East Coast Trip 2007: Accommodations

Back to the East Coast Trip memories. When planning this trip we definitely were considering how we all (five adults, four children, two cats) would fit in one house. The last time we went to visit Jeff and Cassi they were talking about moving. More than talking actually. I think that we did cruise through some neighborhood possibilities when Daniel and I were there in 2006. Well, soon after we left, Jeff and Cassi made the plunge for a new place, a place so new when I looked it up on Google Maps it was a dirt lot. Nice house Jeff, it doesn't even exist.

Well, it turns out that Jeff and Cassi have great taste in houses because it did turn out to be a beauty. A huge place in a wonderful neighborhood. The kind of place you dream about when you are starting a family. Plenty of room for the kids, a nice park nearby, lots of kids living nearby. In talking with Jeff during the pre-trip planning stages he mentioned that there is a room upstairs near where the boys would be, or we could have my mom stay upstairs and Suzy and I could be down in the basement. The basement was finished, and had its own bathroom. I immediately piped up for dibs on the basement apartment. Nana could deal with the boys if they needed something, I had visions of a little vacation get-a-way for me and Suzy.

A quick story, so that I can remember it twenty years from now. The house has a main floor, an upstairs (bedrooms) and a basement (big kids play area, another bedroom). Sammy somehow lost track of the other kids and I saw him head upstairs. I paid attention and I saw him wandering up and down the hallway up there. I went up and asked him if everything was okay. He looked a little confused, and said, 'Where's the basement?'. I took him back down to the main level and showed him the door the leads down to the basement, he was very relieved and thankful. It was then that I realized that Sammy had never been in a house with a basement before. The whole concept was a bit foreign for him. By the end of the trip he had it mastered, though.

Back to the accommodations... The three boys were initially going to all sleep in Alex's room. I thought that would be fun for them, and was willing to put up with a little goofing around in the name of cousinly fun. I think that survived two nights. Sammy just couldn't handle it. The idea of having two buddies in the room with him just drove him to complete distraction. He couldn't bear the thought of sleep when there was so much fun to be had. This discovery, combined with the fact that Alex was feeling under the weather, led to some unusual and particularly dynamic sleeping arrangements. Daniel would be in Nana's room to fall asleep, I would lug him into Alex's room when they were all asleep. Daniel and Sammy would be downstairs in the play room, Daniel would be in our bed downstairs while Sammy was in the play room and Alex was in his room. By the end of the trip I was pretty tired of carrying around a heavy sleeping child and gently laying him down without disturbing him or any other small sleeping forms nearby.

All in all it worked out well considering the conditions. Poor Jeff and Cassi had to make a trip to the emergency room in the middle of the night for Alex, unfortunately it was closed. Thankfully the boys, and Suzy and I, slept through that incident. Jeff and Cassi have a beautiful house that we are looking forward to invading again sometime in the near future. And Suzy and I learned that our plans for the boys sharing a room starting this summer might not go as smoothly as we thought.

Next up... Road Trip!