We decided to take a spur of the moment trip with the kids for a few days - after searching the Hyatt hotel list, we decided to go down to Cambridge, Maryland. We had always wanted to go to this hotel, but it is very hard to get in to in the summer. While we hoped that going south would afford us a short break from the terrible weather in NY, the area was hit with a snowstorm the night before we arrived and ended up having much more snow than we did. The trip took us about 5 hours and all things considered, the kids were great in the car.
The hotel was absolutely fantastic for kids and there were tons of things for us to do. We spent hours at the pool where both boys loved splashing around. 
Ryan's favorite thing about going to the pool though was that he could also go in the "hot pool". There was a big jacuzzi next to the pool and halfway through the jacuzzi was a dividing wall - if you swam under the wall (which only came up to water level), you would end up in an outside jacuzzi. I could have stayed in that jacuzzi outside all day - completely surrounding the jacuzzi was a snow-covered patio and because the hotel was so empty, it was quiet, peaceful and could have been very relaxing if someone didn't keep yelling "Can I put snow balls in the hot pool? Why is it melting? mommy, get out and get me more snow please...."
Another great thing about the hotel was the game room, which was filled with shuffleboard tables, ping pong, air hockey and foosball. One of us wanted to teach everyone all the rules before we played, one of us wanted to make up new rules, one of us wanted to take pictures the whole time, and one of us really wanted to eat. Can you guess who wanted to do what? We all had a great time trying to play the games and Ryan was even really patient in trying to let Dylan play too.
Even though the grounds were covered with snow, we decided to go exploring a bit before we went out to dinner on the second night. We went up to the observatory for a while where the kids climbed on the couches, windows and each other while Jay and I sat back and relaxed on the lounge chairs.
After that, we walked behind the hotel out by the bay. Unfortunately, we couldn't go out to the Gazebo because the dock was too icy but apparently, they do crabbing from there over the summer.
Before we got to the hotel, I had read that as part of their winter activities, the hotel had a S'mores roasting every night at 7 pm by a big outside fireplace. I really don't even like marshmallows but I was beyond excited about this and thought Ryan would love it so it was something I really wanted to do. We went to some local place for dinner and then rushed back to make some S'mores. Well, we got there a few minutes late with our chocolates and marshmallows in hand and nobody was there. There was not even a fire going. After inquiring at the front desk about it, they told us someone would be out there shortly to get the fire going. 30 minutes, 2 diapers, and 2 coffees with Kahlua later, we finally were all bundled up sitting in front of a very weak fire, trying to roast the marshmallows. Ryan loved making the marshmallow catch on fire, Jay made a valiant effort to get the fire really going, and Dylan was more than happy to eat any S'mores that nobody wanted. Maybe Smores is more over a summer camping thing.....I had fun anyway.
I hope that we can do some more short trips like this later this year - it was terrific to just get away, visit someplace new, and spend some quality time together as a family. 
