the stroller, signs, candy, and banner. We then ran to the parade and hoped that we would be able to jump into our spot (it was 28) We came to the part of the line up that was 46, way past our place…We were very warmly welcomed into the parade to walk with the Quincy Right to Life group! They donned Bobby with a t-shirt that said “A person’s a person no matter how small!” God’s timing is perfect. All things come together for His purpose!
The 20 block walk was perfect, except for Sam running out of candy to pass out and then falling and skinning his knee. (we had to carry him the rest of the way) Quincy is a lovely city with wonderfully polite people. We can’t wait to do this again next year!
