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 🙂
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
haha cant give you a soluton as i have 7 myself..but i will be checking back to see if you come up with one!!safe trip girl!!
That’s so unfair!
OMG! We just got back from a vacation at SeaWorld in San Antonio. We nicknamed the city …The City of Crickets!!! They were EVERYWHERE. When we left Buckee’s on our way there, there were hundreds of them outside the door. Everywhere at Aquatica, there was at least one floating, feet up in the water. It was like an infestation of the suckers. At least my group wasn’t easily spooked by them but it was kinda creepy to see as many as we did. Glad you found a room…even if Jiminey and his cousins were there to greet you!
Wow I can not believe they would not rent to you.I admire you taking on a trip with all the kids, I have 9 myself and sometimes they just over power me. But wish you the best getting here to California. I live in Anahiem. Just in case you need a quick rest stop or a cup of coffee.
Major chain compared to franchise motels have different rules. The abuse by guests over loading a room has caused problems like this. Not just due to children but numbers. This maybe due to highway/Interstate traffic and need to occupy as many rooms as possible. Most hotels have a sign up on the inside of the door stating how many to a room. Workers have abused the priviledges at small franchise motels by putting huge numbers into one room. Especially across Texas currently
what hotel is that?? and location?? give them a shout out for all the grief they gave you 😉
HUGS to you for traveling three days in a car with 7 kids and the hubs. When I travel 2 days to Wisconsin with my hubs and 2 kids I feel overwhelmed at times. I hope everything is smooth sailing the rest of your trip.
We’ve had that happen many times to us too. We actually had someone follow us out to the parking lot and to our car yelling at us for having too many in our room and saying that we needed to pay and that we couldn’t have that many in our room…but we were already packed up and leaving. Ugh…it seems they aren’t willing to budge even for a nice family with children.
I just ran across this post. Quite a few years ago when my kids were small we ran into that situation in Illinois and I only have 3 kids! The local fire laws did not allow more than 4 people in a room no matter what. We were there for a family wedding and were able to split the cost of a second room with my brother. We put his 2 boys and my 2 boys together. We had 2 12 year old and 2 9 year old boys together!