For Grandma Mulhern’s 80th birthday, we threw a surprise party in Wellston, OH. Knowing that a long drive wasn’t going to be a Sydney-friendly activity, we broke the drive up and attempted to make it a multi-day adventure for her.
Friday March 11th
On Friday we drove from Chicago to Cincinnati which took us about 9hrs, 2 of which were attributed to stops. Along the way the only major point of interest was a wind farm in central Indiana. We saw wind turbines on both sides of the road stretching for miles. Sydney was very interested in the fans.
At the end of our drive was the Crowne Plaza Hotel which is attached to the CoCo Key Water Resort. Sydney was very excited about getting to go swimming so after hauling all our stuff up to the 6th floor, we got our suits on and headed down. It’s worth noting that the path from the car to the room was less than obvious with us going through 2 otherwise unmarked exit doors and up a flight of stairs before getting to the elevator that took us from the first floor to the sixth. At one point that elevator also stopped working.
When we got to the pool, Jenny, Abe, and Cassie were already there and riding the lazy river. Sydney didn’t want to do that but waded right into the pool and splashed around. To our surprise, at one point Sydney submerged herself up to the neck and very happily walked around in check deep water.
Sydney also played with Cassie on the little kid water slide although she only went down once or twice. Unlike the slide at our outdoor water park, this one ended in a trough of water resulted in a splash at the end. Sydney didn’t expect it but smiled really big. The life guard standing there was surprised that one so little went down by herself and liked it. Many thanks to Aunt Jenny for directing Sydney on the large structure connected to the slides.
One odd thing about the slide area was that on top of the structure (probably 3 stories up) was a huge bucket that filled with water and then dumped out over everything every so often. As it got full, a bell would start dinging faster and faster until WOOOOSH! the bucked dumped. At one of the points when it dumped, Sydney was up on the 2nd level about 6-10’ away from Jenny. Her facial expression was priceless when the water came down. It didn’t hit her but clearly scared her. She went right to Jenny.
Later we went on the lazy river, but Sydney got too cold and shivered through most of it. With Meghan holding her, her whole body was out of the water.
After that, I climbed up 3 stories and wend down the huge tube slide on an inner tube. It was a blast but according to Meghan, Sydney wasn’t real happy about me doing it.
Around the point when we were getting out, Jenny found that Mom, Dad, and Aunt Linda were at the hotel waiting for us. We scurried upstairs, got changed, and went out to dinner before coming back to the hotel and hanging out in Mom & Dad’s room.
Sydney was very cute regarding the hotel room. She was surprised that it had a bathtub and a potty. That night, Sydney slept in a double bed by herself with pillows lining each side.
Saturday March 12th
On Saturday, Sydney woke up at the crack of dawn as usual and wanted breakfast. After some explaining, she understood that we had to leave the room to get food and that we had to get dressed before we could eat. Shortly thereafter, we located a Duncan Donuts, and Sydney ordered a bagel with butter.
Once breakfast was over, we headed back to the hotel and gave Sydney her bath. At that point, she noted that we didn’t have a plug for the tub and was concerned. I explained that flipping the switch on the drain worked like a plug. She repeated that back to me a couple times as if not quite sure. Then she asked, “What kind tub this?” I explained that it was just a normal tub and that ours was broken which was why we have a plug at home.
We cut the bath short because Meghan noticed some geese on the roof down below our window. Sydney was very interested in them. At that point we debated our next move and settled on a nearby mall. We wanted to burn a couple hours and let Sydney run around before putting her back in the car for the trip to Wellston. On the way out of the building, we passed two glass doors. Through the first, we could see a goose standing maybe 30-50’ away. Sydney pointed at it, yelled at it through the glass, and made some honking noises at it after she saw it honk. The goose didn’t seem particularly interested. The next door we passed had a goose standing 3 feet away. Sydney went right up to the door and studied the goose for awhile. Due to Sydney’s general fear of animals, I chose to not tell her that geese are mean and was happy to pause and let her study it pointing out its big feet and wings.
