(a collection of Facebook Posts and photos)
DC: Mom's 17th Birfday on Monday!
ME: Yes, but I am not going to be 17.
DC: (Ignoring that) Going on a little 'twip' tomorrow!
ME: Yes, just a short one.
DC: For Mom's 17th Birfday .... coming home Monday (we haven't even left and he is worried about when we are coming home)
ME: Yes, coming home Monday, but I don't want to hear that all weekend. I answered that question.
DC: So excited about Mom's 17th Birfday on Monday! YES!
Go to the restaurant?
ME: Yes, but I am not going to be 17.
DC: (Ignoring that) Going on a little 'twip' tomorrow!
ME: Yes, just a short one.
DC: For Mom's 17th Birfday .... coming home Monday (we haven't even left and he is worried about when we are coming home)
ME: Yes, coming home Monday, but I don't want to hear that all weekend. I answered that question.
DC: So excited about Mom's 17th Birfday on Monday! YES!
Go to the restaurant?
...and right there, exactly there is the ONLY reason he is excited about my birthday............ #AllRoadsLeadToWingsandBurgers
and so it began....
We had planned a weekend (4 days really) road trip for my birthday - or really during my birthday weekend as nothing is ever really about me, ya know.
This trip was what I like to call a "looking around" trip. I started using that term for DC's benefit, so he would understand that:
We will not be boarding an airplane or ship
We will not be going to Disney or any place like that.
We will be in the car for long periods of time.
We will be staying in a hotel, but sometimes more than one.
We do not know what we will find.
There may not be a bookstore.
We will be driving and just looking around.
Of course we do usually have a destination in mind and we do check to see what else is around in that area, but mostly we really are just looking around.
Doug happened upon a hotel in the Catskills awhile back called the Roxbury and he noticed that they had (among others), a Wizard of Oz themed room. Now, if you know how much DC is obsessed with Disney, just know his obsession with the Wizard of Oz is right up there with his Disney obsession.
But.... they also have a Star Trek room! Did you get that? A STAR TREK Room!
But how could I pass up the Wizard of Oz room with "DC in the house" even when it is my birthday?
I couldn't... We booked OZ.
We kept that detail a secret from DC and left on our "Looking around" trip on Friday.
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| #Priorities |
We had booked a different hotel for Friday night because the original plan was to loop around and visit the Woodstock sight. Being that is was 12 degrees and snowing, we decided to do that another time, but kept the reservation and continued on our way via the scenic route.
On Saturday morning we headed out to the surprise hotel, stopping and looking around along the way.
Onward....
We made it to the hotel. I was so excited for him to see the room...
Sooooooo not the reaction I was hoping for. Yes, he said "Wow" but I could tell that it did not really mean "Wow" - he did not know what to say.
The part of the video that is missing (only because I said his real name and had to cut it) is when he came right up to my face and said:
"Mom, I don't want to say here! I don't!"
Sigh...... did I mention there was a Star Trek room that we could have booked????
He was nervous about the whole thing but more so, I think over the fact that it was dark, much darker than even I expected - he hated it!
Doug tried skipping him down the yellow brick road, but he still was not happy.
Okayyyyyy, so we left the dreaded room and went to find lunch...
(did I mention there was a Star Trek room that we could have booked???)
I should have prepared him but I really thought it was going to be a good surprise for him! I thought he'd be thrilled! I really did! #ParentingFail
Lunch seemed to get him back on track and he seemed to be back to his old self. We talked about the room a bit and he seemed to be more excited about it. He just needed a little bit of time to process it all.
He needed to set up his spot.
Within and hour or two, it had turned into fun. By the next day he was doing jumping jacks down the Yellow Brick Road.
Phew!
(Now for some random pictures of the hotel and the surrounding area)
They light it up at night...
Of course there was dinner and more wings right across the street.
We also knew that there was a town close-by that was dubbed THE BOOK VILLAGE, so that was on our agenda for Sunday. We set out to explore and visit this village, but first..... lunch.
After the crackers; you guessed it..... wings.
THIS.... he was excited about.
#1. Blenheim Hill Books
#2. Liberty Rock Books
#3 Creative Corner who as it turned out did not have any children's books but the shop was cute.
#4 Butternut Valley Books. It was closed but the lady at Creative Corner opened it up and DC did find something cool. (Also the home of quite a few Star Trek <did I mention there was a Star Trek Room that we could have booked?> books)
It was FREEZING so we did not wander the streets any longer, never mind the fact that this was turning into a very expensive street with DC along.
I do believe he would very much like to live there.
Monday morning came and it was time to check out. DC, the "boy" who was originally afraid of the room wanted to know if we were "coming back again sometime soon" (I'll take that as a success).
He enjoyed the room.
He had his fill of wings.
He visited a real live Book Village.
We only had 2 meltdowns while there - one of them being me, when I was locked out of the coffee room for a second morning!
The other was DC on the last morning. He really hated the shower. It was one of those very deep soaking tubs and he just had enough of it. It was hard for him to step into it to take a shower. The semi-meltdown went on loudly for a good 15 minutes.
(I call them semi meltdowns only in comparison to those he had when he was younger. They might in fact be full blown meltdowns to some, but I call them semi by comparison only).
Fortunately most of the other guests had checked out the morning before.
We did a bit more "looking around" on the way home...
We never did find the 3rd largest kaleidoscope but we found the proverbial Fork in The Road..
Giving Yogi Barra's quote of "If you come to a fork in the road, take it!" an entirely different meaning.
So there you have it. DC definitely had a "Happy Mom's Birthday" (so did "Mom")
We will be going back again and next time it's Star Trek, or as the hotel named it, The Final Frontier Room..... Did I forget to mention there was a Star Trek room that we could have booked?
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Link to The Final Frontier Room (did I forget to mention there was a Star Trek room?)
Links to our other Oz Adventures:
Because, Because, Because, Because….BEEEE CAUSE - Autumn in OZ
#TravelingWithDC In Search of the Wizard - Chittenango, NY
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