Home Again...

and once again I'm so grateful for our wonderful friends and family...

Our trip down to California for Grandpa's memorial service was long and busy. The service was so perfect for Grandpa... some of his artwork was used for the program and we had a reception following the service featuring - what else? - ice cream. Just as he would have wanted it. We also got to spend a really nice time with Aunt Madeleine, Uncle Joe, Kate, Dan & Nana... The kids got to have an early Christmas - and now it's going to be hard to live up to the royal spoiling they got! We also spent a day at Knott's Berry Farm - the little kids loved the rides, even the fast ones that they were tall enough to go on. Maddie, well, she kept the benches warm with Grandma. Someday kiddo - you'll realize what all the fun is about, and then we won't be able to stop you!

It was really nice to see extended family and long time family friends... many of whom I hadn't seen since my wedding. It was also so comforting to know that my friends back here at home were keeping an eye on things for us. From the animals that didn't travel to the daily operations at the restaurant, we knew everything was safe and cared for.

Now it's back to work... not just my job, but preparing for the holidays. I was so excited to be able to stay home and help my kids establish some traditions of our own. Guess I'd better get on with the show... I know you are all anxiously watching your mailbox for my Christmas cards (oh the pressure...)

A Day of Mourning on a Day of Thanks...

I am thankful for so many things... my beautiful family, healthy kids, sweet dogs and the best friends I could have ever hoped for.

But on this day when I had so much to be thankful for, I also had to mourn the loss of someone that has always been a part of my life. My grandfather, Henry Rae Simonson passed away last night surrounded by his wife and children. He was nearly 93 - just 3 months shy of that actually - and had been so fragile in the last few months it was hard to believe he was the same man that built houses and lived on boats several times in my life...

His influence in my life extended far beyond the typical grandfather role - I grew up living with my grandparents for extended periods of time while my parents separated, and divorced. By the age of 12 they were living next door and were part of my daily life for the next decade. My grandfather was not always sweet and kind, but he was a great example of what a person can do when they put their mind to something. An entrepreneur from a young age, his adventuresome spirit and faith in God and humanity was evident.

His love for his grandchildren (8) and great grandchildren (he had 7 at last count) was evident by the pride he showed when telling of their lastest accomplishments. While he was never big on lavishing compliments or praise on the child he was lauding, he would tell the world of his love for them.

He taught me how to swim, how to sail and quietly - scratch that - LOUDLY encouraged me to be the best person I could be. My nickname for him when I was young was Old Faithful - just like the geyser at Yellowstone - also something he showed me. It was understood he'd lose his temper about something on a regular basis - but he was always there and ready to help build a bookshelf, a playhouse or a coffin (he still owes me a pair from a visit to their home on Lake Tulloch).

He will be missed - Jack will want to know where Boppa Rae is when we go down to California next week... Sophie will look around and ask quietly for him as well. Jack will miss playing ball with him, and Maddie will miss his jokes.

All my love and prayers go out to my family - aunts, uncles, cousins and especially my mother, for she has been their constant caregiver and support for many years now. My grandmother - my namesake - has been such an inspiration to me in recent years - her patience, kindness and ability to make the best of a difficult situation are what I constantly strive for (often falling short). Now in the coming days I only hope I can provide some strength and solice for her as she mourns the loss of her life partner... my grandpa.

Halloween Photos

Ok... thanks for being patient! Here are a few photos of the kids... er, I mean, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Cleopatra. They all had a blast, and even Lucy got in to the act by dressing up as Nana (the dog from Peter Pan). The photo of Sophie with her face painted is from their Harvest Party the day before Halloween. Then there is Carter & Maddie, and Tink & Peter Pan. They sure were cute! More to come I'm sure. With kids these cute, how can I not take pictures?

Okay... so MAYBE weekly was a bit optimistic...

Yes, I know I promised in my last post that I was going to try to keep it more up to date (for those of you that read it and/or care...), and for misleading you I apologize.

In my defense, that was probably a bit ambitious given that I was spending very little time on or near a computer. But things are looking up for me! I have 2 new clients that I'm going to be working with... I'm going to step away from the restaurant a few days a week (and let someone else handle the lunch crowd!). I'll still wait tables a couple (or three for now!) days a week, since I know Rob likes for me to be there... but I have to find something that gives me a little more satisfaction than whether or not I got a good tip from Table 5!

