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Vacation Recap from Country Inns & Suites

August 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been posting pictures all weekend from our little getaway to Ventura, and I just want to leave my final word and vote of approval for Country Inns & Suites.

My little family had a great time!!

Next time we take a trip though, I think I will elect to bring my car.  Taking the train was nice and all, but we were very limited with what activities we could do.  Country Inns & Suites provides some great vacation idea’s with their fun-filled itineraries, but since we couldn’t get to any of them by foot, we were stuck.  Lucky for us, my kids only wanted to swim in the pool…so it worked out nicely!

Our hotel in Ventura was full of friendly staff.  I especially liked Jackie who was serving up FREE happy hour!  We sat and chatted for a long time while she cleaned up.  The girls at the front desk were also great.  They were very accommodating when I asked for a late check out due to our train not leaving until 3pm.  Could you imagine wandering around for 3 hours with kids and luggage while you waited for your train??  Yikes!

The fact that Country Inns & Suites serves up a free hot breakfast is an amazing value for families.  We saved a ton of money not having to go out with a family of 5.  There was a large selection to keep even my picky toddlers happy and their tummies full.  Combine that with having the convenience of a full kitchen in our room, and we only spent about $100 on food the entire 4 days ($76 at the grocery store and $30 at the burger joint).

Thank you SO much to Country Inns & Suites for providing my family free accommodations so we could see first hand what a great family hotel they are.  I will not hesitate to book rooms with them for any future family trips!

Have you seen our pictures yet?  If not, check them out:

Country Girl in the City

Days 1 & 2

Days 2 & 3

Filed Under: Family Life, Product Reviews Tagged With: , , ,
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Vacation Pictures Day 1 & 2 #HitTheRoadCountry

August 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CountryInnLogo

I posted this morning about how days 1 and 2 were going on our first family vacation.  We are having a nice relaxing time here at the Country Inns & Suites in Ventura.  It’s real different being in the city as opposed to our country home (translation…the freeway is noisy!).  Today we have done nothing but swim in the pool and eat.  Isn’t that what a vacation is all about??

Best of all…at this very moment…2 out of 3 boys are passed out sleeping on the couch (**Correction….all three are out for the count!)  YAY!  It’s really quiet right now and as soon as I post these promised pictures, I might just lay down myself.  SWEET!

countryinntrain

We liked our first train ride!

countryinn4Our very BIG living room.  Don’t mind the shoes…just like home.

countryinnkitchenWe have a FULL kitchen.  It’s a little old and well used…but it’s SO nice to have.  We are saving a ton of money fixing our own food instead of eating out.

countryinn3This is a weird little extra room in between the living area and the bedroom.  The boys like to play in here, but won’t use it to sleep.

countryinnpier1Our view.  There is the Ventura Pier and Pacific Ocean out in the distance, unfortunately, it’s obscured by this Amtrak Bridge and Freeway.

countryinnpierSee…there is the ocean…We’ll be heading down there tomorrow.

countryinn2First night.  The boys thought it was “SO COOL!” this magic hide-a-bed couch! LOL!

countryinn1We’ve got a nice pool.  The boys love the big pool and being able to jump in…they are not allowed to have that kind of fun at home with the little pool…

countryinn6That face cracks me up!

countryinn7“I got water up my nose!”

countryinn8“Did you see that?  It was SO cool mom!”

countryinn5Hey, how’d that get in there? :)

Alrighty.  There is my photo recap of our first days on vacation at the Country Inns & Suites in Ventura.  Tomorrow we’ll head down to the pier and check out the beach.  Fun times!  Should I wake up the nappers??  Um, no.

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Country Girl in the City #HittheRoadCountry

August 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CountryInnLogoWe made it to Ventura/Santa Barbara!

In case you haven’t been following along, thanks to County Inns & Suites, we are on our first ever family vacation.

We arrived in Ventura late yesterday afternoon via the Amtrak Surfliner train.  That was an experience!  It was very crowded and we didn’t even have seats until the 2nd stop.  But the ticket guy/conductor (what ever do you call them?) scoped us out some spots.  He even had to kick a group of kids out when they got to the seats before us.  That was really nice and I appreciated it. Standing in the stairway with 3 crazy monkeys on a moving train wasn’t really my ideal traveling situation.  But once we were seated, the boys did really well.  Just a few “I want to go home‘s” from Bobo towards the end.  But he’s a homebody anyways.

We actually had to walk from the train station to the hotel.  I made the mistake of forgetting the directions.  oops!  So we weren’t entirely sure where we were going.  Imagine, 5 people (3 toddlers), and 3 suitcases just wandering aimlessly around a strange new city.  And my poor husband hadn’t slept yet after coming off an overnight shift.  Fun times!

After asking a couple homeless guys if we were close…we arrived.  The staff at Country Inns & Suites were very welcoming and we were checked into our room in no time at all.  The hotel is situated right on the freeway.  But inside it was very pretty and inviting.  The boys were happy to have complementary cookies after their long walk.

