The Gaylord is a gorgeous hotel. The main atrium is HUGE!! Super-duper high ceilings (several stories high)! Every Christmas they have a huge train set winding through half of the atrium.
Close up shot of the training going by.
What would a huge atrium be without huge Christmas trees?
And larger than life Christmas decorations!
Uncle Mike and Aunt Lissie posing in front of the tree. That tree is so tall and I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture without chopping off their heads.
Even the bridge railings had been decked out with large ornaments. (In the background is part of the Alamo replica inside the atrium.)
More of the Alamo replica with a river flowing in front of it and huge trees...so pretty!
On our way to ICE! The Charlie Brown/Peanuts theme was perfect - Daddy is a huge Peanuts fan!
On the way, we passed a huge gingerbread wall and stopped to let Ian check it out.
While Ian was playing with the gingerbread wall, my brothers discovered a Best Buy vending machine. Kenny, my younger brother, said it was love at first sight.
Snoopy!!
There were fun little trees with different colored bubblies going up through them - the bubbles on this one were purple.
Gaylord also hosts SNOW! every year - an indoor toboggan ramp. We opted out...the line was too long!
Daddy and Ian - Ian really isn't sure of those mittens.
While we were waiting in line for ICE!, we passed several pretty decorations.
In the middle of the large room that the line was winding through was a Nutcracker scene. Ian had fun playing with the fake snow.
Waiting on Daddy's shoulders.
Finally through the long line! We got our parkas and headed into the 9 degree tent.
ICE!, ICE!, baby!
Aww...such a cute couple!
Family pic!
Uncle Mike licking Snoopy's doghouse. Good thing Snoopy didn't notice or Uncle Mike might have gotten his butt kicked.
Daddy and Ian in front of one of Daddy's favorite characters. No licking here.
These ice sculptures were really amazing.
Uncle Mike and Aunt Lissie posing in the one-foot skating position like the characters behind them. (Only you can't see that cause someone didn't get a good shot....I choose to remain nameless.)
Poor Charlie Brown! We'll have to send him a Christmas card.
Daddy asked Lucy for help...can't beat that price!
After a bit, Ian got down to investigate the ice.
He liked touching the blocks of colored ice.
So Uncle Kenny felt warm enough to go WITHOUT a jacket at all in that lovely nine degree weather while Lissie and I froze. Umm...yeah...different genes for sure!
Halfway through the ice tour was a large room with ice slides. We all decided to go down. Part of the way up the stairs, we discovered a little kiddie slide that all kiddos under a certain height had to go down. The stupid silly rules that the poor freezing employees had to enforce stated that a parent could NOT go down a slide with a child. I wasn't about to send Ian down that slide on his own, but Daddy thought we couldn't go back down the stairs. So we sandwiched Ian between us and were off. Unfortunately, as I started down, they made James and Ian wait. I got to the bottom to find Ian and James still at the top. Then they made James send Ian down WITHOUT him.
Poor, poor little baby got stuck halfway down on his back and was screaming bloody murder! (And yes, I took pictures of all of it!) He laid there for forever (probably thirty seconds) and I started yelling at the people to let James go down. It made me so mad! Totally broke my heart that my poor little baby had to go through that. Needless to say he was not happy by the time he and Daddy got down the slide. Daddy took him right out and let him warm up and run around while the rest of us quickly finished the tour.
Uncle Kenny went down the big slide.
And so did Uncle Mike.
Aunt Lissie did too, but I didn't get a picture of her. Uncle Mike ended up in the doghouse though, not me...hehe.
Poor Charlie Brown...he always looks so sad!
Big Christmas tree scene at the end. In a huge circle all around the tree are all the different characters singing Christmas carols. My camera was starting to freeze, so I didn't get good pictures of the rest of the characters.
The End!! (This is what all the characters looked like singing...you can see how blurry my camera was getting the cold weather!)
Despite the little slide incident, overall we had a great time. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone...I'm looking forward to the next family get together!
Close up shot of the training going by.
What would a huge atrium be without huge Christmas trees?
And larger than life Christmas decorations!
Uncle Mike and Aunt Lissie posing in front of the tree. That tree is so tall and I couldn't get the whole thing in the picture without chopping off their heads.
Even the bridge railings had been decked out with large ornaments. (In the background is part of the Alamo replica inside the atrium.)
More of the Alamo replica with a river flowing in front of it and huge trees...so pretty!
On our way to ICE! The Charlie Brown/Peanuts theme was perfect - Daddy is a huge Peanuts fan!
On the way, we passed a huge gingerbread wall and stopped to let Ian check it out.
While Ian was playing with the gingerbread wall, my brothers discovered a Best Buy vending machine. Kenny, my younger brother, said it was love at first sight.
Snoopy!!
There were fun little trees with different colored bubblies going up through them - the bubbles on this one were purple.
Gaylord also hosts SNOW! every year - an indoor toboggan ramp. We opted out...the line was too long!
Daddy and Ian - Ian really isn't sure of those mittens.
While we were waiting in line for ICE!, we passed several pretty decorations.
In the middle of the large room that the line was winding through was a Nutcracker scene. Ian had fun playing with the fake snow.
Waiting on Daddy's shoulders.
Finally through the long line! We got our parkas and headed into the 9 degree tent.
ICE!, ICE!, baby!
Aww...such a cute couple!
Family pic!
Uncle Mike licking Snoopy's doghouse. Good thing Snoopy didn't notice or Uncle Mike might have gotten his butt kicked.
Daddy and Ian in front of one of Daddy's favorite characters. No licking here.
These ice sculptures were really amazing.
Uncle Mike and Aunt Lissie posing in the one-foot skating position like the characters behind them. (Only you can't see that cause someone didn't get a good shot....I choose to remain nameless.)
Poor Charlie Brown! We'll have to send him a Christmas card.
Daddy asked Lucy for help...can't beat that price!
After a bit, Ian got down to investigate the ice.
He liked touching the blocks of colored ice.
So Uncle Kenny felt warm enough to go WITHOUT a jacket at all in that lovely nine degree weather while Lissie and I froze. Umm...yeah...different genes for sure!
Halfway through the ice tour was a large room with ice slides. We all decided to go down. Part of the way up the stairs, we discovered a little kiddie slide that all kiddos under a certain height had to go down. The 
Poor, poor little baby got stuck halfway down on his back and was screaming bloody murder! (And yes, I took pictures of all of it!) He laid there for forever (probably thirty seconds) and I started yelling at the people to let James go down. It made me so mad! Totally broke my heart that my poor little baby had to go through that. Needless to say he was not happy by the time he and Daddy got down the slide. Daddy took him right out and let him warm up and run around while the rest of us quickly finished the tour.
Uncle Kenny went down the big slide.
And so did Uncle Mike.
Aunt Lissie did too, but I didn't get a picture of her. Uncle Mike ended up in the doghouse though, not me...hehe.
Poor Charlie Brown...he always looks so sad!
Big Christmas tree scene at the end. In a huge circle all around the tree are all the different characters singing Christmas carols. My camera was starting to freeze, so I didn't get good pictures of the rest of the characters.
The End!! (This is what all the characters looked like singing...you can see how blurry my camera was getting the cold weather!)
Despite the little slide incident, overall we had a great time. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone...I'm looking forward to the next family get together!
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