Once at the mall, we located the kids play area which looked like it had been more substantial at some earlier time. Sydney had it all to herself. The play area consisted of some cars you ride and push with your feet and a piece of equipment with a slide, a short tunnel, and a couple ladders. Sydney loved it. She also learned to climb up a ladder, go through a window, and climb down the other side. When we got there, she appeared nowhere near coordinated enough to do that. After playing for awhile though, she got it.
When we finished playing, we headed to the food court. On the way there, we saw a bird in the mall. Sydney was concerned and fascinated so we stopped to look. After having told her countless times that animals can’t get inside, she was trying to process this one. The bird was obviously very tame because Meghan walked right up to it and it didn’t fly until she was within inches of it. Sydney thought it was very silly and laughed telling me that “Birds go outside!”
Once lunch was behind us, we headed out to the car to begin our drive to Wellston. Before we even got out of the parking lot, we heard a loud thump and realized that Sydney had fallen asleep sitting up and had just fallen to the side in her car seat. She was completely and totally out and slept all the way to Wellston.
Sydney isn’t big on crowds and doesn’t like strangers (or even no-so-strangers) talking to her so once we got to the parish hall in Wellston, Sydney clammed up. After a piece of cake and a couple Hershey’s kisses she ran off playing with Cassie and the two of them had a pretty good time. Sydney has been having some issues with sharing lately so hopefully Cassie had a good time too.
At one point, all the kids tried to go out and play on the playground but found the fence locked. That killed that one pretty quickly.
As time ticked on at the end of the party, it became clear that no one had a plan for what was next. Talking with Jenny and Abe, we agreed that we wanted the kids to get a chance to play outside (it was 64 degrees), and there was a park near the hotel in Jackson. The four of us agreed that we were having dinner at Ponderosa at 5:45, and I just went back in and told everyone else what the plan was. I figured they could either follow or do their own thing but time was ticking to let the kids play, get them fed, and let them play in the pool before bed. To our surprise, everyone fell in shortly behind us and someone even called ahead to reserve a room for everyone at Ponderosa.
Leaving the parish hall was sad because Sydney lost a helium filled balloon to the wind and no other balloon could replace it. There wasn’t much we could do there and she was very upset about it. That unfortunately happened right before attempting to introduce my cousin Senora to her.
Fast forward 20 minutes and we were at the park. Sydney didn’t want to swing but really got into climbing this plastic rock wall and going down a big slide from the top. Cassie and another little girl joined in with all three of them scampering up and sliding back down. Early on, Meghan tried to help Sydney and was told not to touch her. Sydney wanted to do it herself! Not long after, Sydney slipped 2/3 of the way up and went thump, thump, thump all the way down. She hopped right back up though, covered in grass, and climbed up again.
Later in the restaurant, Sydney was shy again. I spent much of my time talking to Dustin, Destiny, and Debbie. Sydney sat on Meghan’s lap and ate. Later she went back to sit with Jenny, Cassie, and Abe in the corner. According to Meghan the two girls later tried to ride a mechanical horse ride and to play air hockey.
Once back at the hotel, we got our suits on and hit the pool. That atmosphere could best be described as utter chaos. There were a lot of kids crammed into the shallow end of that pool and few had any respect for the other people in the pool. There also wasn’t a lot of parenting going on. Imagine a pool full of kids with a few people hitting a beach ball back and forth among them.
Meghan blocked much of the splashing and carved out an area for Sydney on the steps. Sydney seemed very content staying there. I actually got out of the pool once because I was tired of getting hit by the ball and Sydney followed me out asking me to get back in. Of course I obliged her.
The pool itself has a ledge all the way around it that is only about 2-1/2 feet deep. Unfortunately that’s just a little too deep for Sydney to stand up in and keep her head out of water. As a result, the whole time we were in the water, she was either on the stairs, or being carried by Meghan, Jenny, or Nana.
