Favorite Hotel

So driving six hours to the city and staying at a hotel for three nights may sound a little extreme for an eighth birthday party.  The question that was thrown at me a couple of times was something like... "if this is what you do for number eight, what's going to happen for nine?"  Funny thing is, I never really think that far ahead.  Who knows what will happen for number nine, I'll think more about it 11 months from now.  And honestly, we hyped up that we were going to the city to our favorite hotel for Callie's birthday, but really, us grown ups were just looking for a reason to get away from the routine of winter for a couple of days.  Somehow, things just fell into place and our good friends and a total of eight kids were able to meet up six hours from our home in the name of an eight year old birthday party!

 



The weekend was pretty much all about the kids having fun.  Hours and hours in the hotel pool.  A mini shopping spree for the birthday girl which included a new minky outfit that she walked out of the store wearing and continued to wear for the rest of the weekend.  Gormet dining at Fuddruckers.  Our first experience at an arcade.  And the ever delightful Sponge Bob movie.  Despite all things kid related, weathering a snowstorm, and a dislocated shoulder on the waterslide, the parents of these eight children also had a wonderful time on this mid-winter getaway.

After a busy day of shopping, watersliding, supper and the noisy arcade, the eight kids were lounging on hotel beds all plugged into some type of technology.  The adults enjoyed each others company nearby with a cocktail or two.  We looked at the kids and the multiple iPads each playing a different movie and we had one of those "when we were kids"  conversations that make us sound like old people.  "What did we do in hotel rooms when we were kids, with no iPad movies watch or games to play?"  We tried to answer that question but none of us could even remember going to a hotel as a kid for no real reason.    Hotels visits were reserved for real purposes, like a wedding or an overnight stop on your way to your real destination.  We looked at the kids again and thought about how much fun they had had that day.  We had another drink and decided that it doesn't really matter that their childhoods will be different from ours. 

 

The only thing that really mattered was that awesome memories were made.