hotel party time

My birthday :)

We started the morning with chocolate and whipped cream topped pancakes.

 

and presents.  Of course ;)

But the real highlight was late afternoon when we loaded up the van and drove across town to a fun hotel for a spend-the-night party.  This hotel ROCKS.  One of the coolest outdoor pools we've ever enjoyed.

The "beach" is sand they trucked in from a fancy resort location in the south part of the country.

The weather wasn't perfect (a bit overcast, and cooler than the first part of the week) but that didn't stop us from getting wet and sandy.

 

 

 

Seven in one room is always an adventure, and we (luckily) sleep far better than I fear.  We woke to rain and spent the morning at the indoor pool before heading home - and naps FOR ALL FIVE KIDDOS!!  That's a lot of swimming :)

Really a fun way to celebrate a birthday - lots of fun with the family.  I loved it! 

[disclaimer: Please don't go around thinking we drop tons of cash on fancy 5 star hotels.  We're big fans of earning hotel (and airline) points and redeeming them for great deals.  Our favorite hotel points program is with Starwood/SPG.  This hotel came up on their 'points breakers' offer and we booked for 5000 points per night.  To put that in perspective, you can earn 60,000 points with one credit card offer - sign up for the card, spend the x00 dollars needed to earn the points, and cancel the card before the annual fee is charged.  It takes a little time and number crunching to "play" these credit card games (thanks Matt!) but totally worth it for the free hotel rooms.]