Weekend At the Gaylord Texan

Time to start blogging about summer before summer is over! A few weeks ago we got to take just Eva on a big girl getaway to the Gaylord Texas. This girl was cracking me up when she was with us there and I was smart enough to capture some of her best quotes on my phone. Starting with...when we entered the Gaylord. She took one look around the big atrium and asked, "Is this Disney World?" Ha. Nope, just a fancy hotel.

When we got to our room she was still so excited. She looked around and goes, "Wow! It has a bathtub!!!" I guess it's the little things that matter most.

After settling in we were off to the Gaylord water park, Paradise Springs. By far the coolest part was the zipline that you drop off into a plunge pool. Eva did this so many times, and she even got to where she would zip out, do a flip off and then dive down into the pool. 

We went out to eat at the Gaylord's Texas Station our first night so we could enjoy all of their huge screens to watch part of the opening of the Olympics. While we were walking there we noticed all of the Alice in Wonderland decorations and activites they had for their summer season. Eva hasn't ever seen that movie and kept calling it "Allison Wonderland," like it was just her first and last name. 

After dinner she got a unicorn balloon animal that she was in love with. As we walked she was by far the most twirly, whirly, happy kid in the whole place. We kept reminding her to stay with us so she wouldn't get lost. It occurred to me to make sure we were prepared just in case she ever did get lost. I asked her what she would do if she got lost. She replied, "I would run into the woods and learn to survive!" Ha! Not exactly the "look for a police officer or a mom with children," response that I was hoping for.

Back at the room they brought in a roll away twin bed. It was still vertical when we entered the room and at first Eva thought she had to sleep upright. I will say, the hardest part of a getaway with a kid is the sleeping. I don't know, maybe it's just us, but our kids don't adapt well to sleeping anywhere different. Which is a big part of why we didn't bring Jensen. We figured since Eva was almost 5 she would be ready. She didn't do awful but.... I wouldn't take her on a long trip anywhere yet. Sigh.

The next morning we were up bright and early ready to go swim and splash some more at Paradise Springs. We rode the trolley to get there but Eva kept saying "choo-choo" like we were on a train. She said that the trolley rides were one of her favorite parts of the weekend.

Ready to swim! We swim a lot anyway, but it was still fun to have this park to play in. I feel like it made our time away more eventful that if we had just been at the hotel. After swimming we went back to our room and played the game Hedbanz which I had secretly snuck in our suitcase. This game was new to us and it was so silly and fun. 

After one last stroll through the hotel it was time to say goodbye...to Eva. Ryan and I stayed on for a second night, lovingly letting Eva go stay with Papa, Nana and Jensen back at our house. I LOVED our time with our big girl, but this was a great decision for us. I'm so glad we got time with just the two of us as well.

We walked around, eat some Mexican food, swam, and enjoyed watching the Olympics. It was so peaceful and relaxing. 

He always makes me smile :) So thankful for our weekend away.