Our Cleveland Staycation! - Lisa's Two Cents

Happy Tuesday my blog reading friends! As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we did our annual staycation to end winter break and I have to say it was a good one! Not only was I grateful for the things we have in our life, but I was beyond blown away at how BLESSED we are to live in such a beautiful city.

Cleveland, Ohio gets a bad wrap. Not sure why, but in the past decade at least, there have been incredible transformations to the Downtown area. I have a great pride and love for our hometown and if you chose to visit it, I think you would be shocked too.

I highly recommend making a trip to Cleveland, especially if you have kids, there are plenty of things to do!

Summertime is obviously one of the best times to visit, you have the Flats, which allows you to dine on the gorgeous riverfront. There is Lake Erie and the Lake Erie Islands, where you can spend time on the beach or near the water! There is Cedar Point, an incredible place for families, I’ve shared this before. There are world class museums, beautiful architecture, incredible history, the second best Theatre District outside of New York City AND I cannot fail to mention our awesome sports teams, ha! Basically, you should add it to your bucket list!

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed being Downtown in the winter. The lights and holiday decorations made it feel cozy, warm and welcoming.

Here was our agenda for the staycation this year!

First off, the kiddos packed their bags/suitcases and we were off!

Our first stop on our staycation was the Children’s Museum. This place was incredible. It is built for kids and they had a blast exploring in the limited time we were there.

They had the Adventure City room that was had climbing structures, a play market, doctor, automotive garage – kids could use their imagination in this space!

Next stop in the museum was the Wonder Lab – the kids threw on some waterproof smocks and explored a world of water and bubbles.

Next up, was the music and theater room. Kids could play fake instruments or play dress up!

Time for a late lunch, we decided to head over to historic, Little Italy. The restaurant we wanted to go to was closed unfortunately, instead we stopped at ate at a little tavern that was just as delish!

After fueling our bodies, I gave the option of Natural History Museum or Art Museum to the kids. They chose the Natural History Museum. They have a really big renovation happening right now, so it was VERY limited in what we could see, but we still made the most of it!

The drive through where all the museums are located is just stunning!

I didn’t take many pictures at the museum, but these two wanted a pic with their birthstones!

The museum vibe has a very modern feel – Audrey was loving it!

After our time there, it was time to head to our hotel and check in!

We drove through Playhouse Square to show the kids the lights…

Then got to the Drury Hotel. We stayed at the Hilton last year and LOVED it, but decided to give the Drury a try. We’ve heard nothing but great things.

First off, the price to stay was super inexpensive, the room was massive and the hotel was architecturally gorgeous!

The kids loved our view from the room!

We found out that Drury hotels have a “snack bar” from 5:30-7pm. Andrew and I could get 3 free cocktails each at the bar (which was amazing). We decided to have this be our dinner rather than going out to the Flats restaurant Punch Bowl Social, which had bowling.

The menu was pulled pork sandwiches, mac n cheese, hot dogs, nachos and soup. We couldn’t believe it was free!

After eating we stopped back up to our room to get in our suits to go swim!

The water was FREEZING and I forgot the goggles on top of it, but the kids made the most of it. It was super nice having the hot tub though. The Hilton did not have a hot tub, but we voted we loved their pool set up better!

After swimming, the kids showered and got into their jammies. We headed down to the “pantry” where we picked out some candy and ice cream treats to have for our movie night.

Only issue was that you could not rent movies! The kids were bummed, we ended up finding something on TV to watch and hit the hay!

The next morning we were up and ready to explore again. This kid didn’t look relaxed at all haha!

We went downstairs for the free breakfast buffet. Again, could not believe how much was included for our stay rate.

I will say, I do like going to local breakfast joints, but this just worked for us. We kept it convenient.

We were sad to check out of our hotel room, but excited to stop over at the West Side Market and check it out!

Such an amazing market. I say this every time, I don’t know why I don’t shop there more often.

The kids found what they wanted – cake pops, sweets and treats!

We picked up our goodies and did a drive by Andrew’s alma mater, St. Ignatius. The boys got out of the car to throw the football on the practice field, while Audrey and I stayed toasty in the car.

And that was a wrap on our Cleveland Staycation!