Since we were getting a later start the first day, we decided to meet in Waco and stay the night. Our family arrived early so the kids went for a swim. Hadlee went with me to get tickets for the Holiday Tour of lights. She got to see Santa for the 4th time this year. The lights were nice when we went later that evening. The kids got to play games before the tour and managed to get 14 full size Snickers and 4 share size Starburst (I didn't know they made Starburst in that huge of a package)
Hadlee and Papa during dinner.
We explored the Texas Ranger Museum before leaving Waco.
Future Texas Rangers????
We arrived at the Gaylord ready to check into our rooms. This is what we ended up doing.....for the next 3 hours....just hanging out. I've never seen 10 people so happy to finally get into their rooms. We got into ours then we couldn't get out....literally. Thank goodness we had adjoining rooms with Aunt Cy, Uncle Kelly and Hannah or Daddy would have been stuck in our room the first night.
Harper wanted her picture taken in the carriage. She went down to breakfast with just her Mommy and Daddy.
Harper was pretty unsure of eating breakfast with Charlie Brown but the other three were surely excited about it. Hays loved this!!
Checking out the Gingerbread houses after breakfast.
Cute pic of Mema, Harper, Hadlee and Hays
After doing more exploring, we went to check out the SNOW hill that we had ticket to. The kids zoomed up and down the two snow hills they had. Here's a pic of Hays and Aunt Cynthia racing down the snow hill. Hays always wanted to race with Aunt Cy or me. We were always with him in line because he had the hardest time climbing the stairs with his tube.
Hannah after she finished the sliding down the hill.
Harper and Hadlee racing down the hill. Aunt Cy and I tagged teamed for each slide run. We had to wait in line, grab an inner tube, climb up the stairs, SLIDE, then climb up the other stairs and then slide. The kids went non-stop for 2 hours. Needless to say we had short naps that afternoon.
Later that day we went to see ICE. Here's Mema and Papa with the grandkids waiting for our turn to see "ICE".
Inside ICE....yes, everything is made out of ice the kids were amazed.
The girls with their parkas so they wouldn't be too cold. Outside the temperature was in the 70s.
The next morning everyone was up bright and early to go swimming. Before we went to breakfast the kids wanted me to take a picture of them looking out our balcony. We were on the 8th floor and the kids thought looking out and watching people, the lights, the view was really neat. Daddy was a little hesitant but realized they weren't going to fall.
We had a great time Mema and Papa!!! What a great way to get to spend time together during this crazy holiday season. We had long lines and long waits everywhere!! It was crowded and most of the time it was work. But the kids loved it....next year we are definitely ready for real snow or maybe warm Florida (hint..hint...)
