Our Little Stay-cation

Last Wednesday our family was able to go out and have a little stay-cation. My MIL likes to gamble, and because of this she is able to get a free night in a room every month and free meals in one of the restaurants at the casino that she goes to. This month she gave that free night to us. 

We made the mistake of telling Sydney about it a couple of days in advance and that was all we heard about from then on. It was cute because she was so excited to go! We went and checked in and showed her the huge bed that she would get all to herself and she was so excited! She wanted to go to the pool right then and there. We had to explain to her that we were going to have to go eat first and then she could swim. We went down to the restaurant and she was so excited that she could barely sit still! She did eat lots of crab legs and even ate from legs (off of Daddy's plate---ewwww) and then she just kept talking about going swimming!

We got her back to the room and this is how she was while we were getting read to go downstairs.

 

Can you see her excitement?!?

When we went down to the pool she was dying of excitement!!! We jumped right in and she loved it! Last year she loved the pool, but we didn't go to a big one too much. She played in her kiddie pool here more. But this time she was swimming (being held up while we told her to kick), and she was even jumping off of the edge of the pool into her daddy's arms. At first she wanted to hold his hand from start to finish. But eventually she was jumping off all on her own and she was loving it! She had such a great time, but eventually was cold and you could tell she was tired. So we introduced her to the hot tub (it wasn't too hot) she LOVED the hot tub. Once we got her in it we had to stay for a few minutes to avoid the scene we knew she would make when it was time to get her out. Once we got her up to the room we gave her a bath and hit the vending machine for snacks (because we didn't think to bring any... we know for next time!). Luckily they had some fruit gummies that were relatively healthy and we just relaxed. By relax I mean that she watched cartoons on the touchpad to calm down and we were on the computer playing. I was on the hunt for a new, super cute, swimsuit for the monkey because the one she had on is actually too small. We bought it on the way to go swimming last summer and it just fit her then, but we knew it would only fit for a short while because of the top.And I found one! I went through Ebates and ordered that little beauty right then and there so that we would have it if we decided to go back next month and stay another night. After having the cute little two piece we decided that kiddo still needed one pieces. I have nothing wrong with the two pieces on kids. But with her little body type a one piece works better for us and I have always kind of known that.Plus they have some super cute one pieces lately! Her new one should be arriving in the mail any day now and I can't wait until she sees it! I always love the little suits from Baby Gap. Her very first one came from there and I have always looked there since then. 

But back to how our right went... She stayed up watching cartoons until after 9 (she normally goes to bed at 8) and then we finally just turned most of the lights out and she fell asleep.

We don't use a monitor at night anymore, so we never realized how much she moved at night and makes little noises! She slept great in the huge bed all by herself, but we heard her constantly!

The next morning we all got up, got dressed and went to the little cafe for breakfast. When we got back it was time to go and she was so upset! She didn't want to leave her new room! We explained to her that we were only staying the night and we would come back.

I am so glad that we went because she had so much fun and you could tel that she felt like such a big girl! Plus we got to see how she does in a hotel if we go on vacations. The last time we stayed in a hotel she was 6 months old. lol. So she slept and that was about it. We also learned the essentials we need to bring with us like snacks, milk, juice, and our electronics. lol. 

Have any of you done something similar with your toddlers just to get away for a night?

What do you do differently?