Life According to Kiera: All About The Elevator

Written by Rowonna McNeely – We took the rare opportunity to get out of town for the night this last weekend for our anniversary. With the help from a couple of new friends, we were able to attend the drag boat races and have a relaxing weekend that we desperately needed.

Everything worked out perfectly. My mom agreed to watch our brood of dogs, cat and hamster while we were gone. The hamster tends to get a little rowdy so it was touch and go when we asked her.

After ensuring that we had someone to watch over our animals, our next task was to let Kiera in on the plans. “Guess what we are going to do this weekend?” Aaron said, hugging Kiera to him as we picked her up at the end of the day.

“What?” She asked excitedly.

“We are going to go out of town. We have tickets to watch boat races and we are going to stay the night in hotel.” He explained as she leaned back looking up into his face.

“Oh.” She said, pausing for a moment as she pondered his statement.

“Does the hotel have an elevator? ‘Cause if it does, I am in!” She responded enthusiastically.

Well, ok. Glad it was that easy to convince her.

Saturday morning rolled around and we packed and headed out for our mini-vacation. We made good time to San Angelo. I managed to only forget two items, which resulted in a quick trip to Wal-Mart. Just what everyone wants to do on vacation.

Even though it was fairly early in the day, our hotel was nice enough to let us go ahead and check in before we headed out to the boat races for the day. To top it all off, we were on the third floor, so Kiera was pleased.

I successfully plotted in the address to the boat races and we headed out. I am adding the word successfully because there might have been a time that I plugged in the wrong address and we might have driven all the way around town. This might have all happened on our last vacation. I’m not saying it did… just saying it’s possible.

We had a great time at the races. Even though it was crazy hot, we enjoyed meeting up with our friends, hanging out and watching the boats, as they roared past.

After a couple of hours of watching the boats, our friend, Drake, looked at us and said, “Did y’all bring swimming suits?”

I laughed because if there is a chance of a swimming pool at a hotel, Kiera and I do not travel without them. “Yes, we did!” I responded.

“I think we should all head over to our place and hang out in the pool.”  Drake stated.

Wiping the sweat that was dripping down my face, I looked at Aaron to let him make the executive decision.

“We are good with that.” He quickly answered. I could have hugged him… but as sweaty as we were… it would not have been pleasant.

Hanging out in the pool was the perfect end to the day.  By the time, we made it back to the hotel we were ready to drop. Well, I for sure was.

Kiera laid claim to one of the queen sized beds, tossing her bag, baby and baby’s clothes on it. “Mom, would you sleep with me?” She asked.

“Sure, honey.” I responded. I didn’t care where I slept, just as long as I was able to go to sleep soon.

I climbed into bed with Kiera and after ensuring that her baby was indeed asleep in the nightstand beside us, covered Kiera just so and answered a few random questions, she fell asleep.

Fluffing my pillow, I wished Aaron good night and drifted off to sleep.

At some point in the night, my sweet, cuddly Kiera turned into a sleep, climbing ninja. I woke up when I felt an arm slam across my neck and a leg get flung over my hip. Blinking awake, I gently shoved the ninja’s leg and arm back over. I stood up out of bed and peeked over at Aaron’s bed.

He was sleeping on his own side! Guiltily, I glanced back to my sleeping child before making a snap decision to climb into Aaron’s bed. I stealthily slid into the empty space, pulling the covers up and settling down.

Just as I lay still, Aaron said to me, “What are you doing in my bed?”

He should be thankful I was tired. Otherwise, our marriage might have ended just a few hours shy of our 12^th anniversary.

All joking aside, it was a wonderful weekend. We spent time with new friends, relaxed as a family and celebrated our anniversary. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our new blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.