We decided to have a destination Christmas this year, because we won’t be traveling for a while once our new baby gets here. My mom and dad went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for Thanksgiving last year and loved it, so they invited us to do it all again with them for Christmas. Mom planned absolutely everything, and we just showed up and had fun. It was such an awesome Christmas vacation—one we will never forget! The above picture is the Arlington Hotel where we stayed. It was built in 1924, and the girls kept saying it felt like we were on the Titanic. They thought that was so cool and absolutely loved it!

 

The girls found the rooftop pool and hiking trails right off the bat! They were so excited!

 

My cute parents!

After we explored the afternoon away, we walked to dinner at Rolando’s.

 

We celebrated my birthday, which was so sweet!

My favorite part was the made from scratch Caribbean rum cake for dessert. I’ve never had anything so delicious!

Fun on the patio!

 

The weather was so unseasonably warm, we didn’t even need our jackets, which I loved! Best of both worlds!

 

The girls were fascinated by the letter drop box in our hotel that extends to every floor. We dropped messages from the floor of our room to see if we could collect them below, but once we got back to the lobby, we realized it is still a working collection mailbox for USPS. Oops! They’re going to have a lot of fun reading our letters! Next up, we headed to the heated pools and hot tub. The girls could not wait any longer! Can you believe we were outside and comfortable in our swimsuits two days before Christmas? Crazy!

The big girls having the best time! They’ve missed the water.

Poppa and Rara picked a super fun place for us to hang out for Christmas!

Our buddy Jax got to stay at our hotel as a retired therapy dog! Poppa and Rara surprised us, because we didn’t think he was going to get to come. That was our first Christmas present! We love Jax so much!