Rewind back to the weekend of Dec 3rd. We headed up to Grapevine, TX with the Wellmann's, the LaBorde's, the Kade's, the Patton's, the Molloy's and the Nieland's for a Christmas adventure. We stayed at the Gaylord Texan where there were numerous Christmas activities for the kids. The hotel was decorated just beautifully and we had such a GREAT time!
We were the first to arrive so the kids started taking part of all the activities. We started with Rudolph's Reindeer round-up where we had to search for all the reindeer in the hotel using our secret decoder.
Then it was off to elf-yourself where we pretended to turn into elves and help in Santa's workshop!
The Kade's and Molloy's arrived and the kids were excited. We toured the hotel with them, saw Santa and had a nice dinner on "the riverwalk" in the hotel. They were so excited that it was hard to get a decent picture!
I love this one with Ashdin kissing Marlie. For the record I think she kissed him first. Still teaching the "play hard to get" tactic.
Everyone arrived later and the girls had "girls night out" once the kids were in bed. At this point I'd like to tell some crazy story that involves dancing on tables and carrying someone back to their room, but let's be honest...we are all working Moms and way too tired to put forth that much effort. So we had drinks and desserts at the coffee shop overlooking the beautiful atrium. It was so fun and relaxing!
Saturday we had a big day planned. We were at the ICE! exhibit at 9:00am!! It was amazing. The theme this year was A Charlie Brown Christmas. I don't think the kids appreciated it as much as the adults but they loved the ice slides. It was 9 degrees in there so needless to say Marlie was not too happy with her multiple jackets and the cold. She didn't get much sleep the night before because she spent most of the night kicking and punching me (which is why our kids never sleep with us at home!). She would not be happy that I'm posting these pictures of her, but looking back it was kind of funny. I think she was the only frumpy one of the bunch though and I was proud of all the other kids for being good sports!
By the time our family came out Coach Dan already had hot chocolate waiting for the kids! We had to warm up because then it was off to the SNOW! exhibit. The kids had so much fun tubing down the hills. I would say this was probably the highlight of the weekend for them. I didn't get great pictures because it was dark, but you can get the idea!
After a nice lunch and a little nap it was time to get the kiddos in their PJ's for what we were most excited about...a trip on the Polar Express to the North Pole! The kids were pumped and I think we adults were too. We had a quick bite to eat on Main street which had tons of wonderful restaurants and shops. We didn't have time to shop but did manage to find a cupcake place with amazing cupcakes.
This was our attempt to get all the kids together for a picture but as you can see we failed miserably. I think all the Patton kids are missing as well as Ashdin and Daniel.
The kids were ready! We gathered in a large tent before boarding the train and the kids got to all go on stage and sing. Avery ran right to the front. You can see Marlie, Brady and Daniel on the far right and I think the boys are somewhere in the back. They sang their hearts out!
So we boarded the train and well...were pretty disappointed. There was a man trying to get everyone to sing Christmas carols who was as excited as my kids are about eating squash. There was no Polar Express story or even an attempt at a makeshift North Pole. But we had to laugh about it all and the kids still thought it was very cool! They did get to see Santa and were very excited about that!
The guys had "guys night out" that night and I'm not sure what exactly happened. Apparently "what happens at the Gaylord Texan stays at the Gaylord Texan". But they looked pretty good the next morning at Breakfast with Charlie Brown.
Breakfast with Charlie Brown was good because the food was amazing! The kids loved the chocolate fountain and I loved pretty much everything else they served. It was the perfect ending to a great weekend.
Thank you to Melissa for coming up with the idea to take a trip there and for all our amazing friends for coming with us and sharing in the fun. I still can't believe how good the kids were and how easy it was coordinating 30 people. We will have to do this again. Marlie keeps asking when we're going back!
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