Christmas at the Gaylord Texan

This Christmas my mom's side of the family planned a trip to the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine to celebrate the holidays. Instead of taking all of our gifts there we decided to have Christmas here with the kids on the 23rd. This way they would have a day or so to play with their new toys before we headed out. Hayden got a new bike with no wheels(it's supposed to help them with their balance) and a cardboard castle just big enough for him to crawl in and out of. You're supposed to color the outside, but I haven't been brave enough to let him have markers in my living room yet. Nicholas got a lot of new art stuff and a couple of games. They seemed to really enjoy all their new things.



On Christmas Eve around 3pm we headed out to Grapevine. On our way, we heard it was supposed to be snowing there. Sure enough, it started snowing on us as we hit Round Rock and continued the whole way. The trip was fairly simple and uneventful until we got to the 35 East/West split just outside of Dallas. The roads were starting to ice over and the bridges were terrible. This is where we were only able to travel 10-15mph and had to be extra careful. Cars were sliding all over the road, some bumping off of the guard rails and metal fences that separated the east and west bound lanes. We skid a few times, but luckily we were able to keep the truck on the road and made it there safely. That last leg of the trip should have only taken an hour and a half or so, but instead it took almost 3. By this point we were all getting antsy and the kids really wanted to get out in the snow. It had finally started to stick and was piling up quite quickly.



We finally checked into the hotel around 8:30pm, greeted the rest of the family, got settled in and decided to take the kids out to play. That lasted maybe 10 minutes. It was really cold and windy! Hayden was ok at first, but as soon as he touched the snow he freaked out and wanted to go back inside. He's not a fan of the cold weather. David and Nicholas had fun throwing around a couple of snow balls.



Christmas day was full of activities! We all got up around 8:30 and let the kids open their stockings from Santa. Hayden was super excited about his humongous lollipop! When they were finished checking out their latest round of gifts we walked around the hotel and took some pictures at every photo opportunity we had!



Next came brunch! If I could eat this brunch every day I would be in heaven! It was $65 per person, ridiculous I know, but they had anything and everything you could think of! Crab legs, shrimp, fajita tacos, pancakes, eggs, bacon, tons of sweet desserts, literally everything and it was all delicious! I even tried my first sushi roll...not my cup of tea!

After brunch we took the kids to see the Grinch themed ICE exhibit inside the hotel. They used 2,000,000 p0unds of ice for all the sculptures and kept the convention center at - 9 degrees! We all donned blue parkas and started in. Once again, Hayden was ok at first, but about 10 minutes in he started to get fussy because it was so cold. They had huge slides made of ice, one for the little kids and one for the bigger ones. We put Hayden on the children's slide and somehow he got stuck! They had to use a long hook to pull him down. Nicholas, David and I all did the big slide. It wasn't that great, but I'm glad I did it.



I don't know what it is about food, maybe I'm hard to please, but for dinner we went to one of the restaurants in the hotel called Texan Station. They have a huge 52 foot projector screen that was airing the San Diego/Tennesee football game. I really wanted to watch it, but that section was 21 and up and the big screen outside was only showing some dumb basketball game. To top it off, the wait was an hour and a half. Anyway, we finally set down at a table just before 9pm. We didn't get our food until after 10!! The service was terrible, the food wasn't that great and it was ridiculously expensive! To give you some sort of idea...the kids grilled cheese plates were $8, my hamburger was $14! I also left dinner early because I wasn't feeling very well. I ended up back in the hotel sick for the rest of the night! What a way to spend Christmas evening :(

The next morning we went to the Riverwalk Cafe for breakfast. It was buffet style, but was surprisingly good. They had all the breakfast things you would see on a typical buffet so nothing special. We sat "outside" (still inside the hotel) next to the "riverwalk" and enjoyed our last hour at the hotel.



I was sad to leave. This was the first time I had been away from home for the holidays that I didn't feel stressed and overwhelmed. It was a nice and relaxing way to enjoy family time and I definitely wouldn't mind doing it again. I'm actually considering going back for our anniversary and my mom, aunt and I are thinking about making a girls weekend for their Mystery Theater Dinner.

On a Mission to Live a Dream!

For years I have wanted to see Brett Favre play. I've watched him since I was a little girl in a testosterone-filled house and fell head over heels for this guy and his love for the game. When he retired for the second time last season I thought the chance had passed me by once more. I kept saying I would save the money to go, but never did. When he decided to come back to play, (for Minnesota!) I knew it was now or never! So, I made cakes on the side and in October I had finally saved enough to pay almost $500 for two front row seats not knowing who I could con into going with me or if it would even be a good game. That didn't matter. I would go alone if I had to! I was determined :) I asked Chris to go, knowing he was also a fan of Favre and of course he said yes. Perfect for a little brother/sister bonding time.

