THE GROWING GENTRYS: Family holiday getaway

James and I had a rare four days off together before Christmas and we took the kids to Winslow Arizona for a couple night getaway to La Posada Hotel. La Posada is an old preserved railway hotel, built in 1929 for the Santa Fe Railway, and the structure and decor has stayed true to its original spirit. They house a fantastic restaurant, the Turquoise Room, where we had delicious regional food. We took an afternoon drive through the painted desert, and had a pit stop in Flagstaff for lunch. Ho Ho Ho!

The first thing we did when we got into our room was sprawl out on the bed. Ada and Will love love LOVED the king sized bed in our room. They loved to dart all around it, crawling, rolling, giggling galore! Hilarious.

Ada freaking out with glee on mom and dad's bed. This image resembles hanging out with her...a bit of a blur!

Ada goofing around with mom, waiting for James and Will.

Also, pumpkins loved the bathroom in our room. Bright tiles, tub faucet within their reach. Water on, off, on, off. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Squeal in delight.

Did I mention toilet paper in reach? Double score!

The kids did really well our two nights away, not used to being away from home, restaurants for every meal. Our last night however, we think both Ada and Will had enough fun by dinner. So this became our fancy dinner--take out in our room just our family. It was one of my favorite memories of the holidays. Bonus--the restaurant let me take my martini back to our room with the kids dinner! Also, James went and got us a bottle of wine and grown up dinner once the kids were asleep that we ate by the fireplace.

Painted desert. Perty.

Stopped at a toy store Christmas Eve with Will and Ada in Flagstaff. Here, testing out the goods. This is where we got our first Christmas presents to them, blocks and cool wood toy ambulance, firetruck, and police car.