Night Away

We had been talking for a while about scheduling a night or a weekend away since Cooper has never been away from us overnight and we wanted to start trying that a little at a time.  We'd talked about a few options in the Fall, but none of them panned out.  So as we approached Christmas we started looking at a time.  Since my mom and David were both off the whole week of Christmas we decided to plan a night away between Christmas and New Years.  We found a great rate the Omni Mandalay Bay in Las Colinas and booked a night there.  After nap yesterday we dropped off both Lily and Cooper at my mom's house and headed up to the hotel.

Here we are, ready for a night away!

The hotel was really beautiful and it was an added bonus that all of their Christmas decorations were up.  We've looked at staying at the Omni in Downtown Dallas, but it's so expensive for a night that we've never done it.  We had some friends that have stayed at the Mandalay Bay before and recommended it and we found a great deal.  It was perfect for a night away!

After we got checked in and settled in our room, we spent a little time walking around the hotel and the area outside by the lake.  We grabbed a few pictures before heading to dinner.

David found this Mexican food restaurant online and it was a great choice!  The food was delicious and it was a beautiful atmosphere.

And we enjoyed eating just the two of us without needing a high chair and endless snacks to keep a toddler entertained.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel and then walked to an ice cream place on the other side of the lake.  They make and freeze the ice cream after you order it-- I had birthday cake ice cream with a brownie bowl and David had peanut butter ice cream with oreos.  Both were delicious.

We tried to get a few pictures with the beautiful Christmas decorations, but the lighting was not good, so we settled for this one.

And then we headed back to our hotel and were in our pajamas by 7:30 :)  We watched the first half of the Baylor Bowl Game before crashing.  We went to bed without any alarms or a baby monitor.  This morning we had a lazy morning at the hotel.  We did a lot of reading and some TV watching-- it was just nice to not have to get up right away and get going with Cooper.  My sleep is so off that I don't really sleep in even with the opportunity, but it was nice to be able to stay in bed and read/relax past 7:30 for one of the first times in 21 months.

After we got ready, we grabbed an early lunch at Chipotle.  We had tried a few new places Thursday night, but it was nice to go back to one of our favorites for lunch.

 We finished off our time away with a movie.  We went and saw Mary Poppins Returns at the new Alamo Drafthouse in Las Colinas.  We enjoyed dessert while we watched the movie.  We both really liked the movie and it was fun getting to see something together.

Then we headed back to get Coop and Lily.  Cooper had a great time with Grandma-- he did really well.  She said he asked for us a lot, but didn't seem to get too sad.  He was excited to tell us about "Grandma's car" since they went and ran a few errands that morning.

It was nice to get 24 hours away with just David and I.  We had some good conversation and lots of rest.  I'm so glad we planned this as part of our Christmas break!  And it's nice to know that Cooper did well without us for a night-- makes it easier to plan another time away!