Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year!

This year we asked our children how they wanted to spend New Year's Eve:  either going to a hotel with a pool and hot tub...or having a big party.  Well, my children aren't fools!  They chose the hot tub. 

The reason we gave them a choice is because we needed to bleach our plumbing system...which meant we couldn't use the system for 24 hours. 
We chose a hotel in town that is only a few years old.  It is very clean and beautiful.  We rented two rooms for the eight of us.
The important part was that the pool was warm and wonderful! 
We especially loved the hot tub.  This is Allen floating in the hot tub.  When the jets were turned on, the tub became white and frothy.  We had the hotel to ourselves, including the pool.  Because it was a holiday, the pool hours were extended until midnight, and the continental breakfast was extended until 10 am.  Good thing or else we wouldn't have made it to breakfast!
Abigail swam with us on Tuesday, then Natalie met us at the pool to take her home.  That night we sang beautiful 4-part harmony while sitting in the hot tub.  The acoustics were wonderful.  It's a memory I'll cherish for a long time.
For lunch, we took food from home and ate it in the room.  Lizzie made sushi, veggies and dip, and tortilla roll-ups, and Maggie made pepperoni puffs.  It was delicious. 

I have no idea why some of my pictures are showing up smaller than the others.
I want to show you the hotel lobby...it was decorated nicely for Christmas.  I especially enjoyed the grand staircase. Our room was right at the top of the stairs, so we didn't use the elevator.
I took this picture from the top of the stairs.

 Isn't it lovely?!  You can tell I'm playing around with the settings on my camera trying to figure out what works best with what.
 
And this is the breakfast room. We were able to eat bagels with bacon, cereal (with our own almond milk), oatmeal with many toppings, lots of fruit, and even the granola bars that the sign said were "to go."
For dinner, we went across the street to use our Christmas gift cards at Cracker Barrel.  
Everyone knows what the best thing is about Cracker Barrel!

Mike enjoyed pinto beans and corn muffins.
Sarah enjoyed a southern meal of country fried steak with the trimmings.
 And the rest of us enjoyed chef's salad and one baked potato (we took our own butter).  It was delicious...as usual.  I always say salad tastes best when someone else does the chopping!
Anna showed me this quilt that is for sale in the Cracker Barrel store.  She loves that the Bible verse is embroidered on the quilt. 

So we had a very enjoyable evening away from home.  Checkout time was noon, so we came home and started up the woodstove while Mike emptied the bleached pipes.  We would love to make this a family tradition. 

I hope your family had an enjoyable New Year's Eve as well.  Today we are lying around trying to recover, and enjoying being off from work (except Allen). 

Many blessings ~ Kathie

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