Weekend Trip Part Deux

On Saturday after we finished playing at the children's museum, we went back to the hotel and attempted to watch the Hog game on tv. I say attempted, because as Jason and I laid in the bed completely exhausted the kids cried, whined and asked if we could go to the pool at least a hundred times. We finally told them if they could be quiet and lay still for a while, we'd go. After a few failed attempts, they did it and the Hog game was but a distant memory at that point. It was ok because it was almost too painful to watch anyway. We got the kids changed and headed to the pool. Jason and I sat out and watched since it's almost completely a shallow kiddie pool and Gracie has no desire to go to the deeper end anyway. She just played with her toys by the edge the whole time. We both fought off sleep by taking turns playing games on our cell phones while the other watched the kids.

After almost 2 hours, we got the kids out of the pool, went back up to the room, changed and went out to dinner. It was one of the best dinners we've ever had as a family. We went to The Cheesecake Factory. It was our first time there. We loved it!

We took some pics before our food came. And let me tell ya, we put the "Cheese" in the "Cheesecake"! Take a look!

Here's Rhett's $5 pizza. Wow! That's a lot of food!

The kids really wanted to go swimming when we got back to the hotel, but to say Mamma and Daddy were tired was another understatement... so, in an effort to get out of it, on a whim Jason pulls into the Toys R Us parking lot and proclaims that moment "Christmas in September". We split up: Me with Gracie and Jason with the boys and they each got a certain dollar amount to spend in whichever way they wanted to. We had so much fun! The exchange was that we wouldn't be going to the pool when we got back and we would be going to bed instead.

Instead of being at the pool till 10, we were in bed by 10! Yay!

We all went to sleep quickly and slept like rocks until 4am when we heard this blaring out the speakers in the room by the fire alarm over and over and over:

"Attention! A fire has been reported in the building! Please proceed to the stairway and exit the building! Do not use the elevator!"

Talk about a rude awakening! I don't think my heart has ever beat so fast. Rhett woke up immediately and started crying. Braden and Gracie would've slept thru the whole thing. I was gathering jackets and shoes while Jason was trying to get dressed and get Braden up. Gracie was sleeping in nothing but a diaper, so I scooped her up with her blanket around her and we started out the door. I did manage to grab a cell phone, Jason's wallet and the car keys. Things that I thought were super important because I didn't know if we'd make it back into the room or not. The rest was left to chance. I didn't even grab my wedding ring or my diamond earrings out of the bathroom. I didn't think they were as important as our lives. We were on the 7th floor so we had quite a ways to go to get out of the building.

Jason was trying to get his shoes on when me and the kids stepped out into the hallway and I was totally shocked to see the hallway covered with smoke. I couldn't even see past the next few doors down from us. I panicked and told Jason that I saw smoke and he needed to hurry up. He was alarmed at that point and totally ditched his shoes. I wasn't able to get the door to the stairway open because it was stuck. My heart instantly sunk into my toes and I had an immediate thought that we were going to be stuck in that hallway 7 floors up and we were going to die right there. That only lasted about 5 seconds because Jason got there to push on the door and a guy on the other side pulled on it and we got out. The boys cried all the way down the stairs because they were confused and scared and Gracie just kept saying, "Where we at?" and "What we doing?" Keep in mind that that LOUD and alarming sounding message kept blaring out at us on the speakers the entire time. It served to make us all nervous more than anything!

We got out to the parking lot and it was very chilly outside. I was thankful I grabbed my jacket and that my kids were dressed and had jackets and blankets. Also, I was so glad that I grabbed the car keys! We put the kids in the car and put a movie on for them to watch and they were as cozy as could be. We stood outside the car gathered with several other guests as we tried to figure out what was going on. Poor Jason was in his bare feet!

