What were we thinking?

     I hope my kids enjoyed their little trip to Memphis, TN, this weekend because it will be their last! Anywhere! The only place we will ever be taking them is Grandma's house! Friday night, the night before Jim's marathon, was a nightmare!
     We had such high expectations, too. Just when you think you have it all thought out and pat yourself on the back for such great planning, it all goes to pots! Friday afternoon started off just fine. We found a great parking spot near the convention center in downtown Memphis, where Jim had to register for the race. From there we set out to find the EconoLodge {This very well could have been our first mistake...only room left in town for this date when I booked back in September. It was only 2 blocks from AutoZone park, the finish line, so I took it} Walking to our room on the 8th floor, we realized I could reach the ceiling...I'm 5 foot 2, on a good day! Then a picture fell off the wall onto Taylor as we walked past it. The room was basic, we had to child proof it really quick! As we began to plan for dinner, we come to find out that the 2 restaurants we wanted to eat at for supper were either non-existent now or were now 21 and older adult-bars. Should have known then....go to Denny's! Jim's plan, like always, lets just start walking and find a place. Exact opposite of me...I mean, I plan out in my head exactly what and where for everything. I followed him. As we walked down the street, I held his arm close and said, "Remember when this weekend was romantic?" He responded, "Yah, before we had kids! ha!" We ended up at Hardrock Cafe'. And this is where the fun it all started. Can I just say, worst meal and service EVER for $31....I mean, who knowingly serves children macaroni and cheese loaded with red pepper powder? Really? They sat us right in front of the stage where the music was vibrating and Madonna was half-naked in a music video on the big screen. I asked if we could sit in a booth...there was a perfectly good empty one over behind the hostess stand...No ma'am..this is all we have. Should've left then. Well my kids just weren't having it. The comments from the waitress, that it wasn't a kid restaurant bout made Jim livid.
     We left with two starving, very unhappy little boys. Their behavior was understandable and mostly our faults. Back to our EconoLodge...Taylor decided at the 3rd floor he had to go potty and by the 8th, he just couldn't hold it any longer. He left a puddle of you know what from the elevator all the way down the hallway, past the picture that had fallen earlier, to our room. Straight into the wheelchair accessible shower- me constantly saying, don't touch anything, it's icky.
      We get both boys some food and pjammed and we try Andrew and Taylor out in the Queen bed together. That lasted all of 2 minutes. I laid down with Andrew and Jim with Taylor. Five minutes later Andrew was out. At about 9ish we let Taylor get back in the bed with him, only to have to constantly scold him for taunting Andrew...while the poor kid was sleeping! We were awakened at 12:42 by Andrew screaming and gasping for air. Taylor had rolled over on top of him and the poor kid was being smothered. We switched back. Andrew then went into a coughing fit for about 20 minutes before we decided he needed some cold air to cure this. I nominated Jim to take him outside. You know my luck in crime-ridden cities! I was not about to take a toddler outside in downtown Memphis at that hour...I'm not stupid. Five minutes or so later, he was back, the coughing was gone. Andrew curled up beside me in the bed for what began 3 hours of tossing, turning, kicking. My back got a good shiatsu massage out of it though. He would sit up, giggle, lean over kiss me, bury his face down into the pillow quickly. Sometimes he'd cry. Around 4 he began to really get fussy. I tried everything, a drink, food, Tylenol. Nothing worked. At 4:30, Taylor was woken up by Andrew. Jim decided it was as good a time as any to get up and eat his breakfast. I buried my head into the pillow and just cried...LORD HELP ME, PLEASE! I let Andrew off the bed and for about 30 minutes he walked around the pitch black dark room sqwalling. I wrapped Taylor up in my arms, told him I loved him and was sorry that he wasn't getting any sleep. We curled up and tried to ignore Andrew. Jim came back and got Andrew calmed down. We think he slept for about an hour and a half. He was awake again at 6:30, and so were we.
     One thing I liked about the EconoLodge is that it had a continental breakfast....Across the parking garage in the hotel's bar and cocktail lounge. All the way down the two flights of stairs I could smell the remnants of the night before. OH MY WORD. I grabbed a handful of bagels and muffins to keep the kids content throughout the race and I got the heck outta there. The race was great! You can read all about it here.
     Great, we get to leave this place, good riddens EconoLodge...I didn't want to get charged for not leaving on time so I went to the front desk to check out. I was 4th in line. There were 3 people behind me. The assistant manager, who was working the desk, kept watching Harry Potter on the TV in the lobby, making the wait even longer. Really! At one point she said, I have never gotten to see how Harry got started out, until today, I finally got to see the beginning. Guess we were interrupting her show. Then when it was my turn, she couldn't get me checked out because it kept asking for a code for a credit card that wasn't mine....PahLEASE lady....Jim popped in...What in the world is going on lady...I've never seen Jim make a scene like he did at that moment...guess I'm rubbing off on him! ha. Come to find out, the people who had checked us in the night before hadn't put in the right expiration date on our card. So, 30 minutes after entering the hotel lobby, I drove away, quickly.
     We headed to Target in Collierville to do some Christmas shopping. Note to self: Never take Jim shopping when you are searching for stocking stuffers for your kids! He didn't like or want anything I picked out. It was either too cheap, useless or we already had something like it at home...or so he thought. I told him I was never bringing him shopping for the boys again! Andrew had something against the cart and threw an absolute fit.
     Then we headed to our traditional Red Robin just down the road about 3 miles! Could anything else go wrong? Yes, the entire power grid the Carriage Crossing shopping mall and all the restaurants were in, was out. We went farther north, towards Winchester....Power out there too....Are you serious? We came back to Tupelo to Cracker Barrel. Kids are hungry, they'll be happy to be out of car. Would probably eat anything. NOPE. For the first time in our lives as parents we had to leave a restaurant because our kids were acting so badly. When we got home, these kids got sanitized in the bathtub and went straight to bed! I was soooo exhausted.  I got in the bed at 7:22 and by 7:30, I was out! I didn't awake again until 10 til 7 Sunday morning!!!!