Gratitude Day #8

We were out of town, but now we're back! We decided that we wanted to start a tradition of doing something fun together as a family for our Christmas present instead of doing a ton of gifts. We'll still have a few things for the girls to open, but this is where our Christmas budget went to. We planned a little ski trip to this ski resort called Peek 'n' Peak. Since it's considered "early" season, we got all these deals. We booked a room and got our lifts tickets for free. And the room was CHEAP (cheaper than the price of 2 lift tickets)...and it had separate sleeping areas for the girls and us. It gets better. They have an indoor pool, indoor kiddie pool, indoor/outdoor hot tub, sauna, fitness room, and a HUGE play space for kids with 3 huge jungle gym/swingsets, pool table, ping pong table, and arcade games. AND they had a spa (like a massage/facial type of place). AND...they had daycare. So, on Tuesday we were SOOOOOOOO grateful for BABY-SITTING!!

Dave and I took the girls to the daycare center, and to be honest-I had a few reservations about taking them. I was worried about the quality of it, etc. We walked in and loved it right away. The girls took off and started playing with the toys, no problem. Dave and I were trying to figure out who would leave skiing to come pick up the girls, get them lunch and take Bree back to the room for a nap. Then we had to discuss whether or not it woould be worth it to get back onto the lifts if Bree didn't wake up until late, blah blah blah. Then the lady pipes in "we have cribs and a quiet room for naps." WHA????? HALLELUAH!!!! (or however you spell that) AND they feed them lunch. WAHOO!!!! They seriously had an awesome set-up in there. So we left them (no crying!) and looked at ourselves like a couple of kids in a candy store. What should we do with a whole day without kids????

Off we went to ski! It took a while for me to get the hang of it again-it's been at LEAST 6 years since I've gone. My knees were starting to hurt pretty bad (story for another day), so I decided to be done after a little while. Dave went off on his own and I went...to the spa for my very first massage EVER! Oh man, that was AWESOME. It was so nice to feel like I was asleep but not really asleep. I don't think I drooled :) It was a really nice spa and I totally felt pampered and relaxed!

After I was done there Dave met me back at the room-he had done all the runs a few times already! Let's just say, it's no Utah :) But they do a good job with what they have to work with. So we relaxed, watched tv, read. Then we picked up the girls around 3-ish. And this is where it rocks even more. Every Tuesday is Ladies Day, and you get FREE baby-sitting!!!! We were expecting to shell out money for this and it was FREE! You usually have to book it as a Ladies Day thing, but when I went to make the reservation the lady told me it didn't start until January. I was a little bummed, but we got all the other deals so it was okay. Then the lady at the baby-sitting said that it was going on now and she arranged it so we got it for free! Everyone that worked there was so awesome. They sent the girls home with all their art projects, and Emma was sad to leave. But then we took them to the indoor pool and they were in heaven again. Emma kept telling us she wanted to live there. After the pool we went to dinner, then came back to play in the big playzone. The girls slept well that night!

So if anything, the baby-sitting alone made that place worth every penny! We're going to try to go back again during Spring Break if they're running those same deals :)

Ahhhh...that was awesome.