{Travels to Lost Pines: 2014}

We went to Hyatt Lost Pines again this year (remember last year?) and apparently we are making it a family tradition. It is amazing to look back at the same time last year and see just how much the boys have grown. We thought it was easy last year, but man oh man, this year really was a breeze. Now don't get me wrong, Chat and I worked our buns off with these boys. They are still two and four, but overall it was just a much easier trip than we have ever taken.

My boys still love their fruity drinks...and boy did we all have a lot of them!

So the first day, I tried to get a few cute pictures of the boys together. EPIC FAIL. The next few pictures are entitled How to Drive Your Mother Crazy....

At that point I gave up as families (with older children) around us started to snicker. Clearly we just aren't ready to take cute pictures with the boys looking at the camera. EVER. Ugh!!!!

However, the boys were ready to have their picture taken on the token statue horse in the lobby. It is one of the first things we do every year. Secretly I hope one day they want to ride a real horse!

My favorite part of the trip is always the s'mores. And you will see a few pictures down, that it is Ben's too. He double-fisted every night and would be begging for more as we left each night. The boy likes his food and I think s'mores tops the chart for him. What can I say? The apple does not fall far from the tree.

Traveling with these two has become quite easier as far as sleeping arrangements go. We asked for a roll-away bed for Luke and a pack 'n play for Ben. Around 9:30 pm, I realized that the pack 'n play was just not going to work. He is just waaaaaay too long for it. So I called the front desk and got them to bring up another roll-away bed and FINALLY everyone fell asleep. Ben is my night owl and, well...just wants to party till at least 10:00 or 11:00 every night. I was thinking swimming ALL DAY would wear him out. Apparently not.

Even though he drives me crazy at night, he still does some pretty cute pictures for me during the day...

So this was Ben on Saturday afternoon. We went back up to the room for about an hour or two to let the boys get out of the sun for awhile and rest. Ben proceeds to pass out with the TV blaring and all of us playing a board game. And for the life of me I couldn't wake him up. I finally got him up within an hour or so, but guess what that meant?  Yep, partying all night long and resisting bed time!

The boys played a little tether ball again this trip.

The pool was awesome -- whether it was just swimming, floating the lazy river or going down the water slides. The boys love every minute! And now that Luke is great at swimming and Ben will wear his float, it has gotten extremely easier to be at the pool with these two.

With all these amazing water activities, what did Ben really love? The self-serve water station. He was constantly add it filling up cup after cup after cup. 

A little downtime after dinner before the fun with s'mores began. We rarely let the boys play with the iPad, but they get to when we are on a trip since there is never any appropriate tv shows for them on. But boy do they get hooked quick! Luke asks me no less than 20 times a day for the iPad since coming home. Sorry Charlie!

A little family selfie was in order on the last night after s'mores. We really needed this family time together. With Chat's new job and his school schedule, we needed the time together without any distractions. We put up the phones and electronics 90% of the time we were away and it felt really good.

That is almost 90 pounds of children in Chat's arms here. I think he felt the burn.

To follow tradition, we had to ride T-Bone and Ribeye, the Hyatt's longhorns. Luke couldn't wait. And it was very important to him to be able to wear the cowboy hat. He was fired up!

Ben surprisingly did not want to ride the longhorn at all. In the end, he opted to just pet him and give him a little lovin'.

The best part about the whole resort is the water slides. The boys LOVE it and both actually could go on it by themselves (hallelujah!). We had to be at the bottom to catch Ben since you couldn't wear floats going down it, but that was no problem at all.

 

So another year down! It was just what we needed and I am in major vacation withdrawal at the moment now and trying to get over my crabbiness since we still have 2.5 weeks till school starts. How I wish we could be back!