Later, some of the kids left making it a little more tolerable. Eventually Meghan sensed that Sydney was getting tired and said, “You know, whenever you’re ready to get out, go back to the room, take a bath, and go to bed, you can just tell us.” Without hesitation, Sydney responded repeating the whole sequence and telling Meghan that she wanted to get out, go back to the room, take a bath, and go to bed. She was not however happy that I stayed behind without them. I followed perhaps 20 minutes later and helped get Sydney into bed. Apparently in my absence, Sydney asked Meghan what kind of bathtub was in this room too. She also noted that it had a little fridge and microwave like her play kitchen.
Sunday March 13th
Sunday morning started out early as usual. We walked down to the continental breakfast and let Sydney wear her jammies. That made her happy and she wanted a bagel again.
While eating breakfast, the refrigerator inside the juice machine kicked on and startled her which left her clinging to me. I would go on to enjoy preferred parent status for the rest of the day. Nana came down to chat as we were finishing up.
After breakfast we tried getting ready. Meghan tried to map out some stopping points along our route where we could let Sydney play. I showered and got dressed. Sydney drew some pictures on the hotel pad of paper (which she later gave to Nana, Papaw, and Jenny). At some point shortly thereafter, Sydney figured out how to open the room door and let herself out into the hall. That had me chasing her around for awhile. Later we found ourselves back at the breakfast area with Jenny, Abe, and Cassie at which point Sydney pooped. Anyway, eventually we got on the road.
Roughly an hour before our planned stop, Sydney got really fussy. We stopped quickly so that I could use the restroom and gave her pacifier to her (which we only use at bedtime). Within a few miles she was asleep and to our surprise she took a 3hr nap. Our original plan had her taking a nap after our first stop. We drove a little after she woke up and ended up at a mall in Merrillville, IN which is only an hour and a half from home.
At the mall, we ate lunch and then rode an elevator (an “alligator”) before coming to a full sized carousel in the middle of the mall. To our surprise, Sydney want to try it but only if I went with her. Although she was clearly nervous, she let me put her on a horse and held onto the pole with one hand. The other hand was on my shoulder and I had an arm around her. The ride started and Sydney tensed up when she realized the horse was going up and down but eventually relaxed some. I don’t know if she ever actually smiled, but she didn’t want off. Later we went back and rode it two more times with her clearly enjoying it more.
After the first carousel ride, we went to the kids play area which was crazy. It was very large and crawling with kids of all ages. Sydney jumped right in without any hesitation. She climbed anything she could climb and had a great time. At one point she crawled under a piece of equipment with some other kids. It was as if they were all hatching a plot together. At another point under the same piece of equipment, a larger girl took an interest in her and tickled her. That made her laugh. The she tried to pull Sydney into her lap which resulted in a loud “NO!” and Sydney scurrying out. There’s always some kid that wants to pick ours up. The side of this play area also had a plastic bubble and Sydney and a little boy climbed into it and peeked out at us. It was very funny although we couldn’t hear a word either of them was saying. Another attraction in the kid area was this smooth two humped slide that only a kid 4’ tall or bigger would have been able to get up on. Meghan ended up putting Sydney up on it several times. She loved it.
When it was time to leave, we took the escalator (esso-alligator) up to the second floor. I took Sydney by the hand and actually got her to step onto it and off of it without being carried. That was a big step for her, no pun intended.
An hour and a half later we were home and so ended our crazy journey. In 3 days, Sydney:
• Saw a bunch of wind turbines
• Went to a water park
• Stayed in 2 hotels (with bathtubs and slept in 2 big beds)
• Went to a pool
• Saw geese from far away and one up very close
• Saw a bird in the mall
• Played in a mall play area by herself
• Played in a mall play area with a whole bunch of kids
• Played at a park
• Played air hockey
• Had cake at a birthday party
• Rode a carousel 3 times
• Rode 3 different elevators
• Rode 1 escalator
• Played with Jenny, Abe, Cassie, Nana, and Papaw
• Saw a bunch of relatives