National Harbor Trip

The Stefany family took a little before-Christmas trip to National Harbor this weekend.  Going away the weekend before Christmas seemed a bit ridiculous to me as the weekend approached; the last weekend to shop, wrap, do local Christmast things, etc, etc was now being taken away.  Actually, now that it is over, it was pretty great to go away.  Whatever was accomplished at that point, was all that was going to be done.  It was refreshing to escape all that crazy last minute stuff and just enjoy time with my family during this festive time of year.  After all, quality time with loved ones is way more important than buying and receiving material gifts.

National Harbor is a town created out of nothing southeast of DC.  There is just enough there to entertain all ages for the weekend: playground, lots of restaurants, carousel, Ferris wheel, and shops.  I loved parking our car and being able to walk to everything.  We were not close enough to DC to do any of that stuff, but I was ok avoiding those crowds.

I'd say the Capital Wheel and the Gaylord Convention Center are the big attractions.

Bundled up and ready to explore!

Our little toddler might have said "big wheel" a million times

Standing in line for our ride

Bray goes with G, Auntie L, and Cole

Ev got her two favorite guys

Photo courtesy of Cole.
Does a good job capturing our view

We braved the cold to play at the playground and ride the carousel

Look who else was riding!?

Brrr!  We needed to warm up

hot chocolate at a "warming station"

A fire pit to warm our hands, noses, and spirits
(Hannah had dramatic fall at the playground)

We hopped hotels over to Gaylord to check out all the glitz over there.

Beautifully lit trees!

Pictures coming soon of us in things other than coats and hats

The evening light show

In addition to the lights, we also rode the glass elevators up to the 18th floor and back down, rode the "peeps train", and were mesmerized by the fountain.

They spotted Santa on the balcony!

Cutest siblings out there

Our hotel was not as fancy as Gaylord, but it had an indoor pool and that made it a-okay with us!

I can't tell if she is so happy she can't stop smiling or
she is freezing.  Probably both

"Puddle jumpers" are amazing!  The kids loved swimming on their own

And of course Daddio is the fun parent

It was a little chilly coming out of the pool, so we quickly put all the kids in the jacuzzi tub to warm up

Bray's placement of the balls cracked us up

Mohawks!

Our hotel had a kids room where we colored, an arcade where they won all kinds of balls, and luggage charts for rides down the hallway :)

And if all else failed, there were always planes landing at Reagan National and lights

Jason and I even managed a date night.  The kids were happy to have popcorn and watch a movie with G and Poppop

Popcorn easily wins them over

The cold air, twinkling lights, huge Christmas tree, families walking around in Santa hats, Santa himself, Christmas displays in shop windows, and overall holiday feeling turned me from feeling overwhelmed about the holiday to charged up for the big day.  I am ready for Christmas!