Mommy takes on Mystic.
Hello friends. I'm back to share some fun. This Memorial Day weekend I was blessed with not just Monday off, but also Thursday and Friday as well. My husband was not so lucky and still has to work, but that wasn't stopping me from having some fun with the kids (sorry, Matt) so the kids and I are spending May 26th - 28th in Mystic, CT.
When I was first trying to come up with my plan, being that my son is still pretty obsessed with dinosaurs, so therefore my daughter is too, Mystic was actually one of the first places I thought of. I know most people don’t think “dinosaurs” when they hear “Mystic” but I know of some dinosaur gems in that area, so I was pretty settled on Mystic as our destination.
For example, Mystic Aquarium is pretty awesome to begin with but add on top of that, they're offering a special dinosaur exhibit right now. Additionally, Mystic also has The Dinosaur Place nearby which, if the name isn't clear enough, is a place to take kids that are obsessed with dinosaurs since it's apparently THE Dinosaur Place, as the name suggests. I have never been to The Dinosaur Place but I was hoping to have better weather for our visit since they apparently have a massive splash pad, but alas the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating. We'll see though, there's still time for the weather to change. Don't worry, I'll expand much more on each of these attractions in the coming posts.
We left today for our little adventure. The kids had no idea I had anything up my sleeve. I mean Matt barely remembered I was leaving, since I kept it so quiet, so the kids were clueless- the way I prefer things. Today started off like any other Wednesday for them. What they didn't realize though was I had secretly packed everything up and had the car ready to go. As soon as they were done their swim lessons, we were off. The kids had no clue what was going on and I, of course, was not telling them anything. Right away they thought we had to be headed to Disney World or a Disney Cruise since it was a "Mommy Adventure". Sadly, that is not the case and I had to break it to them, which at first they still didn't believe since I played nothing but Disney music the entire two hour ride, but once we arrived they tried to hide their slight disappointment. Poor Mystic was now competing with Disney.
I am happy to report that we made it the entire drive without Vivian getting sick in the car, though I made her wait to eat lunch until we arrived at 2:30pm. Poor thing was a trooper and never even asked for a snack. She made up for it though with a near drowning in the hotel pool instead. This girl keeps me on my toes, that's for sure! She's fine and was actually quite funny about it, but I think I lost about 10 years off of my life from the adrenaline. When I called Matt to tell him about our day she made sure to tell me, "Tell Daddy I sank" followed by "...tell him you can't breathe underwater. I tried. It gave me spicy nose."
After that drama, clearly the only thing left to do was cuddle in bed watching movies while eating take out... and when in Mystic, there's only one thing to order... Mystic Pizza, of course! Yeah... except if you are a New Yorker. For the life of me, I still can't get used to the idea that I could be within two hours of home and yet the pizza is still so drastically different (i.e. terrible). Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Mystic Pizza. Their pizza is great- for non NY pizza, but if you are accustom to quality NY pizza, it's on you when you go out of town, order pizza, and expect fantastic pizza. So that's my bad guys. And by the way, I'm trying to be good, today at least, so I got a salad anyway. The salad was delish, by the way! Benjamin had the famous pizza and Vivian had spaghetti and meatballs, which she somehow "dropped" on her entire face??? I'm telling you, this girl is next level.
Our hotel for this trip is fantastic and I highly recommend it for families. My last visit to Mystic, like I said, was before the kids so it was a nice romantic trip at an Inn with a four post bed and fireplace and we ate at all these obnoxious, hipster restaurants where all the waitstaff wear suspenders and cabbie hats, and they serve you tap water from recycled bottles that hold like 2 ounces of water and you wait like ten years for them to return to refill your old bottle of tap water with another two ounces, and every dish... EVERY...dish, including dessert, somehow involves kale and/or quinoa... I digress.
This trip, the kids and I are staying at Hilton Mystic and eating at fine establishments like McDonalds. Don't judge me. Have you seen the size of their cups? No waiting 2 hours for an ounce of tap water there! Moving on...
The Hilton Mystic offers tons of fun and amenities- even during Covid! First off, the rooms come standard with coffee makers, refrigerators, and microwaves. Huge plus when I'm traveling with the kids. We always try to do breakfast in the room and pack their lunches when traveling- it's a great time and money saver. The Hilton Mystic also offers a restaurant so that also means room service! They have really cool fire pits all over the place and they have a pretty large indoor pool that offers movie nights while you swim at 7pm on the weekends and nightly during the summer. Really great place, but if that doesn't sell you on it, well, they also have a Starbucks directly next door and right across the street is Old Mystic Village, an outdoor shopping center with all kinds of cute stores, restaurants, and even a luxury movie theater with heated seats! You literally can park the car at this hotel and not use the car again all weekend. It's great and I can't say enough about it.
Tomorrow we head to Mystic Aquarium so you can expect to hear from me on that gem, then on Friday we'll be doing our dinosaur thing at The Dinosaur Place, so you'll hear from me on that one too. I'll also, of course, include our food escapades 'cause I'm still me, but don't expect nearly as much since Matt isn't here and I'm trying to just take one cheat day this little trip. I'm finally down 23 pounds from my 6 weeks of Disney, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by another week at Disney, followed by Christmas, followed by New Orleans and a Disney Cruise, followed by a pandemic. That was like cardiac arrest waiting to happen so I'm happy to finally be within my goal- only 8 more pounds to go! Don't worry though, I'll still provide some food fun this trip, just not my typical.
It's great to be back and I'll see you guys again real soon!