Our Super (read: slightly pathetic) Bowl weekend plans

In order for you to truly appreciate the plans we've made, I need to go back to 2005.  I need to tell you a story that highlights our sheer patheticness when trying to leave the smallest state in the USA.

Picture it: West Warwick, 2005 (said in an Estelle Getty-Golden Girls voice )

In 2003, I had earned a 2 night hotel stay gift certificate from The Pampered Chef.  2004 went by, and we hadn't used the certificate (or "cer-ti-ka-fit" as Patience used to say!).  Finally, spring of 2005 rolled around, and we were in the midst of planning a family vacation to Walt Disney World (also courtesy of The Pampered Chef), when we realized that our 2 night hotel stay certificate was going to expire! <gasp>

With an insane amount of finagling (I just had to look up the spelling of that word!), Steve and I planned a 2 night get away.  It was the first time we had ever been away from the children. 

At this time, Steve had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off of work, so we planned on a Monday night-Wednesday morning hotel stay.  But first, we had to arrange child care for the 3 kids--not so easy to do in the middle of the work week with children who are homeschooled.

We arranged for one set of friends to take the girls for the Monday night, and another set of friends to take Eli for that night.  Then Steve and I would pick the kids up Tuesday afternoon, and drop them off at my parents' home for the 2nd night.  Some getaway, huh?  And how, you are asking, were we planning to do that, seeing how we were going away???

This is how the conversation went with the friendly Marriott representative:

Rep: "Okay, hon, give me the address of the hotel you want to stay in."

Me: rattles off address

Rep: "Alrighty, now give me your home zip code."

Me: eyes covered with the embarrassment of my answer, "The same as the hotel's."

That's right, we stayed at a hotel, less than 2 miles from our home.  And this is how those two nights went:

Monday evening: Steve, with all 3 kids in the car, drops me off at a Pampered Chef meeting.  He then drops off the children at their respective babysitter's homes, and checks into the hotel. 

I attend the meeting, eat something that doesn't quite agree with me, have my friend drop me off at the hotel, where I proceed to curl into a little ball of abdominal pain.  VERY ROMANTIC. sigh

Tuesday morning: Steve heads down to the complimentary breakfast, which I opt to skip (for obvious reasons).  He comes back and regales me with tales of a "make your own waffle" breakfast bar.

We head back to our house, because on Tuesdays, Steve has to turn in all of his receipts and payments for his week of work with Roto Rooter.   While he gets paperwork together, I fold laundry and check my email.

Once at the Roto Rooter office, Steve does his turn in, and tucks into the lunch of cheeseburgers that the staff has provided for the workers.  He offers me something to eat, at which point, I express my disbelief that he considers me that cheap of a date.

We go to see the movie "Sahara", starring Matthew McConahey and Steve Zahn (excellent flick, by the way, with a killer soundtrack), getting into an arguement on the way, because we were running late, and we had to be out of the movie by a certain time, because, don't forget--we have to go pick up the kids and bring them to my parents (did I forget to mention that at the time, we lived upstairs from them?  That's right, another trip HOME.)  The movie was great, and we get the kids safely back to the homestead.

A lovely couple that we know had given us a gift certificate to a local restaurant, so we go out for dinner.  No kids, great food, a night out--we proceed to stuff ourselves silly. (And we still didn't use the entire certificate!)  A full tummy is not always the best precursor to an intimate evening (chalk that up as a lesson well learned! LOL), but we make it through the night. :)

Wednesday morning: We check out of the hotel, run a couple of errands, stop for lunch at Friendly's, and go home.

I know that you are all blown away by this fascinating tale.  Let's fast forward to 2007.

In 2006, I earned a trip the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.  We didn't take the trip, so instead, last winter, we redeemed the $1500 gift certicate that you can take in place of the trip.  We got $1000 for Best Buy, and purchased my lovely laptop.  And we decided to get $500 worth of gift certificates to Marriott, so that our whole family could go on a little vacation--this is the part of the movie where you scream at the character, "Don't open that door!  Don't open that door!" just before they are killed with a chainsaw or something.

We had planned on going to Gettysburg in the fall--nice educational family getaway.  But then we moved to a new apartment in the summer.  Extra funds were eaten up in the move, and time was taken off of work to paint the new place, etc.  And my parents' anniversary party was coming up--more money spent, another weekend filled.

Needless to say, the trip didn't happen.  The year rolled on, and once New Year's Day had passed, I remembered that I needed to check when the expiration date was on those gift certificates.

I checked 2 weeks ago.  Lo and behold, we had until 2/13/08 to use them or lose them.  I called Marriott, but they couldn't extend the date.  What to do?  We thought maybe we could use them at a Marriott restaurant or spa, until they told us that most of the restaurants, spas or even gift shops attached to the hotels are independently owned, and wouldn't accept the certificates.

Obviously we were going to have to actually stay in a hotel.  But where? When?  My Pampered Chef shows are usually booked on weekends (which Steve now has off).  Steve doesn't have any extra vacation time (since we ARE going to London in April)--weekdays were out.

Then we hit on it!  SUPER BOWL WEEKEND!  No one wants to have a PC party, and Steve didn't have to work.  Yes!  Now to find a hotel.  Should we go to Newport, one-time playground of the Kennedy's?  Should we stay in downtown Providence, our capital city heralded for its Renaissance in recent years?  *reminder: we needed to find a hotel where 2 night's stay would not exceed our $500 gift certificate*  Alas, both of those options were too expensive.

But what's this I see?  A hotel with suites?  Full kitchens, king size bedroom downstairs, a queen size bedroom in the loft, 2 bathrooms, indoor swimming pool, complimentary breakfast (we can only hope it has a "make your own waffle" bar!)???  And only $143/night???  BOOK IT, I SAY, BOOK IT!

Where is this fabulous place, you ask?  Two miles from our home. *head hangs in shame*

The kids are way excited, and we've invited friends to join us for the big game.  I'm sure it will be a ton of fun, but I just may have to use my shiny new passport as my ID, just so it feels like we're actually travelling!

 

**Funny side note:  Patience asked us, with slight panic in her voice, "Who will feed the cats?"  "Silly girl," I said, "We'll just send Daddy home to do it!"