Thursday, November 24, 2011 (The Afternoon and Evening)
Patti and Gary's Birthday
The whole reason we came to the Gaylord Texan was for Patti and Gary's birthday party. There were lots of relatives - most of whom we had seen or met the night before - plus a few others we had yet to meet or see this visit. There were nicely-decorated, large, round tables with turkey placeholders showing us where we were to sit. The buffet dinner that Gary and Patti provided was incredible. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, steam vegetables, rolls and much more. As a joke, we had canned cranberries (complete with can rings still showing). We also had desserts and party favors. All the food (other than the cranberries that Tiffany brought) was, of course, catered by the Gaylord Texan and cooked perfectly. Way to go Patti and Gary!
As the party itself was wrapping up, each family or group went down the hall to have their pictures professionally made, Patti and Gary had hired a professional photographer to come in, set up and take our photos in whatever groupings we wanted. At 1:45 we all got together for one big photo that we are looking forward to seeing. This was a very nice and unique touch to a birthday party that really served as a reunion for most of these families.
When all the pictures were taken and the impromptu "Duck, Duck, Goose" was over (which included 2-years-olds to 70-year-olds and was hilarious), the five of us slowly returned to our room through the grand atrium.
Pictures with Santa Claus
We had seen that Santa had come to the Gaylord Texan and was taking pictures with children on his lap and decided to take the opportunity to get a shot with him. Noticing that the line to visit him was short, we rushed up and changed into our special Christmas pajamas that we wore on the Polar Express just a few days before. Let's just say that Santa looked MUCH better tonight than on the Polar Express (where he must have had a "bad hair and beard day"). In fact, Melinda and I agreed that Santa looked his best EVER (including when he has visited other high-end malls and events). Unbelievably, there was only ONE other person in line ahead of us and we waited less than a minute before X and A were able to sit on Santa's lap. Try waiting only one minute at the local mall! The photographers were all very professional and coaxed out some great photos with the two boys on his lap. We were exceptionally happy with the results. Of course, the kids were very excited!
After the Santa visit, we got balloon figures made by a roving clown and toured the atrium once more, going a little deeper this time to explore new decorated areas including a huge, real gingerbread house and plenty more trains. We meandered back to the room and decided to take a short nap (less than an hour) to get ready for what we called, "Shrek Ice."
ICE! featuring DreamWorks’ Shrek the Halls
I believe that everyone from the entire party made reservations to see this unique event, with most of us going to the 5:00 PM start time. It starts with 10-minute video explaining how this annual ice-carving tradition came to the Gaylord Texan http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-texan/lone-star-christmas/ice-experience/making-of-ice.html?intcmp-gt-pl=cnav-cid=LSC and then we enter a room where we were fitted with long, warm coats. We had already gotten all bundled up with our own gear, but when standing in a 9 degree room (yes, you read that right) for any length of time, you want multiple layers. It was an incredible experience. ALMOST everyone had a blast. Poor little A was already bundled up and then adding this extra layer just made it near impossible for him to move. On top of that, he had a very short nap (and needed another hour or more), so he was less-than-happy. As a result, we traveled through a bit quicker than we would have liked, but we got to see everything and have some very interesting pictures.
One of the fun but odd things we got to do was to go down ice slides. X could go down the big slides (and did a couple of times), but A could only go down the small slide and just was not in the mood.
Right before entering the exhibit we took a group photo of X, A, Melinda, Jack and Nanny. We had basically written off the photos because A was not very happy even about taking the photos. When we exited, we decided to check them out. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good, so we bought two 6" x 8" ones. We returned the huge Gaylord Texan coats and took off the ones we brought and immediately A started to feel better.
After leaving Shrek Ice, we walked to the next convention hall room and saw the indoor snow tubing!
Kung Fu Panda Awesome Snow Tubing
While we had planned all along to go on this, we were not sure how appropriate it would be for a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old until we actually saw it. Immediately, we knew it was what we wanted (and what A needed after such a miserable visit at the Shrek Ice).
While Melinda and Nanny watched our big pile of coats, out a bit before eating out at the Texan Station with all the family for one last time.
Final Dinner with Most of the Families
We went back to our rooms and changed clothes yet again (1. from bedtime clothes into swim suits, 2. into nice clothes for the party, 3. into pajamas for the Santa picture, 4. into our very cold-weather gear, 5. into our nice, casual clothes for the dinner). We felt like Cher in a live concert!
While some of the families had to get back sooner, we elected to spend the night and that meant we needed to eat. Of course, we wanted to be with everyone who was still there. We had cake in Patti's room and then we went back down to the Texas Station.
X loved all the attention he got when he joined the "cousins" where all the kids were under 14 and several of the girls kept him entertained. A, or course, ate with Melinda, Nanny and myself (and Patti, Gary, Marilyn and Mike at out table).
With this HUGE day behind us, we all wore out pretty quickly, so as soon as we actually ate, we headed back to the room, It did not take long for everyone to fall asleep.
The next morning we ate some snacks we brought and all drove to our home. Nanny left from our house back to hers and we left for The Farm to see Grandma and Papa!
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