Staycation.

When we went on vacation to Seattle, in October, we earned enough stays at Marriott Hotels to be "Elite".  Since that happened, I've been getting promotions to earn free nights, and we earn bonus Marriott points.  It's kind of nice.
The winter promotion was: stay two nights, get one night free.  You could earn up to 2 free nights.
We needed one more stay, to earn a second "free" night.
So, I used Nick's corporate discount to get a cheap-o rate at the Fairfield Inn, in Layton.  We decided to have a stay-cation.

Reagan kept insisting that she wanted to eat at Red Lobster.  I didn't fight it, because Brian and Jenny gave us a Red Lobster gift card for Christmas, so dinner would be free.
It's where we ended up going for dinner to start off our staycation.
There was a 15 minute wait, to be seated.  The kids loved watching the lobsters, in the tank.  And everyone ate what they ordered.  So, I'd deem it a success.

Then, we drove over to the hotel.  It's the first time I've ever stayed at the Fairfield Inn brand, of Marriott hotels.  And it'll probably be the last...
I knew it was "low man on the totem pole", of all the Marriott brands.  But, I just didn't realize the difference in quality would be so drastic compared to, say, a Courtyard.

The kids were happy, and that's what matters most.
Any time they get to go swimming, they are happy.
We swam, a lot, while we were there.

 

When we first got to the hotel, it was deserted.  We had the pool all to ourselves.
Then, a bus unloaded a large group of high-school wrestlers.
They headed straight to the pool, too.  And things got very rowdy, very quickly.

We packed up our kids, and headed for the room, round about the time swim trunks started coming off, and were flying through the air.

I requested a room on a high floor.  They put us on the top floor.
I thought that all of the wrestlers were assigned rooms on the 1st floor.  So, I thought we wouldn't see them for the rest of the night.
Oh boy, was I wrong.
After the kids had bathed, I left the room to get some bottled water at the vending machine.

I opened the door to our room, and right there, on the floor was a pair of boxers....
I stepped out in to the hall, and out of the corner of my eye, saw two naked teenage boys streaking down the hall.

Whatever.  I was a teenager once too.  I was trying not to be too uptight.  But seriously?!
I mentioned it to the front desk.  I wasn't the only one.  Another Mom was speaking to the desk clerk, because the wrestlers were mooning each other, in front of her 6 year old daughter.  That Mom asked to be moved to a floor that was "wrestler-free".  Apparently, there were so many high-schoolers staying at the hotel, that they needed more rooms than just the ones on the first floor.  Lucky us.

The next morning, I told Nick that we needed to get to breakfast early, before those boys hit the buffet like a swarm of locust.
We did eat early.  But fortunately, the boys had weigh-in that morning, so they weren't going to eat until after the stood on the scales.  So, the food shortage didn't start until later in the AM.

The thing that killed me, was that I didn't see a single adult chaperon, for those boys!
The coach made an appearance the next morning.  I saw him speaking to the hotel manager.  And she was really brown-nosing that guy.  At first I was annoyed.  But when I thought about it, I realized that the hotel probably made a boatload of money off of that wrestling team.
Lesson learned.
If the rate is super-cheap, the hotel will attract deal-seekers.

I just got the spring promotion, from Marriott.  And again, we'll need to stay somewhere cheap for a night, to earn a free night.  I can tell you right now, that we won't be going back to the Layton Fairfield Inn :)
I'm open to suggestions about other affordable Marriott properties.

I snapped this picture of my handsome boy sitting under the sink at the hotel:

He has learned to squeeze in to a small space, when he get possession of an electronic device.  If the girls can't find him, or squeeze in next to him, they won't be able to take the phone, or ipad away from him.  What a smartie!