Gaylord ICE

Our friends Allison and Andrew stayed with us last week while they were in town from Denver. Not only was it great to have visitors; Gabby ADORED spending time with the two of them. One morning I listened in as Gabby showed Andrew the contents of one of her drawers (Pull-Ups) and spent no less than 10 minutes describing in great detail the Pull-Ups, the designs on them, her favorite character, and on...and on...and on. And at the end of this monologue, I overheard..."Ok, you want me to show you what's in the NEXT drawer?" And Andrew was so good natured about it..."oh YES, I would like to see the next drawer..." Gabby was in heaven.

One of the highlights of their stay was our visit to the Gaylord Texan. We went to see all the Christmas decorations and to go to the ICE exhibit. I thought ICE was great...especially for Gabby. It was a neat exhibit, but we might have been a bit underwhelmed if it was just us. But Gabby thought it was super cool, which made it a lot more fun. Our tickets were for 5 p.m. on Sunday. We showed up a little early to wait in line, and discovered...there was no line, so we were able to just walk right in. We got ourselves parka'd up and headed into the 9 degree exhibit. There were probably 4 to 6 separate rooms filled with Grinch-themed ice sculptures, with one of those rooms containing the ice slides. They had 3 full sized slides as well as a smaller slide for kids under 4. There was a bit of a crowd in the slide room when we first showed up, but that only translated into a couple minute wait to get on a slide. After we all had the chance to take a few trips down the slide, the lines had died down so much there was hardly any wait at all. Gabby loved the kid slide, and probably made at least 7 or 8 trips down. In general, she just got a kick out of the entire experience. Spending time with the four of us, getting to roam around a HUGE hotel, seeing all of the Christmas decorations, going into the COLD COLD exhibit, sliding, drinking hot cocoa...she had the time of her life.


The Gaylord atrium...so pretty!



This little train village was adorable.



A little fish pond



Oh my word, we are actually ALL smiling!

Allison, Andrew, and Mr. Reindeer

Heading into the exhibit hall...Andrew was really excited.

Gabby cracked me up in this parka. It was the smallest one, and her hands wouldn't come out of the sleeves because the arms were too long. She wanted so bad to touch the ice, but the sleeves were so stiff we couldn't really push them up to free her little hand.

Inside the exhibit

Can you believe this is ALL ice?

The slide room!

Here's Gabby getting queued up to go down the kid slide.

And then...nothing. She INCHED her way down the slide. She was sitting up too straight and her slippery parka wasn't getting enough contact with the ice. Employees at the bottom of the slide were coaching her to wiggle and scoot and she finally made it to the bottom.

So I told her next time to lean back, so her parka would slide down the ice. She took me very literally, and this time she slid down COMPLETELY on her back...a total limp noodle. It was hilarious.

Here's Allison's graceful exit. The big slides went fast if positioned yourself the right way.

So sad...her hat and parka were "bothering" her.

We managed to stay cozy despite the 9 degree temp.

Allison and me

Allison and Andrew are funny.

One final (horribly lit) photo op.

Over it. Ready for her cocoa.