I was really looking forward to having Mom and Dad visit for Christmas this year. Unfortunately, they were super sick, especially Dad- despite feeling absolutely horrible, he was a trooper and we managed to squeeze in some fun things while they were here!
Grandma and Grandpa got lots of hugs when they first arrived...
We played lots of board games...
We walked around downtown McKinney where Brooke was super excited to show Gma and Gpa her favorite toy store. Brooke got a new horse and Jade and Avery each went home with something too!
Texas Roadhouse, the kid's favorite...
After dinner on their second night here we headed to Watters Creek (which is a beautiful shopping center). Last year they offered free carriage rides during the month of December, and I planned on waiting for us to go do it again this year while Mom and Dad visited. I was super excited when we were the second people in line, but after over 45 minutes of waiting, we found out that there was a miscommunication and the carriage rides were cancelled. I felt so so bad for the kids, it was such a bummer.
Luckily we stopped on the way home to a different shopping center that had a light show to music. All 3 kids thought it was lots of fun and really enjoyed it.
On Christmas Eve morning we headed to Grapevine, Texas- where we had tickets to see ICE! at the Gaylord Texan. The last time Mom and Dad visited for Christmas in Tennessee (which was 2010)- we saw ICE! at the Gaylord Opry Hotel. We had so much fun then and decided to do it again!
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| Heading in with our special jackets since it is FREEZING inside! |
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| The ice sculptures are all so beautiful and so detailed. The colors are so bright- it really is impressive. |
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| Mom climbed to the top of the ice slides with Brooke and they each slid down, so fun! Grandpa went up with Jade and waited in line but they told her she was too little- poor thing was so disappointed and was in hysterics as Grandpa had to walk her back down... |
After going through ICE! - we warmed up a bit and walked around the beautifully decorated atrium of the hotel.
After walking around we ate Mexican at a restaurant inside the hotel and then drove to historic Grapevine to walk around. I LOVE Historic Downtowns and have been wanting to see Grapevine for awhile. We all loved it- it was so beautifully decorated and had many cute shops.
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| It's fun to read all the historical markers in town... but Dad loved this one the best :-) |
and one particular store's window front was pretty funny...
We relaxed the rest of the evening. The kids had baths, sprinkled their reindeer food outside and left cookies for Santa...
Christmas Morning...
The girls had so much fun opening up all their presents, they had such a great Christmas. All of them, Brooke especially, was disappointed to see Grandma and Grandpa go back to Buffalo.
And the last 3 days of Jingle and Belle....
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| In the freezer with a snowman... |
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| Stuck in a Rice Krispies Box.... Jingle became "pop" |
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| And on their last day they were sitting with Baby Jesus and left a note which talked about the true meaning of Christmas! |
