Meeting up with my sister, the Winking Lizard Tavern, and swimming

After our adventures at the Great Lakes Science Center, we headed south about 20 minutes to surprise the kiddos with a visit with my sister who is a junior at Ursuline College. The kids had no idea that we were heading there until we pulled into the parking lot right next to a big Ursuline College sign.

Mary showed us all around campus and showed us her dorm room. The kids liked seeing where Aunt Mary goes to school.

Then we decided that it was still a little early to get dinner, so we headed to a nearby mall to walk around. It has been years since I have been in a mall and we literally just walked through each floor window shopping.

We decided to head to the Winking Lizard Tavern for dinner. I looked on tripadvisor and it got good reviews. I checked their menu and they had a kids menu, some dishes for vegetarians (my sister), and regular food for my hubby and I. When we got there, we got the last spot in their parking lot and expected a wait. However, we were seated right away. We had great service and the food was yummy.

I had a fiesta chicken sandwich that was really yummy! If we are ever in the area again, we will definitely be making a return trip there.

After dinner, we dropped my sister off back at college and headed to our hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Beachwood. We chose the Hampton Inn as we have had good experiences with them in the past. Check in was great.

The hostess gave our kids cookies with green sprinkles (for St. Patrick's Day) and was in the process of refilling the complimentary coffee/tea/hot cocoa area and encouraged us to come back down to get some. I did have to ask for our room keys as she told us to enjoy our stay, but hadn't given us the keys yet. Our room was clean and well maintained. After settling in, we got our swimsuits on and headed down to the indoor pool.

The pool area was clean with music playing lightly in the background which was a nice touch. The kids loved swimming!  

That night though we had a bump. Around 11 pm someone was given keys to our room and was trying to come in. After calling the front desk, they had apparently given us the keys to the room even though the computer had us in the room across the hall. There was no apology given, just that they had fixed it. My children were asleep and thankfully we had the extra lock on the door. Not a pleasant situation. The beds were comfortable and the comforters were nice and warm, considering that I couldn't get the room very warm. The blackout curtains worked wonderfully.

The following morning, we went down to the complimentary breakfast. There was a good variety and the staff kept most things well supplied. My only complaint was that the room where the food was was fairly cramped and it was hard to move around if there were more than 3 or 4 people in there. There was plenty of seating though.

After eating, I had to take Benjamin to our room and when we tried to enter using our key card it wouldn't work. Neither would Bill's. So I had to go back down to the front desk and after I told the host what was going on, he didn't say a thing and just took my cards and re-authorized them, handing them back to me with not a word. I was not very impressed with the customer service in the morning.

After breakfast, we packed up, checked out and then headed out on the road to our final destination of our quick getaway....