Hotel Hoppin'

No, we weren't on vacation, we had to hightail it out of our house to spend some time at three nearby hotels. Why, you ask? You did ask, right? In case you did, here's the deal... The house was filling with toxic fumes. This occurred due to Michael working on getting wires into the house for a project. He wasn't thinking (his own words) and used liquid nails (toxic stuff) on the openings to the house that holds the wiring and didn't seal them off right away; he didn't think about the cure time for the toxic substance, but did get a whiff of it later in the evening, which became worrisome. I'm pretty cautious when it comes to fumes of any kind, such as the new furniture we purchased recently... we let it air out before bringing it in the house, etc. Back when I was pregnant with Caitie I wouldn't allow anything new in the house, and I wouldn't allow anything with fumes be in the house whatsoever. I should have stuck with that this time, but with doing the makeover in Caitie's room, I became a bit lenient about it. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, we had quite a bit of new furniture coming into the house. Some is still airing out. Anyway, getting back to the present... I was a bit upset about the toxic fumes... ummm... well... make that more than a bit upset; Michael knows what I'm talkin' about. But I calmed down later that night, once we were in a hotel. I wasn't too thrilled about staying in a hotel, germs and all, but I felt it was better than taking a chance of breathing in toxic fumes. We ended up staying at three different hotels. It seems the toxic fumes were following us. The first hotel we stayed at was having the carpets shampooed; we asked them to hold off on doing our room, which they did, but that only lasted for four days, we then had to move to another hotel. We ended up only staying one night at that hotel. Michael got up the next morning to get something from the truck, and when he got back to the room he told me I wasn't going to be too happy... the elevator doors were being painted, which was just up the hall from us; so off to another hotel we went. We were able to stay at the last hotel for four nights, but only because we asked them to hold off on cleaning the air unit in our room; that's what they had goin'. We couldn't believe how much was going on with the hotels in that area. All three hotels were next to each other, so at least that was convenient. The reason we stayed at hotels so long is because each time we would come to the house to see if the smell had dissipated, it hadn't; not completely, anyway. It seems fine now, and during my obgyn appointment today the doctor said it would be okay to go back home, so we're at home now. Here are a few pics from the last week and a half...

I took this pic on the morning we headed out. We went on a drive up I-17 and ended up at the Sunset Point rest stop. We weren't sure what to do at that point, but finally decided to stay at a hotel.



When we were getting back in the truck to head back to town, I noticed the beautiful yellow flowers in the field across the way, as did Caitie.

I couldn't resist getting a few pics of Caitie in the field of bright yellow flowers.

Here is where we ended up the first day, at the Residence Inn Mariott. This is near the Peoria Sports Complex.

Caitie enjoying some playtime on the mini laptop in our hotel room.

Here's where all three hotels are located, in the Arrowhead Fountains Center. This was in the middle of the road that leads to all three hotels.



Here's the Residence Inn Marriott again; we stayed here the first four nights. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars; it was nice, but needed some updating, in my opinion. We stayed in a two-room suite.

This is the Hampton Inn, which is just across the street from the Residence Inn Marriott. This was the second hotel we stayed at; we stayed here for one night. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. It's a nice updated hotel, but the picture on the TV was awful!

This was the third and last hotel we stayed at, the Comfort Suites. This is next to the other two hotels. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. It was decent enough, but nothing like the other two. It's just your basic hotel.

And here we are at home again... Home Sweet Home. As you can see here, Caitie couldn't wait to play with her toys. I give this place 4.5 out of 5 stars, mainly because it's familiar territory. One reason it didn't get 5 stars is because there's a need to make a call to housekeeping. Oh wait, that would be me. Forget it, it's fine just the way it is.