Santa's Village & ICE!

The original plan was to visit Santa's Village in Richardson with the Parnells but when we looked at the schedule between now and our trip to Louisiana it just didn't seem possible so the Relle Clan spontaneously loaded in the car after dinner Sunday thinking like in the past a "school night" wouldn't be too crowded...

WRONG- It was a festive cluster!
There weren't many "houses" that we were willing to wait in line and contract N1H1 for except for the Ornament Making House which had no line (because there were no materials left 1 hour into the Village opening for the night) and Mrs. Claus (guess she isn't as popular as the big man himself). While we waited Jack went to visit with this Gingerbread man and tell him about his cousins he dressed and ate the past few weeks with his friends.

Then it was our turn to go through Mrs. Claus's kitchen and get a cookie which Jack didn't like...but appreciated. :)

Before heading out we stopped to watch a children's choir sign some Christmas songs.

Although crowded it was worth giving in to the genuine tears when we told him it was too crowded for us to go that night...and worth following through with the explanation on why Santa was at Market Street right before dinner and then in Richardson at Santa's Village.

Since Sunday wasn't quite what we expected that night I got spontaneous again in hopes that a school night would pay off and bought tickets for the ICE Experience at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine. I had a small coupon and Monday was the only night open this week so I went for it. The Sullivans joined in which made it even more spontaneous (go Relles) and fun! Here is our group picture after getting geared up in our parkas. Don't be alarmed, we all had hoods on that protected our hair hopefully from unwanted, shared bugs...maybe 9 degrees is too cold for them to survive.

Walking was a challenge for the little ones...loved that it was an excuse for me to be puffy....Robin had the excuse and still looked smaller at 6 months pregnant....that is a whole other situation for me- not for the family blog.

Seeing as we had to rush out of work, drive a while to get to the Gaylord, brought a work camera which both sets of batteries were low/dead, my classroom camera had no batteries, and we didn't want to bring my good camera or our phones into the cold temps...and left the car not only unlocked, but opened....we were able to snap a few cute pictures before loosing all power.

Our little Ice Eskimo-He LOVED it!

And the slide was his favorite..that and licking the ice while watching his father and I sliding down the ice slide.

Proof that the night was a success....and that Jack is mine....many of nights I've ended up passed out on the floor with one shoe missing....and needing Starbucks the next morning....tonight was spent with Karen, Olivia, and Harper while Nick was at the work concert, tomorrow is Jack's Winter Program at school, Thursday is our work dinner party (Lisa-are you still able to watch Jack?), and Friday-HOLIDAY STARTS!