There's a nice big hotel just over the state border in Iowa that we like to visit for mini family vacations. We thought it would be fun to have one of these coincide with Z's birthday, so off we went for a one-night stay -- and this time I remembered to bring the camera!
The elevator is a thrill every single time! Especially when you're riding it to get to the pool!
The hotel has an indoor pool, a beautiful outdoor pool and a ginormous hot tub, all of which are mostly empty most of the time, which is fine by us! These pictures are from our evening swim, so they're all in the inside pool.
Eden figured out how water wings worked and loved being able to float by herself.
We all slept late thanks to the sun-blocking curtains.
The breakfast buffet is a great treat for everyone (although Eden does look like she's about hurl in this picture) . . .
. . . but Z was very sleepy this particular morning. The night before he first convinced me to watch the show "Chopped" and then convinced me to let him watch it with me . . . until midnight! But we were having so much fun! Z had lots of interesting comments and predictions, and everyone knows I can't resist a good conversation! So I didn't. This was the result the next morning.
The floor was inlaid with tiles of a different color forming a big circle. Eden loved running around the edges of the circle, which immediately reminded me of
Z doing the same thing at the Omaha zoo at almost exactly the same age.
He looks a little different now.
Holding hands while going out to the parking lot:
And there's nothing like a hotel hallway for a good sprint.
