I wish we could stay at an Inn

Well, we've just gotten back from a week in Florida with my parents and the couple they travel with (Should I use proper grammar here or write it how I would say it? I clearly have a lot to learn about blogging.) My, how I have missed blogging and reading everyone else's blogs. I jotted down some notes about what I wanted to blog during the week, so this is my best translation.

Friday Jan 18
We spent all day Thursday cleaning, doing laundry, and packing. I also had a fabulous craniosacral appointment in the morning. I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for my shoulder/upper back/rib problems. For the first time, the therapist was able to finally loosen the tissue that was causing so much pain. Yay!

E had a music show he really wanted to see last night, so we talked to the kids about our driving plans. We all agreed that driving 18 hours straight through (no hotel stay) would satisfy everyone's needs. So when E got back from his show at 1:30 am this morning, he woke us all up and we headed for Florida. We stopped off at a gas station to top off the tank so I could drive all night and not have to interrupt their sleep. While E was pumping, Owen, still half asleep, looked up at me and said, "I wish we could stay at an Inn." I reminded him of our plans. He nodded and off to sleep he went.

I'm not sure why, but his statement really stuck with me all night. Why did he call a hotel an Inn? First of all we've only stayed in 4 hotels with the kids in their whole life. We always stay in my parent's timeshare condos. He used to call hotels condos. Just out of curiosity, as I was driving and thinking, I noticed that most of the hotels have the word 'Inn' in their title. Gradually, I realized I had discovered another one of Owen's morsels of hidden learning. We always say 'hotel' when we talk, so Owen must have read all the Inn signs. I know it sounds like I'm going overboard with this concept, but it was such an obvious sign of his learning, I just couldn't help but enjoy the experience. (As a side note, I made a list of 61 different Inn names. Almost all of the big chains started out with 'Inn' in their name and some have cut it off their title to modernize it.)