I'm going to be consulting with a new office here in town, and also doing some work for my dear friends that own Willaby's Catering. I even have a desk in a really cute office that I can call my own! No more snatching W-4 and I-9 forms out of the twins hands after they've already colored all over them... no more late nights searching for paperwork that "was just here on the desk a few days ago..." I'm so relieved!

Of course, now I'm going to be near a computer more... well, let's not get our expectations up, right? You just check back every now and then... and I'll do my best to keep information up to date and relevant. Oh, and maybe next time I'll post some pictures of those cute kids of mine...

NO... SLEEP... til BROOKLYN....

why oh why is this song from the Beastie Boys (white Jewish rapper boys from New Jersey, popular in the late 80's and early 90's for those of you that may read this and not recognize that group) running through my head at 3:30 am???

Ah yes... because at 3:30 am lots of things that are unimportant and ridiculously random seem to pop in to see if I'm awake. And... apparently this time I am. And so now, "Who needs sleep?" from the Bare Naked Ladies (again, pop culture reference here - Canadian band popular in the early 90s) rattles around. When I was pregnant with Maddie, Robert and I used to joke about making a "lullaby" CD with some of our current fave music that had insomniac themes... here I am nearly 8 years later contemplating it. Sigh.

Maybe it's the guilt that I'm not very good at keeping this blog up to date... That must be it - so I'm going to attempt to keep this updated at least weekly - and we'll see if that assuages the sleepless guilt. :)

On to the recent news... (or lack of it, seeing as how it wasn't really all that important until sleep eluded me...)

Last week I got to spend several days with one of my favorite people - Jean. She had a couple big events (she & her hubby own Willaby's Catering, and have been friends of ours for nearly 10 years now) and asked if I could help her out. Thursday I got to mix Italian Sodas for a luncheon out at the winery... that was a blast! And then on Saturday (Jean's b-day no less!) I helped her get a wedding set up out at the Oregon Garden (someplace I hadn't been since I before I was pregnant with the twins... but was a regular part of my daily life when I used to manage Wooden Nickel Catering). I got some beautiful pictures of the wedding - set outside in the Bosque Garden which features raised ponds and some spectacular views.

Pretty huh? The band was really good too... and the guests all seemed to have a really good time. Jean did these absolutely gorgeous Mango Martinis to greet the guests after the ceremony and they practically glowed during the sunset... I got some great shots of them all set on the table - before I dropped my camera in to one of the aforementioned raised ponds while trying to get the floating candles lit in the gusty wind. grrrrr....

And so... (Saturday Night Live - pop culture reference #3 for those of you that are counting... or care) with that, I think I'll try to get a little more sleep... seeing as how I have to get up with my little beasties in a couple of hours. Oh, and they are loving pre-school. No big surprise huh?

Back to School...

Okay - so back to school (well, Back to School for Maddie - NEW to School for Jack & Sophie!). The pics above are Maddie at her new desk in 2nd grade, and Jack & Sophie getting introduced to the other kids in Mrs. Tibbot's room at West Salem Baptist Preschool. Sophia walked in like she owned the joint, and Jack was fine... until he realized that Mom & Dad weren't going to stay and play with him and all those fabulous new Little People toys.

Now everyone is getting settled and acclimated to our new school routine. Trying to make it a point to look through back packs on a regular (semi-weekly instead of MONTHLY) basis... This is all new to me - I mean really, homework in 1st grade??? How was I supposed to know? So now going forward we are having back pack time after dinner. So I don't miss any of the important stuff.

This also helps avoid those last minute embarrassments, like oh, I don't know, not knowing when PICTURE DAY is... I think we are going to do a lot better this year. :) But then again, sometimes I'm just a glass half full, sunshine-y optimist! yeah right...

Big birthday LUAU bash at Carter's house for his birthday last Sunday... Jean even hired some hula dancers to come and perform - ostensibly for Carter, although I think the dads that were in attendance got a much bigger kick out of them than the kids did! Jack also professed his love for coconuts to me - and I don't think it was just because we had read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom a few nights before and the coconut tree climbing alphabet was fresh in his memory... see last pic above... Carter is the birthday boy surrounded by 3 grown up dancers and 1 very young hula girl.

