Ice! at the Gaylord Texan

Yes, it's after Christmas and I'm just now catching up on blog entries from just after Thanksgiving.  I won't give excuses, but I'm sure you will all forgive me when you see the cuteness contained in this entry.

Each year, the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine (just north of Dallas) puts on an Ice! exhibit and I've always wanted to go.  The Gaylord is a massive hotel/conference center - owned by the same people as the Opryland Hotel and quite similar for those of you who've ever been there.  Each year, they bring in ice sculptors from China who work for months to create an amazing exhibit entirely out of ice.  This year's theme was A Charlie Brown Christmas and it was really pretty amazing.

The tour starts with a brief film on the making of the exhibit.  Then, everyone heads into another room to bundle up in giant winter jackets to walk through the exhibit.  Now obviously there are tons of kids who come to see the exhibit, but I think Jack was the smallest in our group.  We got him the smallest jacket they had, but the tour evidently doesn't plan for one-year-olds because he looked like a jacket with a little head on top.  For those of you who've ever see Monsters, Inc., he reminded me of Boo when they dressed her up in the monster costume as he toddled around the exhibit.  Of course I might be a little biased, but he was definitely the cutest thing there!

Here are some pictures we took from around the exhibit. Remember, everything is made out of ice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the last room, there was a giant ice slide.  I took Jack to the top of the slide, planning to slide down with him, but I was told that I wasn't allowed.  The man at the top of the slide assured me that he would be fine, so we send the little jacket-with-a-head down the huge slide all by himself.  I excepted that he might be upset, but he got right up and toddled off.  What a big boy!

 

 

And yes, of course they talked me into buying the $15 family photo at the end of the tour:

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Our Little Family's Thanksgiving

Given the excitement of Jack's birthday party the weekend before, we made the decision to take it easy for Thanksgiving.  It's never easy for me to be away from family at Thanksgiving, but we decided we really needed some R&R and a chance to start our own family traditions.

On Thanksgiving day, we got up early, watched the Macy's parade, and started making dinner.  We tried to make most of our favorites: turkey and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls and pumpkin pie.  I wasn't brave enough to attempt Granddaddy's famous stuffing, and immediately regretted my decision.  Our storebought cornbread stuffing just wasn't the same!  Here's our turkey cooking in the oven:

 And a shot of our delicious meal:

And finally, the pumpkin pie (I may have filled it a little too full):

On Thanksgiving a year ago, Jack was just over a week old and smaller than our turkey.  It's amazing how things have changed in a year!  Here's Jack sampling his first Thanksgiving meal - his favorite was the green bean casserole - Mommy and Daddy liked it all!

Unlike most people, Jack didn't immediately succumb to the effects of tryptophan in the turkey and take a nap.  On the contrary, he decided he would rather get into some trouble.  I'm sure I don't even want to know what else he has in store for me as he grows up!

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we were so excited to get a visit from cousin Emma and her husband Dave (and their dogs Jack Jack and Luke).  They came to Dallas to watch the Cowboys take on the Saints in the traditional Thanksgiving Day game.  Even though the outcome wasn't what they hoped, it was great that they got to stop by on their way back to Louisiana and meet Jack.  Here they are with Jack:

 And here I am with my sweet cousin and my little boy:

Emma and Dave weren't able to stay long, but we loved getting to see them and Jack was so excited to finally get to meet them.  We hope they'll come back soon! (and I hope to get to visit them in their new home town, New Orleans, very soon) :)

We've been busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas - stay tuned for more soon!