After about 30 minutes, we all started to realize that the fire department still hadn't shown up. One couple called them and they asked if they were hotel employees or guests. No one had even called them yet, including the hotel! All of us parents decided that we did not feel comfortable going back into the building until the fire department came and cleared it. We heard sirens within about 3 minutes of calling them and they arrived promptly.

After about another 30 minutes, they cleared us to go in. We didn't have our room key, so Jason had to go stand in line to get one and then we headed back in. We found out that someone had gotten the fire extinguisher on our floor and sprayed the entire can into one of the elevators and in the hallway. That was the smoke we saw. Jason had mentioned when we were outside that the smoke was white, so that was strange. It should've been a clue that it wasn't an actual fire. BUT, I've never been in a fire before and didn't know the difference, so I was still nervous!

We went back up to the room, got back in bed as fast as we could. At this point it was about 5:20am. Gracie fell asleep right away and just as the rest of us were starting the drift off, the alarms started going off again! You've got to be kidding me?!?! Jason jumped up and told us to stay put. Of course, we were too curious, so me and the boys met him in the hallway and we met up with the other 15 rooms or so of people on our side of the hallway, all just standing in their doorways peering out into the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Finally, Jason was able to reach an employee at the front desk and we were told it was ok, but there was a problem with the system and they couldn't get it turned off. Later, Jason went looking for information and talked to a security guard. Apparently, it was a drunk 23 yr old male looking for trouble that had done all of it. When he set it off the 2nd time, they caught him, arrested him and took him to jail.

We finally got back in bed after 6am and we had a full day planned for the next day, including room service delivery at 7:30. So, needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. Breakfast was wonderful and then Jason took the kids to the pool while I packed up the room.
Upon checking out, Jason talked them out of a refund of 1/2 of 1 nights stay. It amounted to about $50, which was better than nothing for our trouble.

After checking out, we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was our first time there and we were pleasantly surprised by both the size and the quality of it. We had a wonderful time there and plan to visit it again.

Here's a picture of Gracie with Nemo and Dory. She was so excited!!

Sissy touching a horseshoe crab. We had the opportunity to touch these in Key West, but she was scared. It's amazing what a couple months will do for you. She was all about touching them this day! The boys wouldn't do it, but she wasn't scared!
Braden with the Bahamas Star. We just had to take a picture with it, seeing that not a day goes by that we don't wish we were still in the Bahamas!
This was some kind of sea biscuit. I swear, it looked exactly like the loaf of bread we ate at The Cheesecake Factory the night before! Gracie even thought so!

The racoons were play fighting pretty aggressively, which was very fun to watch. Poor Rhett didn't trust that glass, I guess. He was a little hesitant to take his eyes off of them for too long. But he still smiled for the camera anyway!

The Shark tunnel was SOOOO cool! We really enjoyed this part.

Gracie wasn't much for pictures at this point...

Daddy and the kids at the touch tank. We got to touch stingrays and sharks. We had touched them in Key West also, but it's so cool, we'll do it every chance we get. I just can't get over what the sharks feel like. It's nothing like you think it would be. It almost feels like short, coarse fur.
Rhett took this picture of me at the touch tank. Yes, I broke my camera rule and let him hold it. Praise the Lord he didn't drop it in the water or drop it. I would've been in some serious trouble.

Gracie was pooped out about 1/2 way through. She was starting the fuss and whine loudly. Laying on the floor is not only unsanitary, but doing it in a dress is also just not proper. I'm sure the, ahem, lack of sleep the night before didn't have anything to do with it.... We rented this at that point and it really helped. This was a $3 rental investment. Well worth it.

Coolest animal ever. The Octopus. I could've watched it all day.
Two Words: Mesmerizing. Gorgeous.

Oh no! The boys are being attacked by a crocodile! Gracie is so not amused.

Hammin' it up.

Here's to another fun weekend trip. Life is too short not to enjoy it-- I try to tell myself that often. I think we're making wonderful memories for our kids too, so I guess I'll have to embrace the motto, "We can sleep when we're dead!" and keep on havin' fun!