Hey - who stole AUGUST??

ummm... My name is Janet and I've been an absent blogger. It's been 34 days since my last post. Sigh. So much for confession being good for the soul... I just feel guilty. The above pictures are some cute ones from the last month or so... Love the one of Sophie in her new swimsuit - what a ham, huh? Then there is "the fashion show" when they both had to try on all their new clothes that Nana Dolly sent them for their birthdays. Cute stuff - thanks so much!!!

That last one - well, one night we decided to take the kids to the park, have a picnic and then get some ice cream... the picnic didn't work out so well (the yellow jackets were swarming EVERYWHERE... we beat a hasty retreat and ate in the HOT car!), but then the kids got to play at the park and got their ice cream... chocolate all around. What a MESS! Good thing I keep a package of baby wipes in the car! (and just in case you haven't seen it... Jack's shirt says "Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Get in Trouble TOO!)

Maddie is back to school on Wednesday. She will be in a 1st / 2nd combo class and I'm not sure how I feel about that... especially given that she didn't have any areas of "needs improvement" from her 1st grade report cards. I will be patient and will see what they have planned... for now.

Sophia and Jackson will start pre-school on Thursday with Miss Mary (different Miss Mary than Madeleine had - but same pre-school). They are very excited to wear their backpacks and new school clothes. I will post some first day of school pics later this week... Sophie will also start ballet classes soon too... I'm sure there will be some serious blog fodder from those!

Ok... The long awaited Hawaii photos...

I will probably have to figure out how to add Flickr (Sarah???) so that I don't overwhelm the post with photos. I will post a few for now. The update on the trip? I learned that I would probably cruise again, although I'd like to check out different cruise lines. While NCL was great for a first cruise - and if a bargain is found, it can definitely be a great value - the overwhelming consensus I found from fellow cruisers was the food was the worst cruise food they'd had.

PLEASE NOTE: The food was fine. Most of it was perfectly acceptable (notable exceptions would be the lunch / dinner buffet - very low standards) and the upscale restaurants (where you pay a small per person upcharge to dine) were anywhere from good to great in my opinion.

The Freestyle Cruising approach on NCL was a welcome intro to cruising, since we were free to dine whenever, where ever we chose, and with whomever. If we wanted to nap in the afternooon and eat late, we could. We mostly chose to eat lunch in port, and then have dinner on board. We did go to a Luau and to see a Hawaiian Cirque du Soleil type performance - called Ulalena - in Lahaina. Both were very entertaining.

Only spent time by the pool a couple of times - this particular ship we were on was not very well equipped with lots of extra-curricular features - small pools and a few hot tubs were present, but not a lot to entertain / challenge more active folks or kids.

We had a blast exploring the port cities as we docked - just walking around and finding cute little shops and places to enjoy lunch.

One of the nicest things for me was to be able to relax and read (lots!) and spend time with a great friend who also got to RELAX and enjoy the freedom of a true vacation.

Pics: The Ship - Pride of Aloha (christened 07/04/04 - how WEIRD is that???)

Susan & I at the luau on Kauai

A HUGE sea turtle lounging on a beach near North Shore on Oahu. There was a red velvet rope and signs posted everywhere for people to stay back. Must be nice to be a celebrity! ;)

Apologies & Excuses...

Okay, so most of you know that I've been home from my 2 week sun-worshipping sabbatical for a few days now...
And I'm quite sure that a few of you have been diligently checking in to see if I've posted ANYTHING - any little scrap of information to fill you in...
Well, I'm sorry. (That's the apology part...)

The desktop computer (you know, the one that has all my pictures, photo editing software and those little slots I can plug my memory card in to???) apparently took a little sabbatical of it's own while I was gone...
So now, it is at the rehab center for naughty computers and is HOPEFULLY being tended to in a timely manner. (that, for those of you that haven't caught on yet, was the EXCUSE part...)
So, just as soon as my friend Chris gets my computer up and running again (for those of you that may have contact with Chris and can influence his speed, feel free...) I will be posting plenty of photos and stories from my journey.

I can report that the twins managed to turn three with nary a hitch, and seem to have mastered that *difficult* transition from the Terrible Twos to the Throttle-worthy Threes with no issues whatsoever. And Madeleine - what a trooper... she has been well trained in the loading and unloading of a wheel chair in order to facilitate Grandma Carleen's movements since her arrival. Latest news is that the wheelchair is soon to be a distant memory and the *fun* grandma will be back in play in no time.

