Family Fun in DC! Fun with Panda's and more!

I won a trip to Washington DC. and we had a blast.  First off what we won.. Through Lipton/Pepsi we won a Lipton Chef Fest tickets, airline tickets, and hotel stay.  It was a great prize and we were excited and scared.  It was only for two so me and My son went but we are both afraid of airplanes.  We were still happy and wanted to be brave and try it.  We are so poor the $200 cash would be so great for us.

The hotel stay was great!  We stayed in the Grand Hyatt Washington DC and got free rides from airport to the hotel for both to and fro.  We got a room with two beds and a great view of the city.  Let me tell you if you go this is the Hotel to stay.  They have at least two stores, Starbucks, a restaurant, workout room and POOL!  No hot tub but they did have a sauna.  The rooms are nice with large tubs, very comfortable beds.  A large TV makes it over the top!  Room service did not come with our trip so we did not order.  

Wondering around DC.  I am normally great with directions but had got briefly lost finding the restaurant we wanted and our way back.  We walked for miles and my son was not happy because he had found hair in his food and he walks on the insides of his feet, which causes lots of pain.  We got back and when we ate the found the hair so we ordered pizza.  They charge much more delivery charge in DC than they do in Omaha.  We passed out around 10:00 pm because we where so very tired.  The next day was great because Timmy met his aunt and I met my sister in-law for the first time.  Guess where we went?  The National Zoo! We saw Pandas which made the trip even nicer.  My wonderful sister in-law bought my son a hat for the zoo and got us drinks and food.  She was so great and it was a shame we had to be back in time for the Chef fest on day two.  What a great day so far!

First on day two we went swimming at 8am-10am at the Hotel.  Before we knew it we were going to the Chef Fest and we rode in a large bus to the event.  We got unlimited Alcohol but that was not my thing since by this time I had a horrible headache.  We sat in the grass very close to the stage so we could see Michael Simon up close.  The only problem with that is people started lining up for dinner and we did not know.   We were the last to sit and when they brought out the food they did it family style and the people on our table got sides and did not pass them down.  They ate them all.  My son got one Thigh and eventually got some sides but no more chicken :( ...  I also only got one piece of chicken and gave my small scoop of side to my son.  Guess what?  The waiter tried to serve my 14 year old wine.  By this time my head hurt so bad I wanted to cry and it felt as if it would explode.  The announced dessert would be over on the other side so we waited till the swarm left and we walked up and we got one shot glass side of chocolate pudding.  Really?  What happened to a Chef Meal?  When we finally got back to the Hotel my head hurt so bad I could not sleep.  Crying and putting a hot water bottle on my head eventually around 2 am I fell asleep.  What a night.... :(

The next morning I had to be up at 4 am because my driver was picking us up at 6:15....We got in line for Starbucks and it took our whole 2 hour waiting time for the flight to board.  

Overall the trip was amazing, the flight was smooth and the Hotel was amazing!  The lobby is so big!! We really enjoyed our stay...