5 boys, 4 nights, 3 adults, 2 cars, and 1 city = another great adventure! At least I hope it will be great... James and I are here in New York with Camille, Colin & Chesney, and our boys Will, Jon & Charlie (who is not yet one of our boys but who has been with us for the past 21 months). We are here to see New York City; the Christmas tree in Rockefeller center, the Statue of Liberty, the botanical garden and as many other sights as we can cram into 3 days.
This trip did not start off too well. We left much later than we had planned, so late that it was already almost lunch time. A couple of the boys were grumpy and already whining at each other in the car. We barely made it out of the state before we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. As soon as we walked in the door the trouble started. All four of the older boys were screaming (in fun) on their way into the bathroom and when they came out not a single one would sit down. It was horrid. This boy refused to sit next to that one. That boy was loudly unhappy with the drink choices. Another one threatened to not eat if he couldn't get the happy meal. Another was jumping on the chairs and the last one kept running off to look at the toys.
My behavior standards for eating at McDonald's are not as high as they are for other sit down restaurants, the kids can be a little louder there, a little more excited. But today they were all out of control. We had to leave before ordering but that didn't solve the problem. One kid had to be half dragged half carried out of the restaurant screaming (and it was not the littlest one!) and another flat out refused to come to me in the parking lot. James was ready to turn around, go home and cancel our plans. I was seriously considering it too because it was clear that this behavior could not happen in the big and busy city.
But James and I prayed and then we had a long and serious talk with all the boys. We discussed our hopes for a fun trip, our expectations about their behavior, and what the consequences would be if those expectations were not met. We had a little resistance from one child at first but after a very long talk all the boys promised to be on their best behavior.
Thankfully it worked! There was a big turn around with all the kids and their grumpiness was gone. We made the rest of the drive with no issues and only a very little bit of "Are we there yet?". But between that very long lunch and our frequent bathroom stops we still didn't get to our hotel until after 7.
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| Enjoying the hotel fire |
Once at the hotel Camille, James and Charlie went out to grab dinner and some groceries while I stayed home with the four boys. After we unpacked (Colin was very helpful with the unpacking!) I took them all down to the swimming pool. It is a great pool! One end is shallow enough that all of the boys can stand so I didn't have to worry about anyone drowning. Of course they didn't want to stay at the shallow end so we spent a lot of time at the deep end of the pool where they did cannon balls off the side and practiced their swimming. We were having so much fun that we didn't get back to the room in time and James had to come and find us.
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| Swimming in the pool. I wish I had my waterproof camera! |
After a late pizza dinner we tucked the kids in and James read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to them. It took a little while for them all to fall asleep but this is one of the best first-night-in-a-hotel bedtimes we've ever had. I'm glad that we didn't call off the trip and I am especially glad that we were able to bring Colin and Chesney with us.
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| Brothers |
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I am off to bed. Tomorrow the real adventure begins!
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