That's it for now... sorry again (double apology for those of you still smarting at the apparent lack of photos...) and I'll be in touch ASAP. :)

(uh Sarah... WHY am I feeling so guilty that I am up posting this at 4:30 am???)

Mother-Daughter Day / Father-Son Day...

So, Sophie and I went on a Mommy-Daughter day with some of our Mother-Daughter friends... some scrapbook stores, lunch and some more scrapbook stores all in Portland for our itinerary. Rob & Jackson stayed in Salem, and I think they got in to more "trouble" than I did! :)

So, when I got home, I see Jack, kickin' back in his shades watching a Blues Clues video (see above - how CUTE is he???) and there's this case in the living room...

As it turns out, Rob's mid-life crisis is not a blond, nor a fast car, but a six-stringed instrument... kinda cool actually. It would be nice if one of us had some musical talent to inspire the children (I have good rythym but NOT one musical bone in my body).

So... stay tuned (ha - a musical reference!) for more information on our family's budding maestro. Might turn out that knives and fire are not his only passions!

Newest Family Member...

My cousin Sarah, and her husband Ryan welcomed their first daughter, Harriet Rose Miller, last week on June 16th! Her nickname will be "Hattie" or "Hattie Rose", continuing our love of the middle name "Rose". When I told the Sacramento Simonsons (my Uncle Rick, Aunt Sue, Cousins Sarah (not yet married), Stephen (also pre-marriage), Deven and Mary Rose) that Rob & I were expecting our first child (WAY back in 1999!) Mary Rose very wisely suggested that we use Rose as the middle name (if we had a girl), and since we had been considering a few first names that worked beautifully with that, it stuck. So now we have a Mary Rose, a Maddie Rose and the newest... Hattie Rose. Can't wait to meet her in person (they live in San Luis Obispo, so hopefully it will be before she's in Kindergarten!) - she looks absolutely beautiful.

Madeleine's Travel Adventure

Well, Maddie made it to California - flying all by herself for the first time. Of course, in typical Janet fashion, there is a "story"!

We had it all planned out - dinner with Diane & Devin in Clackamas on our way to the airport, Jack & Sophie would stay with D & D while I ran Maddie up to catch her flight (getting through security would be so much easier without the twins, right???).

So, after a nice dinner and chat, I realized we had best be on our way, so we hit the road (yes, I left a little later than I had planned... quite frankly, WAY LATER, but how hard could it be?).

Well, just for those of you that haven't ever done this, there is a LOT of paperwork to fill out for an Unaccompanied Minor. And, when that Minor needs to pee - REALLY REALLY BAD - you have choices to make. I sent Maddie off around the corner to use the restroom while I completed the shipping manifests for my daughter's first solo flight.

Back she comes, a few minutes later - about ready to unleash her bladder with a stricken look - "Maddie honey - why didn't you wait for me at the bathroom????" (I had given her STRICT instructions to go potty and wait for me IN the restroom!!!). "The line was REALLY long Mom - and I have to GO BAD!!" (forget trying to question the wisdom of not STAYING in the line at this point).

So, cutting in line to drop off her checked luggage (thank you grumpy lady and her husband for letting us in!), and then racing off to the security line (oh no - it's LONG...). A LARGE family in front of us was going to California too *albeit NOT on Maddie's flight* that was leaving in.... AAACKKK - 15 MINUTES!!! Excuse me... would you mind if we cut in front of you? She's flying alone and we are running really behind... Oh thank you so much... NOOOOOOO.... the grandma of this little (read that with sarcasm) group had already handed her boarding pass to the very gruff TSA employee checking identities before we are permitted to be screened. Sigh - unfortunately, grandma doesn't speak much English (family was Asian - wasn't relevant until now, which is why I didn't mention it earlier) and she didn't understand why this large black woman is yelling at her to provide her ID in order to "pass". Who has grandma's ID??? where is it? Mom? Dad? Please, someone find her ID...

