There are so many other names I could have entitled this blog entry:
The Most Interesting Vacation Ever (and By Interesting I Mean Awful)
or
The Yuma Bake
or
Musical Hotels
Etc, Etc, Etc- you get my point. So without further adieu, let me present The Woods Family Vacation 2010.
It all started out so promising. Our family had planned a little vacay to San Diego for 5 days. That in and of itself is exciting but to add to it, Ammon was taking the whole week off work! Sunday afternoon, we got or bags loaded into the car and started on the 6 hour drive. After a few potty breaks, a Del Taco stop, and some caffeine for Ammon, we arrived at the condo where we were going to stay at 11pm. We hurried and unloaded the car, got the kids bathed and by 12:30am had everyone asleep. Whew! Ammon and I crawled in bed and I decided to read just a few pages in my book to wind down. About half a page in, I noticed a little bug crawling across my book. Gross. I wiped it off and continued reading. 20 seconds later, another little bug. I jumped out of bed and turned the light on full blast. Ammon and I did a quick inspection of the bed and found lots and lots of the little bugs. We did an Internet search and determined that they were BED BUGS!!!!!!!! GROSSSSSSSS!!!! We flew into action. We got all of our stuff out of the place, forfeited a couple pillows and blankets, and woke up the 4 to load them back into the car. It was now about 2am. We found the closest Marriott and checked in. By 3:30am (after all of our PJ's and anything that had left the suitcase had been washed and dried), everyone was back asleep. At 5am, Ammon had to wake up for work ("Just a quick call and one email to send out."). By 7am, we were all awake. We were still a little freaked from the run in the night before. We decided to check into a different hotel because it had cheaper rates and had 2 rooms to a suite instead of one. Once there, we decided the vacation was finally underway. We went to breakfast, then to the beach. It was a really fun day until.... We came back from the beach and went to go into our hotel room but the key wouldn't open. We went to the front desk and they informed us that they had found in one of the rooms in our building, not ours, BED BUGS!!!!! Are you freaking kidding me. They decided to treat the whole building and move us to another room. So, we were now in our 4th room in 16 hours. We finished off the night and woke up the next morning pretty stressed out. We felt doomed. How could we avoid these nasty bed bugs- the LAST thing we wanted to do was bring them home. We decided this vacation just needed to end. At this point, calling us paranoid may have been an understatement. So, we decided to finish off our vacay in Scottsdale and along the way, KILL any and all bed bugs that may have possibly hitched a ride on our luggage or car or anything. So, we loaded up all of our clothes in black garbage bags and duct taped them up. Next, we loaded our suitcases into black garbage bags and duct taped them up. Lastly, we loaded everything else we had with us in black garbage bags and duct taped them and loaded them up. Paranoid? Yep! A car full of duct taped garbage bags, good luck at all the border control check stops!
Step one- done! Step two- drive to Yuma where its still hitting 100 degrees a day and park the car with all our garbage bag goods in the sun for a couple hours and let them bed bug suckers BURN!!! Apparently, an hour at 113 degrees kills them. By the way, ask Ammon or me anything about bed bugs, we've done our research. So, we pull into the Yuma Target parking lot, leave everything in the car except for us and what we are wearing and start the bake (we had an hour to kill, of course I choose Target- no brainer). In Target, we picked out a new outfit for each of us. What an adventure! The low point was when all my kids were fighting over which color of bra I should get. Finally, we all made an executive decision- green (TMI). Along with the clothes, we purchased a thermometer- we needed to see 113 degrees with our own eyes. Paranoid? Yep! So, once the purchase was made, we all headed for the family dressing room and changed into our new 100 percent bed bug free clothes. Another low point was when Boston kept repeating "Oh, I just feel so clean" over and over in the dressing room. I can't even imagine what those around us thought was going on. 
Then, we took our clothes we had been wearing, loaded them into a black garbage bag, duct taped it shut and put it into the car oven along with the new thermometer. We then decided to give the bake another hour. Next we moved onto Chili's in the parking lot for some food. The exciting news is, that stop had nothing exciting happen there- give thanks for little blessings. Once dinner was over, we went back to the car. The thermometer read 133.4. 
