We are on our way to California. All of us. DRIVING. Did I mention that we are driving? I think I might have. Which I don’t mind, we drive a lot, actually most anywhere we go we drive because we have a big family. Plane tickets cost too much for 9 people and when we get where we are going we can’t rent a vehicle big enough and have to rent 2 cars which is not fun for me. So we DRIVE.

Last night Emma had her final performance for her pageant (stay tuned for that later) it was supposed to be done at 8pm and was all the way out on 1-10. We last minute decided we might as well leave after the performance and see how far we can get, just to get on the road. We decided this at 2pm. We had to leave at 4:30pm. I packed 9 people for 2 weeks in CA AND got the house ready AND laundry done in 2 1/2 hours. I would like a medal please! I am taking a bow, thank you!

Performance was late getting done and my husband left his debit card in the hotel restaurant. We realized this 20 minutes on the road so we had to drive back and get it. Good thing it was Father’s Day… just sayin’!

We thought we would make it to San Antonio, but east of the city we were both so exhausted that we decided to stop in a little town and get a hotel/motel.

Now, you have read my tips for traveling with kids I am sure, we don’t usually volunteer how many kids we have. We just say 2 adults and our kids. If it is a cheaper motel we get 2 rooms and split up. If it is expensive, we all share a room and I always get a queen suite. Two queen beds and a pull out. This sleeps 7 in beds and the baby in the porta – crib and the 4 year old usually in a sleeping bag.

Paul pulls in, and goes inside. A few minutes later he comes out completely baffled.

“They won’t rent us rooms.” He says.

“Come again?” I say, all the kids are asleep in the car so I thought I heard him wrong.

“Not kidding, they said we can’t stay here.”

“Why?” I question.

“We have too many kids.”

“We WHAT?!!!” I yell.

“Yeah, he said he wont rent us a room, won’t even rent us 2 rooms. He kept asking how many kids we had, I didn’t want to lie so I said 5! I lied about 2 of them because they are small. 🙂 He said NOPE.”

“So what if we were gay and he told us no? Isn’t that discrimination?” I say.

“Well we are not gay, we just have too many kids honey. You should have thought about motels not renting you a room when deciding to have more kids, sweetheart.” Paul teased.

We left, went another town down the highway and found a room at the next motel. This time no one asked and we got one room. We carried kids inside and tossed the little 2 in bed with us. I think we slept in our clothes we were so tired. I know the kids did for sure and when we got up in the morning we noticed the poor 4 year old had slept with his shoes on!

It wasn’t until we had a little light and screaming girls, that we realized we shared a room with about 50 CRICKETS!!! They were everywhere! IT WAS SOOOO BAD!

It will forever be known as the “Cricket Motel” of west Texas!

One bright spot in an otherwise dreary start, is that the speed limit is 80! Apparently they want you to get to El Paso really fast!

A big thanks to the REALLY sweet readers on Facebook who offered to let us stay with them! Also, to the readers who offered to look for another place to stay, I really appreciate you!

We are guessing that the reason he would not rent a room was the Fire Laws. Apparently you can only have 4 people in a room at a hotel? That means we would need to rent 3 rooms, leaving a child alone in a room, which is not an option either. I am guessing that this might apply more to a large group of drunk college student/people. Not a family that wants to get 6 hours of sleep, it is about being able to evacuate safely if there is a fire. I would be willing to sign something that says I take full responsibility if there is a fire and don’t hold them liable in anyway etc.

Is anyone seeing a solution that I am missing, besides NOT having 7 kids or not traveling 🙂