Last night, Levi set up an elaborate "hotel" for all of our stuffed animals. If there is one thing our kids are obsessed with, it is stuffed animals. I'm sure we have well over 100, but I've never counted. His sleeping bag is in the middle, because we let him sleep in the "hotel" as well last night.
This is the "bunkhouse" portion of the hotel:
Dora and "Happy Turtles" were lucky enough to score the penthouse suite. When Levi & Kara passed out breakfast the next morning, they got a lot of the food.
"Flopsey" on the other hand was all alone and did not get any breakfast :(.
The reason he set up the "hotel" was because we had been talking about the hotel for our upcoming trip to Disney. I honestly believe he is just as excited about staying in the hotel as he is about going to Disney. For what it is worth, he comes by it honestly - I LOVE hotels. So much so, that I have been known to get a hotel in the very city I live in because everything is just better away from your house (at least in short spurts).
Side note: We recently stayed at a hotel for the first time with 3 kids. Did you know that not all hotels can accommodate 5 people (even when one is a baby?!?). We had to settle for our third choice after the first two didn't work out!
Anyway, I got to thinking...what are some of my favorite hotels and why. Here are a few I came up with:
- The first hotel I thought of was Henderson's Wharf Hotel in the Fells Point area of Baltimore, MD. My brother had recently moved to College Park and after a visit with him, we drove up to Baltimore to celebrate our 5th Anniversary (and it was a babymoon as Levi was only 2 months from birth). I remember we paid around $200 for the room and I nearly fell over when we checked in. I like a nice place, but I'm also a cheapskate. :) But this place was beautiful - absolutely gorgeous. It was also the first time I had stayed somewhere that provided robes. It was a delightful experience.
- The second one I thought of was not necessarily a hotel, but an overnight "experience". When G and I went to Europe in 2004, we decided we wanted to stay at every type of hotel possible from a nice place to a serious dump, to a B&B, a hostel to places in between and finally, on a train! We took an overnight train from Paris to Berlin in a four person sleeping car. We shared a room with a single guy (I think he was a college student) and I slept much better than expected.
- The Opryland Hotel at Christmas. Since Garet's sister lives in Nashville, we have gone to the Opryland Hotel several times at Christmas - gorgeous! Well, in 2008, I was having a particularly stressful time (I believe Garet had been on travel several weeks) and I just wanted to get away. We decided I needed a hotel stay, so we packed the kids up and went to Opryland for the weekend. What a difference staying in the hotel made the experience!
- The Summerhouse at Litchfield Beach, SC. This is actually where we stayed for part of our honeymoon, but a few years ago, they completely redid it and added a lazy river and crazy water area for kids. We took the kids in 2008 and it could not have been a more perfect place to stay. We loved it - the kids loved it - and Levi still talks about it. We can't wait to go back someday.
- Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, HI. While I'm not a fan of Honolulu itself, we had a great time at this hotel. Thanks to Garet's Hilton Points (read: free), we stayed here a couple of nights before heading to Kauai. Just a couple of days ago, Levi was talking about the penguins there. Part of the reason I really liked this hotel was that it was low season and they upgraded us to a HUGE corner room, so that helped, but the area was so beautiful and relaxing...until you walked outside to Honolulu :).
- The West Winds Lodge in Rudioso, NM. I had to include this place, because it was where I spent my absolute favorite vacation of all times. There was nothing amazing about this place - it didn't even have a TV I don't think. It was very simple and it was a great place to lay my head after a great day of skiing. Sometimes simple is the best.
I am sure there are more that I am forgetting, but those are the ones I can think of for today. On another side note, I also like to collect pens from every hotel I go to. Anyone who has ever been in one of our Life Groups can attest to the ridiculous amount of pens (memories) I own.