Then, we took our clothes we had been wearing, loaded them into a black garbage bag, duct taped it shut and put it into the car oven along with the new thermometer. We then decided to give the bake another hour. Next we moved onto Chili's in the parking lot for some food. The exciting news is, that stop had nothing exciting happen there- give thanks for little blessings. Once dinner was over, we went back to the car. The thermometer read 133.4. 
Whew!!! Step 2- Done. Step 3- drive straight to the laundry mat and wash and dry every piece of clothing we had on the trip with us. Paranoid? Yep. The dryer also reaches hot enough to kill any lingering bed bugs.
While our clothes were drying, we moved onto step 4- wash and vacuum the car. 
Once all that fun-family-vacation-fun was complete, we checked into our 5th lodging (well, technically 5th and 6th because it was 2 rooms but then we had to be moved because the rooms weren't adjoining so really 7th and 8th rooms- but who's counting?). I have to be honest, it was a little awkward walking into the hotel with black garbage bags as suitcases. But no worries, after Target, all of our pride was already gone. We got all kids bathed and in bed (after a lot of work trying to find bedding for the crib the hotel brought up for Scarlett) when Tyler comes into our room crying because her ear is killing her. Ammon make a trip to Walgreens to get some Tylenol and ear drops and we fixed her up and sent her back to bed. Ahhhh, piece and quiet. Oh wait, nope- Ryder then came in our room with something in his mouth. When I asked him what he had, he opened his mouth to show me. Throw up. Sweet! It was at that point that we decided, we had had it. No Scottsdale resort. This vacation had to be over. ASAP!!!! Once all the kids were asleep, Ammon and I folded the mountain of clothes and then called it a day too. 
Once all that fun-family-vacation-fun was complete, we checked into our 5th lodging (well, technically 5th and 6th because it was 2 rooms but then we had to be moved because the rooms weren't adjoining so really 7th and 8th rooms- but who's counting?). I have to be honest, it was a little awkward walking into the hotel with black garbage bags as suitcases. But no worries, after Target, all of our pride was already gone. We got all kids bathed and in bed (after a lot of work trying to find bedding for the crib the hotel brought up for Scarlett) when Tyler comes into our room crying because her ear is killing her. Ammon make a trip to Walgreens to get some Tylenol and ear drops and we fixed her up and sent her back to bed. Ahhhh, piece and quiet. Oh wait, nope- Ryder then came in our room with something in his mouth. When I asked him what he had, he opened his mouth to show me. Throw up. Sweet! It was at that point that we decided, we had had it. No Scottsdale resort. This vacation had to be over. ASAP!!!! Once all the kids were asleep, Ammon and I folded the mountain of clothes and then called it a day too. 
We woke up the next morning, took the kids to Chuck E Cheese's (cause after all, this is our family vacation for the year)- who knew they open at 9AM?? 
While in there, we brought out the thermometer to do another bake, just in case. Paranoid? Yep. Then, we headed home. We made it home around 5 pm last night. Everyone was relieved to be here. The kids ran into the playroom, excited to be home- but not before we made everyone strip down and get into the shower and put all their clothes straight in the wash. Paranoid? I'll let you decide this time. Oh, all the original suitcases? Out back in black duct taped garbage bags for the next few weeks. Heck, let's be honest, they'll probably end up in the garbage can in a few months when we get sick of looking at the garbage bags.
On the bright side,
1. We got to see our friends from Kentucky, the Garners, while in Yuma. That was really fun!
2. We got to go to the beach.
3. Who knows what we avoided by all of this. Things happen for a reason. This adventure/nightmare may have been really minor compared to what could have happened had we stayed in San Diego. Who knows, maybe this was a blessing.
4. We got to spend lots of time together as a family.
5. Ammon had a few days mostly off work.
6. We all got some cute new Target clothes (especially the green bra).
7. We found the bed bugs so we were able to prevent the spread of them to our home.
8. It's still 100 degrees in Yuma and for that, I will forever be grateful.
9. We found a REALLY good frozen yogurt place in Yuma!
10. We made some memories we will NEVER forget!
