Tuesday, March 25, 2008

On the Road

Edited to add to my son's story according to the notes I took at the time.

My boys loooove hotels. So on the way down, whenever the little one saw a hotel he'd say, "Look, there's a hotel! Are we going to stay in that one? We're going to sleep in a hotel, aren't we?" Well, we decided to keep driving, particularly because it was one hour earlier in Nashville, so we arrived there 11 pm (midnight to us), so I had to explain to my son that no, we were not going to a hotel in spite of the fact that it was getting dark and that we'd sleep in his aunt's house. I also added that on our way back we'd sleep in a hotel for sure.

Yesterday afternoon the little one took a long nap and when he woke up, this was the story he told:
When we were traveling far away I asked mama if we were going to sleep in a hotel, and I said,
"Mama, are we going to sleep in this hotel?"
But you said nothing. And we kept on going... (E a gente foi se embora).
I thought it was so cute that he was still thinking about that, so I happily told him that we were going to sleep in a hotel that night. The boys were thrilled when we selected a hotel by the highway from one of those coupon books, one that had an indoor pool and whirlpool. After I checked in, all the oldest wanted to know was if the hotel had keys or those cards -- he LOVES those! -- and he excitedly took possession of one of them. When we opened the door to the room, little one exclaimed: "This is our home now!" I'm always delighted to know that they can feel "at home" anywhere they are with their family, but I guess it could not be different for a little boy who took his first plane trip at 6 days old and stayed at a hotel room at 17 days old. :-)

They're great in the car too, I always joke with my brother- and sister-in-law that all those 14-16 hour long road trips to spend Thanksgiving with them in Texas (2002, 3, and 4) paid off . In the first two we had only Kelvin, but on the second (slightly shorter at 11-12 hours), both boys, so we did the bulk of the driving at night. And I guess that for our in-laws, it's the shorter (3h) trips to our home that have been getting their sons used to road travel, but in a lesser degree. :-)

We need to have breakfast now although the boys are still sleeping after going to bed at 11:30 last night, and we have a long day of driving ahead of us, at least 8 hours from here (Bristol VA) to home.

3 comments:

Sarah Sometimes said...

That's a funny story about your son longing to stay in a hotel. I think a lot of kids are like that. I remember having that delight about hotels (especially with pools) when I was a kid and in a way I still have it. sounds like you had a lovely visit with your Tennessee cousins.

Juliet said...

That's cute! William loves hotels, too. My sister actually stays at them all the time (literally) for her job. She installs software for hotels.

Unknown said...

I love their (sometimes less than accurate) memories. Sophia loves hotels too!

Although maybe you'll have another house in Nashville to stay in before long...:)