Gaylord ICE!!

Allen, Alex, and I, my parents, my friend Sheila and her son Zachary, Amanda, Jason, and Tristen all went to ICE! at The Gaylord Texan this past Saturday night.

If we had gone on a mellow Tuesday night, probably totally worth it. The actual thing itself was very neat to see and cool but what we had to go through to get there....................no ma'am.

It was soooo crowded. So we get there and are welcomed by a line I swear was a football field long. It was only by chance that we heard someone in the line say "Can you believe this isn't the line for tickets?! This is the line to get in. The ticket line is over there!" Thank goodness she said that....

So we go to the ticket line. At this point is had to be 5:45 or so. While in the line, an announcer tells us that they are sold out until the 6:30 showing. When we finally get to buy our tickets, they are actually sold out 'til the 7:00 showing. So we buy our tickets and decide we will all go find something to munch on. I was already a little concerned about Alex. I knew putting him in a 9 degree room could go entirely wrong, but waiting around a boring crowded place for a couple of hours and THEN putting him in a 9 degree room could go really wrong. Especially since I didn't have a full diaper bag. I was only planning on being gone 2 hours max.

Shame on the Gaylord for the way they handled this. There was one regularly priced restaurant available. (The rest are their fancy schmancy steakhouse type places) The wait for this was an hour and ten. Then they had a coffee shop. No way we were all going to fit in there. Then they had a vendor type stand out. I don't even want to get started here but all I will say is the gal behind the counter was strug-uh-ling. We finally get our food and there is absolutely no place in this entire hotel to sit and eat it. I mean they are expecting hundreds upon hundreds of people to show up and there is the line a mile long with nothing but masses of empty floor space around it, and not one chair in site. I mean everywhere you look; empty floor space. So, we found a set of carpeted stairs leading up to a ballroom and sat on those with our makeshift dinner.

It is now almost time for the 7:00 showing so we get up and get in line. And we wait. And we wait. Finally we are allowed into a room. BUT! Then we get in line there. We wait in line to get out of this room only to turn the corner and wait in another line to get the jackets they issue before you go in that room. In the middle of this line is where I was told strollers are not allowed in. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT! So all of things I had to keep Alex and myself warm, my purse, etc. had to be carried the entire time?

We finally get our coats, and poor Alex is winding down. Putting this thing on didn't help. He was already irritated and then putting a jacket on him that basically made him move like the kid in 'A Christmas Carol' except Alex had an even greater disadvantage of his hands not even coming out of the sleeves. Too add to that: put on a puffy nylon full body jacket. THEN , put your toddler in the same thing. THEN try to pick him up. Good luck. It really should be part of one of those crazy Japanese game show challenges.

We did finally get inside and it was pretty neat, but like I said, what it took to get there was not worth it on a Sat. night. If we had gone on say a Wednesday and waiting a half hours for this adventure, then maybe. PLUS, we were very lucky that Alex was having a very good night and exited the entire thing with at least a smile on his face once we got him out of that jacket.

SO! Don't go. I'll save you the trouble. See pictures below!

This was right near the end. I am fine. Alex, however, is doing the famuos toddler move called "arch you back to make things even more difficult"

Daddy and Alex


Zachary and the dog!

Amanda, Jason, and Tristen

A Who

The ice tunnell

Again, the dog.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch......

Whos at the train in Whoville

Dad and his twin brother, The Grinch

The Nativity

So today was the first day Alex actually saw the big grey monster. I figured he would be scared of it but, NOPE! Just the opposite. Absolutely loves it. Can't keep him away from it. Just thought it was funny.

Merry Christmas!

Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?

So guess who is crawling now? Well, he can crawl. He actually prefers to pull himself forward by his elbows and drag his feet behind him. It is more of an army crawl. Although he can actually crawl, I guess he thinks it is much more dramatic to make it look like he is wounded at war and crawling to his safety under heavy gunfire. Looks like something right out of a movie! It won't be long before I am the most paranoid person in the world with leaving things out on surfaces, etc. This kid already wants to put his hands on anything he is not supposed to.

Let the Holidays begin!

Joe and Teresa came over tonight to have some of my favorite Cheeseburger Soup. We hung out for a little bit afterwards until Allen brought in the tree to put up. Then, Joe whips into action. If there is something to be done, Joe is going to do it right! Once we get the tree out of the box and put together, Joe continuously alternated from sitting on the couch making sure we had our angles right to getting up and making sure we were "fluffing" it properly. This game ensued for at least an hour.

This was Alex's first tree siting. He loved looking at it but hated touching it. Which is fine by me. I hope that trend sticks for the next ten years! That kid can hate trees as much as he wants. Stay away from it Kid!

So that is that. Holiday weekend over. Man do I hate to go back to work on Monday!

Joe Humbug

Alex's first look at a Christmas Tree!

Thanksgiving in Arkansas

We went to Arkansas to see Allen's extended family for Thanksgiving. As promised, I have pictures of cats and guns! I can't help it. Where else can you drive just a few miles from the house and shoot stuff!? And where else do you walk out the back door and see so many cats just waiting to see you!?

We arrived on Thursday and had Thanksgiving dinner at Bob and Joyce's place. It was crowded but MMMMMM it was good food! Alex also met his cousin Preston for the first time on Thursday. Normally, Alex sees himself in the mirror, so seeing Preston really threw him. I think he could not figure out why this kid looked nothing like the kiddo he normally sees, and why doesn't this kid do everything he does?

We got up and took our time getting ready Friday. We went to lunch with Allen's parents and then headed back to Granny's. Granny does have some cats outside this year, but not as many as before. She did have three kittens that were just adorable and I wanted to take home. Allen would hear nothing of it. Poor kitties, they were so small and it was so cold........ Then we jumped in the truck to go do some target practice. It was cold and raining but, you can't sit around all day! (Notice the RED Arkansas mud on the ground. You want nooooo part of that.

We drove home on Saturday, and here I sit, updating the blog, watching Alex play. Alex is getting very close to crawling. He can go backwards right now. And he rocks back and forth a lot. I am guessing that within 2 weeks, he'll be crawling around.

I leave you with some pictures and video!

Smiley Boy!

Preston

As soon as you get there, the cats jump on your car because it is so warm!

Begging to take kitties home.

Too bad Allen didn't actually catch the lid flying off!

(I would upload the video of Allen's target practice but it is loaded with profanities so, I decided against it!)

This kid is almost always happy!