hotels

Anyone with 3 or more children knows the drill...
You don't tell them how many children you have unless they ask...
When they ask, you answer as vaguely as possible - "oh, a few... but one is just a teeny tiny baby..."
When pressed, you mumble & hope they hear a lower number...

When they tell you they can't accommodate your family, you say, "Thanks anyway!" & hang up.
If you get to the hotel & they haven't asked, your husband takes 2 children in when he checks in. You stay in the car with the remainder. He'll drop off a couple & you send a couple a few minutes later... in shifts, without making eye contact with anyone at the front desk, you sneak walk up to your room & make everyone get on their swimsuits & head down to the pool so you're not packed like sardines for one minute longer than necessary.
i was reminded, reading McMama's recent posts, how hard it is for us to ever get a hotel room (unless we get 2 - & my littles are just now getting to an age where i would contemplate that... even though the potential cost makes me cringe).
Recently, we had a very different experience.

We *rarely* ever stay in hotel rooms... or do any "holiday-ing" that doesn't involve mooching off of our parents... hey, our parents live in 2 of the nicest places in Canada, so we have to take them up on their awesome hospitality... i'd love to see what their food budgets explode to after a week having us at their house, but i digress...

This last time we were at my parent's house, Neil announced to me one day that if i wanted to, we could leave a day early & cut up our drive home, stopping at some "hot pools" in Crazy Creek. i jumped at the chance. He made me phone to make a reservation... (chicken)

i looked at what they could accommodate & prayed their largest suite would be available.

It wasn't...

i booked the biggest one they had available, & held my breath...

"Ok, & that was for how many?"
"Myself, my husband & our children..."
"Yes, how many total?"

"five... & then the baby..."
"SIX?"

"yes..."

"Six total, including the 2 adults?"
"um.. no, six children and 2 adults... but they're really good & quite small for their ages...."

yeh... i was desperate....

"That'll be no problem. i bet you'll be travelling & not have sleeping bags, we'll make sure to add some foamies & sleeping bags in your room when you arrive... we don't normally do that, but i think we can make an exception... "

i choked.

"Wow, thank you so much!"

Turns out the lady taking our reservation came from a family with 5 kids & thought she had the best childhood evahhh... Who knew?

When we got there, it was empty - we had the hot pools all to ourselves. The kids had a blast - we slept like logs & left the suite spotless when we left.

Sometimes, you get surprises... & every so often, they're pleasant.

Unlike regular pools, here, the little pool was FREEZING & the big pools were warm. i love how Sloanie tricks the other girls into jumping. Hilarious. The second one is Molls who is swimming like a little fishy now :)