Sunday, July 20, 2008

Our vacation, by the numbers

8 - The number of people our condo slept.
10 - The number of people who actually slept in our condo. (Shhh...don't tell the owner.)
$575 - The cost for my half of the condo rent.
4 - The number of phone calls received daily on the condo phone from telemarketers. We learned to let my 7 year old nephew field these calls. He'd listen intently for a while and then say, "Um, I don't know you," before hanging up. He did excitedly exclaim, "Hey, we get free cable with all the channels!" once after hanging up.
9 - The age of my nephew who had to visit the ER early one morning with croup. Yes, he's too old for croup but it is my family.
12 - The number of times I've been to this beach town without anyone in my group ever having to visit a local hospital.
11 - The number of boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes my mom brought on the trip.
5 - The number of boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes my mom brought home from the trip. Proof that there can, in fact, be too much of a good thing. I love those little cakes.
3 - The number of different bedrooms I slept in on the trip. (Yes, I spent at least one night in each of the condo's bedrooms. Don't ask!)
4 - The number of people who slept in the living room on our last night there.
1 - The number of strangers in the elevator when my 7 year old nephew announced, "My dad's almost drunk." (That man's response? "That's okay, Buddy, we all are.") In our defense, there was no alcohol consumed by anyone in the condo...that I know of. Little Nephew just blurts out odd things at times. He made an awesome drawing of a dolphin...emerging from a cocoon...dropping into a punch bowl. Creative? Or just odd? You decide.)
1 - The number of hours Beth and BFF were allowed to be out of my sight before having to physically check in with me. I figured there wasn't much they could get into when they knew I'd be seeing them within an hour. It seemed to work. As far as I know, neither of them managed to do anything to permanently mark their bodies. (Although BFF did get a henna tattoo.)
6 - The number of jellyfish stings suffered by people in my family.
1,000 - The number of miles put on my van from the time I picked up the key from the condo owner until we pulled into the driveway Saturday night.
4 - The number of hours required by the ancient condo dryer to dry ONE load of clothes. And that was only if the load only contained normal clothes. If you added a beach towel to the load, it took at least 5 hours.
75 - The average temperature in the condo. No matter how low we set the A/C, the temp never lowered. At times, we were sweating while sitting and watching TV.
38 - The number of hours it took Elvis to get back to normal after having a seizure and needing his emergency medicine to stop it. That was 38 hours with a really cranky small child with no muscle tone. It was a looooong 38 hours.
2 - The number of naps I took. However, during one of them, I was sharing a twin bed with Elvis. I'm not sure that counted.
4 - The number of crabs caught by my brother and nephews. They stuck them in the freezer and ate them on our last day there. Yuck.
$56 - (plus tip) The cost of lunch for 5 at the most fun restaurant I've ever been to. Worth. Every. Penny. (This was the only meal we ate out on the whole trip.)
90 - The top speed of my van on the trip. I certainly didn't mean to be going that fast. I just looked down and saw it. I honestly didn't even think my van could go that fast, especially when loaded down with five people and their belongings, as well as a week's food for 10 people.
3 - The number of calls from my alarm monitoring company when my alarm went off at 3:30 AM.
1 - The number of really good friends who went to house at 3:30 AM to meet the police. (Thanks, L!)
2 - The number of police officers who entered my home and woke Alli and Boy Wonder when they arrived to find the alarm still blaring and a back sliding door half-way open.
12 - The approximate number of ounces of really cold Crystal Light I spilled on my sleeping nephew. As you can imagine, he didn't much like that. He kept screaming, "Why would someone pour ice water on a sleeping person?" To clarify, I didn't actually pour the drink on him. I spilled it on the counter and it dripped off the other side onto Little Nephew who was sleeping on an air mattress in the living room.
$3.90 - The lowest price for gas I found the whole trip.
6 - The average number of times per hour that my 3 nephews burped and/or farted.
22 - The number of episodes of the Gilmore Girls I watched during the week.
3 - The number of jigsaw puzzles worked by my mom, my brother, and me. We'd taken two with us and actually went out to buy the third.
$10 - The amount Mom and I spent at the Rescue Mission Thrift Store. I bought a $0.50 book in an attempt to entertain a bored nephew for a few minutes. She got two books for herself and a folding stool to keep in her car.
$12 - The amount we spent on gas to get to and from the thrift store.
3 - The number of books I read. (Three Little Words, Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphree, and What Child is This. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will have to wait.

and
4 - The number of days (including today) that I have off before summer break is over.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Norman catered to all people, no matter who they were, he treated them all the same. He made a policy of people in wheelchairs, he called it "if you bring your own chair ... you eat free", and he held to that.
Excerpted from Lamberts website.

Jane said...

WOW! Elvis WILL take his wheelchair next time! Thanks, Norman.