Okay - so the large, angry TSA lady (maybe she needs a new job?) finally turns to me and says fine - give me your stuff while they look for her ID. She goes through the paperwork, looks at Maddie's boarding pass and says "YOU didn't get a boarding pass for her, YOU need to go to the TICKET COUNTER" well, I had, and I was told we had everything which I tried to explain very nicely, but she was loud and angry and I was scared Maddie would miss her flight (did I mention she still had to pee...) so back to the ticket counter we ran... of course, the ticket agent that had helped us was no where to be found... but I managed to get someone's attention and quickly tell her that we didn't have the correct boarding pass to get Maddie past security according to the very thorough TSA agent at the screening check point. She (the ticket counter lady) went through the paperwork and found the correct boarding pass (apparently the TSA lady found the one that said "not valid for security" thought I was trying to pull a fast one, and didn't bother to find the REAL one). Running (for those of you old enough to remember the old Avis commercials) like OJ through the airport (NOT like OJ on the 405 freeway, for those of you NOT old enough to remember Avis, but old enough to remember a White Bronco) we raced back towards the security line, hoping we could cut through AGAIN, when the ticket agent came racing up to help us get through the "Special" line with her badge (thanks again!). So she runs us through the (MUCH NICER) TSA checkpoint for employees, etc. and we get in line to be screened.

Maddie - get your shoes off honey - put them in the box... OK - walk through slowly, I'm right here. I get through (but had forgotten to take off MY shoes! OH NO!!!) and I guess I had touched Maddie's shoulder to get her to move to pick up her bags coming out of the x-ray machine (that's apparently a BIG no no...) some other TSA lady starts screaming that I touched her and that she needed to come back through and be screened again too... (like I might have transferred some explosive device in that brief nano-second - never mind that I hadn't set off the detectors EVEN with the forbidden shoes on my feet....). So back through - shoes off and through the x-ray... and off go the bells (how is it that I did that?) Back up again, and go through S L O W L Y... deep breath - okay, that time I made it through without any musical accompaniment.

Run Maddie Run... no, don't worry about your shoes - just RUN. Barefoot... like OJ (see above - think Avis NOT Bronco). Didn't think I could move that fast... OK - thank goodness she was leaving at gate C1 (and NOT C23!!!). Gate agent says I can take her to the bathroom before they take her on board (in hindsight, this was probably a very good idea on her part!). So we run to the bathroom, and Maddie heads in to pee (finally). Except she didn't follow my directions (just go honey - don't worry about the door... I'm holding it shut). Yep - she locked the door. Never been a problem before... but of course she couldn't get it unlocked. OK - so crawl out - we'll deal with that later. (Attention Airport Housekeeping staff: I am deeply sorry for not notifying you about that fifth stall from the end being locked from the inside... I was a tad distracted. I will make it up to you somehow. Maybe next time I'll drop a $20 bill and leave my latte behind.)

Back to the gate - with 4 minutes to spare! Maddie starts to cry... "I miss Grandma" (are you KIDDING ME???) well, good thing that's her issue - and not that she misses Daddy, Lucy, Jack or Sophie huh? "Honey, don't cry now - you've done so GREAT! Grandma will be there to pick you up in just about 2 hours... I love you!" Kisses and hugs, tears dried and she trots off with the VERY nice gate agent, who starts to chat about her kitten, to which Madeleine starts to elaborate on Lucy, doing her very best Ricky Ricardo impression "Lucy... you got some 'splainin' to do...." down the jetway.

The plane backs away and I wonder to myself where the "point of no return" is...

The gate agent returns several minutes later, "She did fine, she is SO smart and beautiful... and very poised. She settled right in and met her flight attendants graciously, acknowledging them as her "special flight attendants" on her first solo flight. Don't worry mom - she's going to be just fine."

And she was - 2 hours and 20 minutes later, she was on the ground in The OC, with Grandma and Great Janet. Phew - glad that adventure is over with. :)

Maddie's Birthday, Dance Recital and...

Well since we got Lucy, things have been blurred... what was I thinking? "What's one more?" I guess... We celebrated Maddie's birthday, had a party for her last weekend and then she had her dance recital today. Last day of school is Wednesday, and she will fly to California that night to spend some quality time with Grandma before the rest of us arrive on July 1st.

April Showers bring...

Well, now that's something to ponder, isn't it? Seems like they maybe bring more showers! Here it is... already the middle (well - it's still TECHNICALLY the middle) of May, and I haven't posted since April 1st. sigh...