Day 1
We had an early flight out of Dallas on Saturday the 12th. I could hardly sleep Friday night. I was so excited and couldn't wait to finally be there! Our flights there weren't bad, no layovers or delays and only 2 stops. When we finally got to Minnesota I couldn't believe how cold it was! I had been keeping an eye on the weather for a week or so before the trip so I knew it would be cold, but had no idea how I would feel about it. When we walked out of the airport we had an initial cold shock, but after 30 seconds or so we realized it really wasn't that bad. It was cold yes, but tolerable. The day we arrived it was around 20 degrees with very little windchill. I remember thinking, if it stays like this it won't be too bad. We got our free shuttle to the hotel, which was fairly new and really nice for the price. I'd definitely stay there again. After we got all settled in we took the shuttle to Mall of America. It didn't look too big from the outside, but it was HUGE! I couldn't believe all the stuff they fit in there! A little amusement park, if you will. There was a roller coaster, a huge Lego store/exhibit, an aquarium, tons of shops and over 20 restaurants! Speaking of food....I had the best bbq I'd ever tasted there. It was a place called Famous Dave's. Scrum-deli-uptious! Too bad there's not one anywhere around here. After we ate I shopped around until I found my Favre jersey and Chris found a shirt. We were ready to head back to the hotel...we had been in the mall for over 4 hours at this point. I didn't get to go into the aquarium like I had planned, but that's ok. I'm not too bummed about it.


Day 2
December 13th....It's finally here!! I finally get to see him play and I don't think it's really set in that I'm going to have front row seats!! We got a cab to take us there since the Light Rail would've taken over 45 minutes, about 20 minutes longer than a cab and we wouldn't have to walk anywhere. It was pretty pricey though, $35! We got to the stadium around 10:45am and it wasn't too cold. Chris was walking around in a long sleeve shirt and carrying his jacket. Ok so now is when reality is starting to set in! I had been giggly for the past 2 days, something I do when I'm super excited. Now, I wasn't giggly...just in awe I think! We walked to our seats and saw just how close we would be to all the action. I was floored! We had great seats and an awesome view of the entire field even though we were between the 5yard and goal lines. The only thing that disappointed me was the press area directly in front of our seats. I wanted the chance to possibly get a football, but because of that section, it was out of the question. I had a wonderful time nonetheless! Definitely an experience worth taking and I'd do it all over again!


When the game was over we hung around for a bit and tried to get the security guards to let us down on the field for a quick picture, but they weren't having it :( Oh well, we were able to get some good action shots so I was satisfied. We walked outside and quickly realized we'd need more than a long sleeve shirt to keep us warm now!! I glanced at a sign and read that it was 13 degrees, not including the wind chill!! It was fairly breezy too so I'm sure it was close to 0! We had a hard time trying to find a cab. There were nearly 64,000 people there and I'm certain most of them were trying to do the same. We ended up walking the equivalent of about 4 blocks before finally finding a cab. When we got back to the hotel we met up with one of Chris' friends and went to dinner. Let me tell you....mexican food in the north is TERRIBLE!! We went to Don Pablo's since it was right across the highway and within walking distance. Chris and I were both craving fajitas...how can you mess up chicken fajitas?! Well let me give you a little description....the fajita meat was thin as a pancake and looked like it had been sliced off a chicken breast with one of those meat slicers the deli uses for meat in your local grocery store, was a little too "char grilled" and very dry. The guacamole tasted like it was mixed with celery and the refried beans were just weird! So we paid for our food and headed out back across the parking lot to our hotel. On the way out of the restaurant I saw a snow shovel...never used one before so I decided why not...we took it out of the restaurant and got a snapshot of me being silly with a snow shovel while people in the restaurant window looked at me like I was crazy!



It hadn't snowed while we were there up until this point. It was almost midnight and I was just about to get ready for bed when I looked outside and saw that it had started to snow. Being from Texas, you know, we don't get to see that very often. Chris jokingly said, "Let's go out and play around in it". I said ok, he looked at me like I was insane and we got dressed! I had so much fun out there! The snow wouldn't stick together so we couldn't make a snowman, but managed a snow "creature". We found someone's lost ear warmers under a car and put them on his head. He was quite an abomination, but very fun! We ran around out there for 30 minutes or so before we decided to go back inside. My hands were freezing and we were covered in snow! We were the only one's outside...the entire street was dead! When we went inside we checked the weather...it was - 6 out there!! We are officially crazy!


Day 3
Our trip back home was not an easy one. The first leg of our flight was to Chicago where we had to connect to St. Louis. The Chicago airport was having massive delays because of bad weather and limited sight on the runways. Planes weren't able to take off or land. This pushed our flight back a little more than an hour. Luckily our connecting flight was also pushed back so we didn't have any problems on that leg. Travel time that was supposed to be just under 5 hours turned into nearly 9! We were supposed to land in Dallas at 4:15pm, but didn't get there until after 7. I still had to drive home and was not looking forward to it. Surprisingly enough the drive back home wasn't too bad. I was able to stay awake on my own and didn't need any help from my friend, caffeine. I got back around 11pm and was very happy to see David! I had missed him and the kids something terrible!

Chris and I have decided to try to make this a yearly thing. We plan on getting as many people together as we can and have a friendly NFL vacation. Our next stop...Lambeau in December!

The Story of Our Crazy West Texas Trip

Ok so you probably already knew the weather was supposed to be less than favorable right?! Well it should've been a sign for us!

