Family "Staycation" Travel Journal, Day 2

The first thing on our day's agenda was Ethan's first swim in a pool!  Chris had ensured he booked a hotel with an indoor heated pool, and while the snow was frozen outside, we got to take him for his first swim inside!

 

Ethan sported his bathing suit for the first time.  Our good friend Laura had given Ethan that suit during my baby shower... did she know ahead of time it would match his hair?

 

Oh, he knew he looked good, and wanted to show off his big muscles!

 

Modeling from the pool table...

 

 

to pool side!

 

"Let's do this Mommy!"

 

He looked puzzled at the vast body of water below.

 

Here's a video of his first dip!

 

Confident now, he got ready to do his favorite activity all morning...

 

SPLASH!

Looking like prunes, we finished our morning swim and continued on to explore the National Harbor some more.

 

Brrrr!  The view was beautiful, but it was much colder than the warm indoor pool. 

 

And during our visit to the Gaylord Conference Center ...

 

Ethan wanted to go back to swimming too!

  

"Is this art sculpture (The Awakening) coming to tickle me?"

 

"Thanks Daddy for planning such an awesome trip!"

Staycation over, now back to the real world...

Our Family "Staycation" Travel Journal, Day 1

This past weekend Chris planned for us a "Family Staycation," exploring a couple local treasures, the National Harbor and Old Town Alexandria.  He got a fabulous room for the three of us at Aloft Hotel, and knew that showing his frugal wife he got it at a huge discount on it would make the stay even more fun for her!  It was a really special weekend and I've been looking forward to sharing our travel journal of sorts with you.  Be forewarned, we both had our cameras on us, and were accompanied by our favorite subject!

 

Ethan settled into the hotel right away, I think he liked its modern decor!

We started our first morning heading out to breakfast overlooking the Harbor. 

Ethan flashed his two new pearly whites in approval!

 

We then explored the waterfront at nearby Old Town Alexandria.  Chris had taken me there on our third date, so it brought back some of the new relationship memories! 

 

"I love it when you have days off Mommy!"

 

Being the Obamababy he is, Ethan spotted the Obama's in front of a local store...

and our family caught another photo op with the First Family.

We headed back to our hip hotel so our little man could nap...

which Ethan thought was hilarious!  

  

"Haha!  Who naps on Staycation!?"

As these eyes were NOT shutting that afternoon... 

we went to lounge around in the lobby.

Ethan became his very own...

Ethan-in-a-Box!

We ended the day enjoying National Harbor's restaurant week at a very, very delicious Asian Fusion restaurant Grace's Mandarin. 

The view of the sunset over the Harbor was beautiful from our table. (Photo credit: Chris!)

After Ethan enjoyed a quick dinner, he fell fast asleep in his stroller (must have been that lack of nap), and graciously gave his Mommy and Daddy a quiet dinner together!  It felt like we were on a date night with a sitter.

We highly recommend their amazing calamari!

And their Teriyaki salmon, crunchy shrimp rolls, and spicy tuna sushi was even more incredible!

The perfect ending to a fantastic first day.