This room is HUGE.  The boys are having a great time running through like crazy people.  I feel sorry for the people below us!  I have pictures, and I need to upload them.  I’ll be back later to tell you all about it.  But right now, I smell complementary HOT breakfast downstairs and I want to eat!

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Monkey Bites and a Surrogacy Update

August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I don’t really have an entire blog post right now.  Actually, I have a few that I need to do, but no time to do them.  So I just thought I would quickly share what has been happening the last couple days.

  • Yesterday – Tuesday.  I had a lining check and Estrogen blood level check at the fertility clinic.  My uterine lining is thickening up nicely and should be perfect for transfer day…which is NEXT WEEK!  Holy crap!  This has gone by so quickly.  My IM (Shannon) also had a check and the doctor told her she was a “Rockstar!”  I am taking that as a good thing.
  • I am trying to get laundry done and packed for vacation.  *ugh*
  • I am trying to clean my house since IP’s are coming to hang out tomorrow (Thursday).
  • I found out today that Mr. A. needs a real live birth certificate to start Kindergarten.  YIKES!  I wish they would have told me this…oh…about 6 weeks ago.  I was told the pretend hospital BC would be fine.  It’s not.

So, I don’t know when I am going to get down to get Mr. A. birth certificate.  I guess I’m just gonna have to bust ass to get down there in the morning before my IP’s get here.  That means I have to finish cleaning and packing today.  The next few days will be a whirlwind!

  • Wednesday – Clean and pack.  Oh, and at 3pm, I have to drive my darling husband down to a doctor appointment where they will sedate him and jab a very long needle into his bones.  Fun.  Just glad it’s him and not me!
  • Thursday –   Go to the County Records office and get a birth certificate.  Come home (hopefully I will make it back before my company).  Have fun with my IP’s.  Pull something out of my butt for dinner (NO, not literally…that’s just gross).  Finish up packing cuz I’m sure I won’t be done.
  • Friday – Mad rush in the morning to finish packing.  Take the dog to his vacation.  Leave for the train station by 11am.
  • Saturday – VACATION
  • Sunday – VACATION
  • Monday – VACATION
  • Tuesday – VACATION…..over. :(   Come home on the train.  Arrive back in San Diego around 7 pm.
  • Wednesday/Thursday/Friday – Possible embryo transfer!
  • Monday – Mr. A. Starts KINDERGARTEN!

*sigh*

I’m tired just thinking about it!

Off to clean.

Filed Under: Randomness, Surrogacy Tagged With: , , , ,
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A First ~ The Family Vacation #HittheRoadCountry

August 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

countryinnlogoMe and Bob have been married for 8 years.  We have had children for 5 of those years.  As a family unit, we have never gone on vacation!  Of course, we have gone camping and such with my large extended family.  We’ve taken the boys to the Sequoia’s and the desert.  But never have we gone on vacation.  Just us.   Until now.

I am one of the lucky bloggers being given the opportunity to participate in Country Inns & Suites, Road Trip promotion.  On August 21st, we will be hitting the road and heading to Santa Barbra/Ventura for four fun filled nights!

Country Inns & Suites has made it super easy for busy mom’s to plan short, fun filled adventures for their families.  They have created special itineraries based on specific locations.  They list fantastic, kid friendly locations and sites to see.

Since we are visiting Santa Barbara, we were given the “Ocean Drive” itinerary to help plan our trip.  The Ocean Drive itinerary has spots picked out all along the Southern California coast, from San Diego to Santa Barbara.  Spots that are actually local to me, like the Oceanside Pier and Legoland, to those that I am looking forward to visiting, like the Ventura Oceanfront and the Condor Cruise.

Money is tight with us.  As always.  So I don’t really know how many of the fun touristy suggestions we’ll actually get to do.  I’m really just looking forward to hanging out on the Ventura beach.  My boys LOVE the beach and this would just be heaven for them by itself.

H0R7WL15Or, maybe, I’ll just be hanging out at the heated pool for 4 days.  That actually sounds really nice to me, too.

I only know for sure that we are heading up on the train.  I’m SUPER excited to take the boys on their first train ride.  And the train station is only a 10 minute walk to the hotel (wish me luck).  We will be snacking on the complimentary cookies, maybe I’ll grab a book from their lending library, eating complimentary hot breakfasts, and relaxing.  Can you say “aaaahhhhhhh!?”H0R7WL19 And this should be about what our room is going to look like?  We are booked in their “Executive Suite.”  Yeah, baby!  I may never come home!  Really.  If you don’t ever hear from me again after August 25th, it’s because I’m hiding in this room and laying on the beach.

Have you taken your family on a vacation?  I’m really excited.  I feel like a “grown up.”  Never mind that I am 36 years old!  Where would you go if you could take a last minute trip?  I am already looking for ideas for next time. :)

*photos copyright of Country Inns & Suites*
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