Ice! at the Gaylord Texan

We went as a family to ICE at the Gaylord Texan.  It's this big ice exhibit with thousands of pounds of ice that's kept extremely cold (like 20 degrees F) and they give you parkas to wear inside.

The hotel was decorated so beautifully.

I had planned on us going at 6:30 and figured it would be like 45 minutes at the exhibit and then we'd stop to get snack for the kids and get the kids to bed a little late around 8:30.  Well, what a joke that was!  First, there was traffic getting there and then the line was CRAZY long.  Just when you thought you were at the end, there was more line.  The poor kids were hungry because all they had was eaten was a couple slices of quesadilla in the car but I hadn't brought a bunch of snacks.  Nor did I have a ton of stuff to keep them entertained.  It was torture for all of us.

Emmalyn made some friends with the other kids in line.  They all thought she was soooo cute.

Eventually we got to this part - where we thought we were close!  WRONG.  It was basically a holding area where you waited some more...

We brought hats and gloves and coats (I had forgotten Emmalyn's coat in the car but figured she'd get a parka and be okay).

At this point we'd been in line or like 1 1/2 hours, it was the kids bedtime...they were hungry, we were hungry... but you can't give up now because you've waited this long, you know?  CRAZY!

We all got our blue parkas and thought maybe we'd finally get to go in...but no.... more waiting, except this time we were wearing hot parkas but not yet in the freezing cold.

Emmalyn's parka was quite large on her.

FINALLY we made it into the exhibit (2 hours later!!! I kid you not.  It was now past both kids' bedtime.)

The theme this year was Christmas around the world.

It was very cold inside, we were glad for our gloves, hats, and parkas!

They had these slides where you slid on the ice on your bum.  Maxwell and I waited in line to do it.  He was nervous and wanted to do the kid's slide.  So I stood at the top and watched him go down.  (He's going down in this picture but you can't tell because he's on the far left behind one of the railings.)  Anyway, so he gets to the bottom of the slide and pops up and walks off.  Well, Peter was on the other side of the slides getting the picture and not where Max is getting off the slide.  So Max walks off into the crowd, looking for his dad.  I'm watching all this happen from the stairs where there's a bunch of people above me and a bunch below me so I'm stuck and can't move.  And it's LOUD inside, it's not like I could have screamed and had Peter hear me. 

 I'm frantically trying to motion to Peter he needs to go to the other side to get Maxwell and trying to keep my eyes on Max.  Well, EVERYONE is in blue parkas and looks the same.  I lost sight of Max (as he's trying to find his dad in the sea of blue parkas) and started to really panic.  I think this is the first time that I have felt the fear that I have lost my child and that something could happen to him.  And I'm watching Peter try and find him and not being able to help because I was stuck.  It was awful.  It probably only took a minute for Peter to find Maxwell but it felt like forever.  

And then they had to wait while I stood in line to go down the big slide..... more waiting.   

I'm glad I did the slide, because it made me nervous and it's good to get out of your comfort zone.  But man, I looked like a serious dork as I hit the bottom of the slide, which is just carpet so it's pretty jarring after you've been on the ice... and then you've got to get yourself up from sitting on this little slide which isn't an easy thing to do when you are a short, chubby girl.  

Anyway, after that I was done because I was still recovering from the panic and Peter was done because he'd just been waiting for me to do the slide and the kids were done because it was late...

But we couldn't just hurry and leave.  No, you had to go through the rest of the exhibit...which was CROWDED and so you basically have to slowly, slowly, slowly make your way through the exhibit. 

We passed a bunch of stuff that could have been fun picture points for the kids or something else for them to do because we were ready to GO. 

The kids walked through a little tunnel

Peter's happy face (HA!)

At one point I couldn't take pictures anymore because my phone just shut off and wouldn't work it was so cold.  Even with the gloves, your fingers started getting cold.  I felt bad for Emmalyn because when you would hold her, her pants would rise up on her calves and her ankles and legs would be exposed.  I didn't think about putting her in tights AND socks...

Anyway, we finally made it out!!  Whew.  Not going to do that again.  For like, a long time if ever.  No way.  Not worth it.  CHECK - - done it once. (And this thing wasn't cheap either - grrrrr)

Our cheeks sure were rosy when we got outside the exhibit though. :)