Surviving with Two Under 6 At A Hotel

My husband's work was throwing a Parenting Retreat weekend at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Beautiful hotel to say the least! We were only there 2 nights, 3 days and we live an hour away so we didn't need to pack too much...just the necessities:

• Stroller
• Pack n Play
• Diapers & Wipes
• Diaper Bag
• Couple changes of clothes per person
• Snacks for my picky eater
• Items for the bathroom (brush, shampoo/conditioner, soap, toothbrushes, makeup etc)
• My kids favorite stuffed animals

This hotel was HUGE! We got lost the first day trying to find our room, then where we were suppose to have our retreat and then where we wanted to eat. This caused a lot of tension between my husband and I but eventually we learned our way around without a map. 

It was a helpful thing that the hotel was so big because there was too many stairs, we didn't use our stroller at all, so we let our kids walk the majority of the hotel to burn off that boundless supply of energy they always have!

We even allowed our kids to run down the hallway to and from our room in order to help with that energy supply. As long as they were not loud, didn't hit any of the doors that were not ours (our oldest can read the numbers now thanks to Kindergarten) or run into people. 

This was our patio from our room, we allowed our kids to play out there with the few cars we packed for them because my kids love their toy cars. Obviously we were watching them from the chairs out there or on the bed. Allowing them to play helped them not be so hyper in our room because they were not confided in one area. 

This was what our room looked like, 2 queen beds, so the first night we decided to put the baby in bed with me and our oldest slept with my husband. That night was TERRIBLE! I got no sleep because the baby kept getting up or rolling around and I barely slept in fear of him rolling off the bed. So the next day for nap time I had my husband bring up the pack n play because our youngest was so fussy and tired! 

He slept for an hour like that while our oldest sat on a bed with his tablet and headphones and my husband and I ate cheesecake out on our patio with the door cracked. That night we moved the pack n play in between our beds and after our youngest fell asleep in bed with my husband and our oldest while I was showering, he was so tired that when I picked him up to transfer him to his crib, he didn't move at all and slept til almost 2 AM! By that time we where both so tired, our youngest had woken up and hit my husband and I picked him up and put him in bed with me. That night he slept better. We all did thank goodness! The hotel had Starbucks and we took full advantage of that caffeine! 

No our youngest is not peeing in the fountain! Lol but this water / fountain show was a huge help in getting them to settle down and eat. They were so focused on watching the water that we all ate in peace. They are normally nuts, running around or yelling/crying when we go out to eat with them (even with all these Tips) so this distraction was a blessing for a quiet dinner. 

It's stressful being taken out of our normal routines, being away from our beds and throwing kids into the mix is just the cherry on top of the big stressful cake that is parenting. Trying to keep to a nap/bed time routine, allow your kids to burn off energy any (safe) way possible and try to have fun together. It's hotel and you're on vacation: ENJOY YOURSELF!