Day 1:
We drive out to Fort Davis, get there around 3pm. At 5:15 we decide we're hungry and want to eat dinner before we go out to the observatory. Well I guess we should've thought about that right when we rolled into town...the entire town closes down at 5pm! We found 1 small place that stayed open until 9. We decided to stop there...bad choice! The food was ok, but it was ridiculously expensive. We both had sweet tea, David had a bbq brisket sandwich plate and I had a chicken strips and gravy plate. It came out to over $30!! RIDICULOUS! Anyway, so we get back to the cabin and get ready for the observatory, meanwhile it's getting cloudier and cloudier. When we finally make it there, it's not looking very promising, but about an hour or so later the clouds opened just long enough for us to get a glimpse of Saturn and a few other things.

Day 2:
We show up for our 3 hour horseback trail ride that was supposed to be reserved for the 2 of us. Well 2 of the guides didn't show up for work that day so there was just 1 person there. In comes a family with 2 little girls, ages 8 and 9 or something and the tour guide decides to ask us, in front of them, if it was ok if they came along. I couldn't say no with them standing there so I said it was fine. Now comes time to get on my horse. She put the 2 girls on first then looked at me and said, "You've ridden before right?" I said yeah a little so she puts me on this black horse. After I was already on and all set to go she hands me a whip and says, "He has a mind of his own so don't feel bad about using this" I thought, oh great lady, I said I had ridden before not that I was an expert jockey! I just said ok and waited for David and the girls parents to get their horses. While I'm waiting I took the camera out of this little burlap sack she gave us to hold our stuff and started taking some pictures. I looped the string from my camera around the saddle horn when I was done. About 5 minutes later I realized it was missing. We still hadn't left yet so I was looking around everywhere when I saw it laying on the ground about a foot from the horse! I tried to call the lady to come get it for me before she got on her horse, but she didn't make it over there in time. My horse started disobeying like crazy and stepped right on my camera! Good thing it had rained the night before so the ground was wet. I'm guessing this is what kept it from smashing to pieces. It still works, but there's a hug dent in the front of it and the LCD screen has huge black spots on it from where the inside of the screen cracked. Guess I know what I'm getting for my birthday!

So finally we get going. My horse once again, decides he wants to go left and eat instead of right on the trail ride. I had to use the whip a few times before he finally got the picture. When we got to the bottom of the mountain we were supposed to ride up he decided he didn't want to. Everyone took off with out us so once again, I had to try to make my horse go up this steep trail on my own. We finally got up the mountain and the view was amazing! It was so peaceful and nice, really breezy so it wasn't hot at all. It was supposed to be a walking ride, but I got tired of that and made my horse run quite a few times. That was fun. Especially when he was lagging behind everyone else and we had to catch up.


So we finish our ride, which by the way was a little too long for me. My knees were killing me. I thought I'd have a problem with my hips, but I'm thinking the stirrups weren't high enough for me. Anyway, we decided to go back to the cabin for lunch before we go tour the observatory. When we went the night before we only got to do the star party thing. They also have this thing where you can tour the huge telescopes they use for research, but they only do it twice a day and we had missed it. So we went back ate lunch and decided to take a little nap. We slept right through the time for the tour. It was so freaking boring there! There was no tv in the cabin, no internet, no nothing!!! The town closes down at 5pm and here we are 4:30pm with nothing to do and the sky is looking even cloudier than the day before so we weren't gonna be able to use David's telescope that night either. We decided at 8:30pm we didnt want to stay there anymore so we packed up and headed home. Keep in mind, home is 8 hours away!


OUR RIDE HOME:
We get everything loaded in the car and head out. It starts to get even uglier outside so we think we've made the right decision....fast forward to 3 hours later....David sets his cruise to 90. It's around 12:30am and we're in Junction. Speed limit there during the day is 80, at night, 65. I'm sleeping in the car and I hear David yell SHIT! and I feel the brakes...I knew we were getting pulled over. David asks me if I think he should exit and try to lose him. We're in the middle of nowhere, it's pitch black, GPS isn't working, there are no "side roads" only exits...the obvious answer is NO! So David exits and the cop pulls up behind us. Jerk starts shining his flashlight right into David's side mirror which blinds me! Of course he gets a ticket, 88 in a 65. We head on our merry way, but the damn road we exited off of doesn't go back to I-10...instead it curves off to the right. So we turn around and have to go back about 5 miles before we can finally get back on the highway. So much for going 90 all the way. Whatever time we were making was screwed by this point. I go back to sleep and wake up to David swerving the car off to the right, honking the horn and once again, screaming SH*T, F***ER, YOU'RE GONNA KILL SOMEONE! I wake up to someone heading straight for us going down the wrong side of the highway!!! David swerves out of the right hand lane (on a 2 lane highway) and the idiot starts swerving towards us! Scariest thing I've ever seen! If he would've hit us, we would've been dead for sure! I'm not sure if he ever got pulled over, but I sure hope so! I hope he didn't kill anyone before hand! David says it was only 15 miles or so from where we were pulled over so I hope that cop was still there.

I told David that from now on we're staying put for as long as we have reservations! No more leaving somewhere early! Now we have a $300 ticket and lucky to still be alive!