Fourinarow.net

We know where Dan will be working. We know where we want to live. We closed up shop in Tennessee.

After making a short stop to visit Grandma and Grandpa, we finally rolled into town. I have been so anxious to just get here already and get on with our lives. I knew we’d still be living in a hotel, but at least it would be the same hotel for a long period of time. None of this one week here, another week there kind of thing.

Or so I thought.

Dan checked us in to the Residence Inn I had made a reservation as soon as we got to town. From everything I’d seen online, it seemed perfect. Not only were their two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but one bedroom and bathroom was on a second level! Whoohooo! We’d be able to spread out!

After getting some room keys, Dan, the four kids, the dog and I went to check out our new home for the next 30+ days. The kids started running around, checking everything out. Dan headed up the stairs to the second bed and bath LOFT. You know… one of those rooms that is OPEN TO THE DOWNSTAIRS. For us, that doesn’t pose any kind of privacy issue. But, it definitely poses a potential disaster/possible death issue.

Adding fuel to the fire, the bed in the upstairs loft was pushed right up against the half wall which, may I remind you, was OPEN TO BELOW. So, if I stood on the bed up there and leaned over, that’d be it for me.

Dan and I sat down, crunched a few numbers, checked with the insurance company and decided that there was no way in hell we could stay in a room like that with our four children. Your children may have survived. Ours… definitely not. (After all, Lukie managed a nice injury in just a regular, plain old hotel room last week.)

Needless to say, it was more than a bummer. We’d just driven 5+ hours in two cars with four kids, a dog and a shitload of stuff. It was dinner time. The kids had energy to burn. We needed a home.

Dan headed to the office while I kept the kids from tearing up the place we weren’t staying. After calling around, the manager discovered that the next-closest Residence Inn didn’t have available the type of suite we needed, but another Marriott property did.

We zoomed over to check it out. Two bedrooms. One bathroom. A tiny kitchen with a tiny fridge and an Easy Bake a tiny oven. It would do.

There is a pool. There is a free continental breakfast. The laundry room is one room down from us. It’s not quite as nice as the other hotel, but I know I have a much better chance of keeping everyone alive in this one.