ICE

A few months before Christmas my mom called to tell me she wanted to take the boys to this new exhibit of ice sculptures. The theme this year was Snoopy. We decided to go a few days after Christmas. It was so much fun!

It was 9 degrees, yeah, you heard me, 9 FREEZING degrees in the place. It was at this beautiful resort/hotel called the Gaylord Texan. I know, horrible name right? All you can think of is Gaylord Focker right now, am I right?

I could lie and say this was Colby making a freezing face because he was so cold, but no, this is just Colby when he has to wait in any line or when there are crowds to deal with. He is actually really mad. In fact, we are about to be in melt down mode. Grrr.

Yep it is all ICE. Every thing in the exhibit was ice, except for the blanket, and some metal railings. The resort brings sculptors from Harbin, China in to create these displays each year. Each year has a different theme. Yes, the ice is colored. It is dyed during the freezing process. Some of it is clear, but the characters were mostly all colored ice. They used 400lb blocks of ice, and received two truck loads per day for 3 weeks while creating the exhibit. c-r-a-z-y!

Oh yeah, and because it is 9 degrees they give you these special coats to wear. We had on sweaters, our own winter coats, gloves, hats, and then the special coats on top of that, and we were pretty warm. But by the end of the tour we were ready to be back in normal temps!

My mama and her hubby John. It was great to have John there, and I was impressed he braved this kiddo day with us! Thanks John.

In the middle of the exhibit they had these ice slides that you could go down. They were so fun. It was hard to take pictures because the lighting was so dim. Colby went down too fast so I didn't get a picture of him. Matt went, and I caught him at the end of the slide. Darn my heels, had I not been in boots I could have gone, but no heels were allowed on the slides.

Snoopy's dog house. We actually got to crawl through this icy dog house.

The boys loved the ice cave!

The end of the exhibit was incredible, it was just breathtaking. The picture above is a gigantic angel, and then, the entire nativity scene. Beautiful.

Afterward, we all ate a yummy dinner at the Cracker Barrell, and then Gram and John left us and went home. We stayed the night at the Gaylord. It was and incredibly fancy hotel. This is what you saw from the lobby. The atrium in the middle of the three towers of rooms was decked out. It looked like the River Walk- in San Antonio, and it was decorated with incredible Christmas decorations.

This was a real gingerbread house. I kid you not, real gingerbread bricks, icing mortar, and candy everywhere. It was so much fun. Click on the pic below and read the stats be. Pretty cool.

Two huge fireplaces, with fires lit, scaled either side of part of the massive lobby. The guy that took our picture, seriously might have used a camera for the first time, but we thank him anyway. It was such a fun way to end our Christmas vacation. After a ridiculously expensive breakfast, the boys swam in the indoor pool for an hour, and then we headed home for Austin.

Thanks again Mama, it was an awesome idea, and worth every penny!