I have a good excuse though - I just had SURGERY... (well, I got away with that for a few weeks at least...) April 17th I had my gall bladder (and the accompanying 2.5 cm stone) removed. I'm fine now. Lucky for me, Grandma Carleen took the twins to CA so they weren't climbing all over my incisions.

What else is new? Well, May 12th, Madeleine had the best softball game of her career! She managed to field all THREE outs in the first inning (against a team that was WAY older than her team - they were mostly 5th graders!!!), then she got a couple great hits and managed to score a run for her team! (did I have my camera? uh... no. The guilt is bad - don't make it worse!)

And, that afternoon, my Mother's Day present wormed her way in to Rob's heart... Her name is Lucy and she's a Golden Doodle (1/2 Golden Retriever & 1/2 Poodle). She's got a curly face and a sweet disposition. Since I was leaving for Southern California to retrieve the twins, we decided to wait to pick her up until today. She's acclimating very well - of course our household probably approximates the chaos she experienced with her litter - 8 puppies! Josie is remarkably accepting of this new addition to the family... Perhaps she is recognizing that the kids are more interested in playing with the puppy and she might actually get some peace and quiet!

Check out the picture of Maddie & Sophie - look carefully at the book Sophie is "reading" to Lucy... (Go Dog... GO!) Sooo cute! :)

April Fools indeed...

Well, I won't say I didn't think about it... I just forgot. The stroller that is... the trip to Seattle was back-breaking... literally. Rob and I feel like we are in our 80's after lugging the twins all over. While Jack outweighs Sophie by quite a bit, he helps because he holds himself upright and strong... Sophie... well, let's just say she's like carrying a 25 lb. boneless chicken. Floppy. Out of balance. Unless you get her balanced just right, with her head on your shoulder and her bum on your arm, you get tired VERY quickly.

Jack loved the street performers at Pike Market... we even stopped for several minutes while he and Maddie watched a duo playing the flute and guitar. He was mesmerized. He was also a big fan of the "Socialized Cat" guy... why in the world anyone would want to put a down vest on a furry animal and put them out on a street corner to prove their "sociability" is beyond me... (Sorry Sarah... )

We rode the monorail, the carousel and hiked to lunch (NO - not a beautiful outdoors hike to some little remote cafe... we HIKED through downtown carrying children from Seattle Center to Buca di Beppo... boy, I sure am sorry I forgot the stroller...). The Children's Museum was a big hit, and so was seeing Auntie Cyn... but in the end, the kids were ready to come home.

Last question for now... WHAT IN THE WORLD am I doing up at 4 am posting on my blog? SARAH!!!???!!! I'm not a young woman any more... I'm quite certain there will be a hefty price for this sometime later today.

It's March WHAT???

Ummmm... okay, so it wasn't hard to set this up. But apparently having even a few spare minutes to keep it (even REASONABLY) up to date was the big challenge.

I can't believe it's already Spring - Softball season will be going full swing in a few weeks and then there will be no time at all before Madeleine is turning 7.

I had the best of intentions when I started this blog - so I will not give up **YET**. Sarah has promised to help me keep things updated at least once a month or so (she is so good to me!) so I really won't have much of an excuse (unless she decides that I'm too old to hang out with soon!).

News from the first quarter... Hmmm...

I've finally gotten free of other commitments and will be working full time at the restaurant (and NO WHERE ELSE) for the next few months. There are so many ideas we have had, but with no reasonable time to implement them so far, we are feeling fortunate that people still show up and pay for the food!

Kids are all healthy - Jack & Maddie are growing so fast... Sophie still maintains her girlish figure (weighing in at a whole 25 lbs. soaking wet).

Jack & Sophie are registered for pre-school in the fall (how did THAT happen??) and will go to the same local pre-school that Maddie did. We loved it and the teachers were so great with the kids.

Maddie is on Spring Break right now - kids all went roller skating today with Teacher Susan (13 kids and she manages to keep them all in line - unbelievable!!!).

I'm scheduled to have my gallbladder removed on April 17th - I've apparently been carrying around a LARGE (2+ cm) stone for some time and it's giving grief so out it comes... of course most other things have been created in my body give me more grief once they are out, so I'm hopeful the stone will be an exception.

We are taking a quick weekend trip to Seattle this weekend - just the five of us (geez - FIVE?? I don't think we can legally stay in one hotel room anymore...) so we can hopefully enjoy some time off as a family.