Happy Friday! We are full on back in the swing of routines around here and a bit sad about it. We love Christmas break so much and this one was no different.
If you don’t know, Brandon works for SIU and goes to school there (he’s graduating in May) as well, so the downtime in between semesters is the best but as an employee, he also gets between Christmas and New Years off every year. I am grateful for my job that offers great flexibility and so I get to work from home that week as well (getting up before kids to get the work done, so I can join in on the family time when they wake up). I know not everyone gets this luxury and we are so grateful for those extra days we get with the girls. The years are so short!
We started out break expecting a blizzard! Which would have been awesome for us to stay home in, but imagine my nerves when our area shut down and recommended not driving and we had tickets (Thanks to J and J, my inlaws) to the Fox the next day for…
**after much consideration, and maps showing clear interstates we chanced it and are so glad we did! Roads were all clear and it was a great show!
One of us couldn’t contain our excitement as much as the other;)….
The Fox is the most beautiful at Christmas, and if you haven’t been at least once, we’d recommend for sure!
The next days after that were Christmas Eve and Christmas and I don’t have a single picture. There was lots of playing with new toys, games, pajamas and puzzles. Our favorite things.
On Friday after Christmas, we left for ICE at the Gaylord. We had told the kids the week before we were going but the excitement was real! We loaded up, hit the road, checked into our hotel in downtown, and explored a bit and then headed to the Gaylord.
It was perfect sightseeing weather. We went to the Gaylord for a scavenger hunt, ice tubing and then ICE! No pictures of tubing. It was fun, but not crazy icy or fast because it wasn’t that cold outside.
ICE was impressive! The details were in every exhibit as we walked through. The colors were so pretty as well…
It was a chilly 9 degrees in there so parkas were mandatory. We weren’t crazy cold until the very end and then our noses all matched Rudolphs;)
Me.. wondering why we choose tickets on a warm December day ha!
A fun thing that ICE always seems to have in the display every year is a slide! Brandon went pretty fast down it but the girls and I didn’t unfortunately. Rough picture, but there are 4 lanes of slides. All ice as well…
Do you all remember when Avery was Rudolph obsessed?! She loved him! We even did family Halloween costumes one year. Full circle I feel like…
The Bumble was huge!
It’s a walk thru experience so of course we got to the end of Rudolph and seen the big guy and his Mrs…
I cannot get over how true to the movie the displays were. Seriously such an art…
What I was also impressed by was the beautiful nativity scene at the end. It was a literal show stopper. My photo doesn’t do it justice, but I’ll post anyways…
We were wiped out after cramming all the fun into one day so we headed back to the hotel for a quick rooftop swim and room service dinner…
We did a bit of shopping the next day, and then headed home.
Have a great weekend!
