Mommy & Ellie Trip Year 1: Resort Staycation

For our first annual Mommy and Ellie trip we decided to do a staycation and the local Princess Fairmont resort. Upon our arrival I could see why so many people from around the country visit Phoenix and stay at resorts. The property is gorgeous and perfect for our weekend "away".

I was a little bit nervous about what we would do together all weekend and if I'd be able to keep her entertained. It turned out that I had nothing to be worried about because we had such a great time. Most of the weekend is explained with pictures in the slideshow below, but some of the best parts of the weekend for each of us included:

Hiding from dinosaurs!

• While driving from Anabelle's daycare to the resort she did not want the radio on. She insisted instead on me singing "A, B, C, D, Dinosaur". As this was a Mommy and Ellie weekend, I happily obliged and we sang it at least 7 times on our way. Luckily, the resort is only about 10 minutes from daycare.

• After we checked in and were looking around our room I was informed that "a dinosaur was coming!!" This was a fun little game we played all weekend. I would ask her different questions - "what color is the dinosaur? Is it walking, flying, or running?  Is it gone yet?" And if we had the opportunity we would climb under our covers and hide. 

• Swimming at night. We went down to the Sonoran Splash pool on both Friday and Saturday night where they had transformed the pool area into a "club". They had a DJ, black lights, a fog machine, and glowing hula hoops. Anabelle loved the music and I caught her dancing in the pool a few times. After we were tired of swimming we went to the dive-in movie and snuggled on the pool loungers under pool towels and watched movies. Swimming at night is always more fun!

Sleeping beauty

• Sleeping with a toddler is interesting and fun and exhausting all at once. Ellie and I have never slept together before and just talking about it with her I could tell that she was ecstatic about it! She petted my face, wanted to sing songs, wanted to be a monkey and jump on the bed, and basically wanted to do everything except sleep. But, once she did fall asleep her sweet little snores, precious face, and little body melted my heart and all was forgiven. When I had to give her medicine at 6:30 I was hoping we could snuggle and get some more sleep but she had other plans. She was wide awake and ready to start the day. No sleeping in on our vacation!

• Another highlight on the trip for Anabelle was pushing the buttons in the elevator. She got really good at only pushing ONE button in the elevator (after a trip to both floors 3 AND 4) and was a pro by the end of the weekend.

Jump #439

• We did everything that she wanted to do for the weekend and I think that getting to experience the trip through her was what made it so special for me. She wanted to jump in the pool 945 times so we did that. She wanted to check out the stairs so we did that. She wanted to take a shower so we did that (she did NOT like the shower, by the way). She wanted me to snuggle her so we did that. She wanted to take pictures herself (I do it Mommy!) so we did that.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend with Anabelle. She and I got in a bunch of snuggles and kisses, we played and explored, we did girly things like crafts, fingernails, and tanning in the pool, and we got to be buddies.

Oh, and because the resort was so fabulous Matt and Hayden joined us at the end of their weekend away (they went to Cottonwood for the weekend) and we spent a few hours in the pool, going on the water slides, and hanging out with friends. It was the perfect family ending to the weekend.

There is text with most of the pictures so make sure to read that to get all of the weekend details. :)

Click to See Photos

I'm so grateful that Matt and I each committed to spend a weekend alone with each of the girls this year, and after we each had such great experiences this weekend know that we'll make this an annual event.