The Bachowski Family

That doesn't necessarily account for my absence of nearly a month, but it does at least excuse the past couple of days. 

A few months ago, Mom-Mom brought us a leaflet advertising Christmas on the Potomac at Gaylord National Resort.  We looked it up and toyed with going for a few weeks before finally making our reservations.  We left Friday after I got home from work, made a quick stop at a Cracker Barrel in Maryland and then finally got to the hotel a little before 8:00.  We checked in and hustled across the street to the ICE tent.  Each year, a group of ice carvers from China comes to the US to create an exhibit made out of humongous blocks of ice.  This year was based on the Merry Madagascar movie by Dreamworks.  After we were all bunded up in our big blue parkas, we stepped through the doors and into the 0 degree exhibit.  The kids danced to the music and posed with the giant ice sculptures.  It was all quite amazing.  We grabbed some hot chocolate after leaving the exhibit and let the kids ride the Potomac Express train.  We waited a short while to meet the Penguins of Madagascar before walking back over the hotel to hit the hay for the night. 

We had a little while to wait on Saturday morning before we could go into the restaurant for our special breakfast, so we started on the Puss and Boots scavenger hunt around the hotel atrium and lobby.  When one of the clues took us near the restaurant, we decided to try and get in a few minutes early.  We had to wait a bit, but we were able to do it inside the restaurant and meet someone who turned us all into official Ogres!  Puss and Boots, Fiona and Shrek were wandering around the restaurant while we ate.  The kids were very excited to meet them all.  Paige offered Puss what was left in her milk carton and he instantly fell in love with her!  After breakfast, we decided to venture out into the cold and walk around the National Harbor area.  We stopped in the Peeps store (the duo's favorite!), made a couple of new friends at Build-a-Bear and bought a new mug and saucer set to use on Christmas Eve.  We stopped along the way to take a couple of scenic pictures and then ended up back in the atrium of the hotel for the Meet and Greet.  The kids got to meet and take pictures with Alex the Lion and King Julian from Madagascar, Shrek, Puss in Boots and Gingy from the Shrek movies, and Po from Kung Fu Panda.  We even took a short walk over and got a souvenir photo with Santa!  Paige was a little concerned that he was in his underwear...I told her that he was actually wearing his work clothes.  I don't think she noticed that his red jacket was hanging on the hook in the corner!  We left the hotel again to get an early dinner at a place called Ketchup.  The food was pretty good (Paul really liked their root beer ketchup), but the service left a lot to be desired.  We left with two very cranky kiddos since they hadn't taken a nap.  We made it back to the hotel in time to get a semi-good spot to see the tree lighting ceremony.  Unfortunately, there were several people who decided to push their way in front of us, so Paul and I ended up holding the kids (Paige in his arms and Connor on my shoulders) for the show.  I did manage to get some video, though.  We took the kids back up the room afterwards and put them to bed at their normal time.  Connor went right to sleep, but Paige fought it for quite sometime. 

This morning, the kids were up around 6:45.  We got ourselves ready, packed up the room and checked out of the hotel before stopping for breakfast at the "tiny town" restaurant in the atrium.  We hit the road around 9:30 and got to my parents house by 12:00 to pick up the dog (she couldn't go to the kennel this time because she had surgery to remove one of her toes due to a growth...part of the reason for my absence).  We hung out there for awhile and then came home.  I went right out to pick up some groceries while Paul straightened up the house.  The kids and I made some gingerbread crayons for their classmates when I got home.  We had a nice dinner and then the kids helped me make some peppermint chocolate chunk cookies...yum!

Next week, Paul has work training so he's going to be late getting home every night.  The dog will have to go back to the vet at least twice.  The kids and I are going to try our best to bake a different kind of cookie every night.  Should be lots of fun!

Check back later for a link to photos from this weekend and the month of November.