I want to live here!

Would you like a quick and limited tour of Mohonk Mountain House? It's lovely, historic, etc. just as it says on the website. What you won't find out from the website is that Ben worked there one summer as a busboy and that Seward was the Director of nearby Mohonk Preserve for nine years. Susan knows the family who run the place from they years Seward worked there. Or that the family met there in 2002. In other words, there is history here.

This place is huge and beautiful. I've never seen it in the summer or fall but it's striking, although somewhat haunted, even in the winter. I'm pretending this is my backyard, please don't mess with my daydream, OK? This is my porch. And my turret. We keep adding balconies; there is no such thing as too many balconies. We've been decorating for Christmas too. Quite attractive, wouldn't you say?This visit we celebrated Susan's eightieth and Sam's fourth birthdays. Please don't mention that we celebrated Sam's birthday a few days early. He is convinced that he is already four even though he won't officially reach that milestone until Friday.

As lovely as the place may be, there are a few quirks. Our room was lovely and quite large with windows on two sides of the building, a balcony that would be wonderful in the summer, and a view into the swimming pool. It also had a nice slope to the floor, a slope that was still noticeable while lying in bed, particularly in the smaller of the two beds. The bed tilted so much that I put a blanket under the mattress in one spot to alleviate that rolling-off-the-bed feeling (not to be confused with that not-so-fresh feeling). It reminded me of staying at a friend’s house when I was in grade school. She had a double bed in which we were both trying to sleep but the combination of the extreme mattress slant and being somewhere other than my own bed made it impossible to sleep. I faked it though, even through two of her sister’s coming into the room and saying “Oh, they look so sweet when they sleep!”

The other bed must have been selected as a movement deterrent system because moving even the left little toe caused the headboard to begin thumping at a mad pace. Imagine how this sounded when combined with an overtired and excited nearly four-year-old child.

My sister-in-law told me that her kids were arguing over who got to sleep on the pull out couch because it was the most comfortable bed in the room….

But that is a minor complaint. We were so well fed that at times we could barely move. I imagine it's the resort equivalent of a cruise ship. Two-hour and four-course dinners (two appetizers, entrée, and dessert) each night in an elegant dining room; buffet breakfasts with more choices than can possibly be enjoyed in one morning. Strangely, Sam ate almost nothing as he seemed to be fueled on adrenalin alone. He just didn't know what he was missing, he was too excited to eat. Or sleep for that matter.

There was the excitement of opening presents! Paper flew at 6:30 am.Some landing on Ben's back.A marble run enjoyed by little kids, big kids, and even adults.
Sam's hands down favorite was a carry case of collectible Thomas the Tank Engine trains. It traveled to dinner. It traveled to breakfast. It travels around the house. There were Lego's, clothes, games, and a train activity set and stickers and games and oh my, he is one lucky little guy with very generous friends and family.

After all the morning activity we spent a bit of time on the grounds checking out the friendly snowman. Sam replaced his chin. We admired the effects of the ice storm basking in the knowledge we had nowhere to be and if we wanted to go out, our car was valet parked. We knew that Sam wasn't going to make it through dinner without a nap so we got him to nap the only way we knew would work when he was so excited he couldn't sit still. Forced nap!
Back to the hotel and off to dinner. Sam wore his "fancy" shirt and the lovely train tie he got from Aunt Sarah. He was thrilled! We stopped in Susan's room to give her her birthday gift, a scrapbook we'd assembled which had each of our thoughts about Susan, things we wanted to celebrate on her eightieth birthday. We thought it would bring her to tears and we were not disappointed.
Here is Susan with her sister Mary. Mary provided pictures of the two of them as children, surrounded by the flowers they grew to sell to local hotels.We stopped for pictures on the way to dinner.Then dinner, with birthday cake! Strangely, the kitchen didn't try to put 84 candles on the cake.Sam was exhausted after dinner. Turning four is hard work!But he made the best of it.
The next day we start the activities all over again. There is swimming and lots of ice skating too. Here we're wandering to the skating pavilion where Sam learns a lesson about standing up under a sign. Nevertheless, there is skating to do. I look as though I know what I'm doing in this picture. Perhaps preparation for the triple klutz?Looks are deceptive. Nick skated circles around me.

We skated alone and together.
Sam skated until he was exhausted. But he had enough energy to have his picture taken once again! Here is Sam with Elise. Sam adores her and wants to keep her forever. How did Sam spend his ride home? Just like this. Well, at least for a little bit.I love the juxtaposition of the ducky blanket with the tie and the "fancy" shirt he insisted on wearing again in the morning. Poor guy was tuckered out with all the exercise and excitement and the lack of food and sleep.

All in all a very enjoyable trip. Thank you Susan!

Oh, and thanks to Nick Ben now knows that he’d like his next gadget to be a PSP. Nick, Nick, Nick, don’t you know your Uncle Ben is highly suggestible?