I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. I am thankful to have all of you in my blog world. If you have not gotten into the Holiday mood yet, I am sure you will be shopping and decorating soon. We started this weekend so I will keep you posted about the inexpensive ways to add touches to your home with items you probably have in your backyards or neighborhoods.
But first to start off this holiday season I wanted to share some photos and thoughts on our recent trip to The Gaylord National Hotel. My daughter won a 2 night stay and ICE package. Well what is ICE you may be asking, oh just 2 million pounds of Ice, sculpted and colored in 10 different scenes in a 9 degree space. This year was the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
I had never heard of this event until she won the drawing at a Radio Disney event over Halloween weekend. So we packed up the kids and went to DC for the weekend. The kids excitement began just pulling up when my 4 year old screamed “they are Christmas”. Interpreted they are decorated for Christmas and yes they are. You pull into a festival of trees and lights. The lobby is wonderfully decorated and the atrium filled with trees , lights, a colored water show, and snow twice nightly.
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| VIew from outside atrium |
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| Sun Set on the Potomac |
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| Snow flakes in Atrium |
There is a skating rink when you walk in where you can skate all day for $10. A better deal than at our local skate rink. A gift shop area and of course the ice show. Each person is given a large “meat locker” jacket to wear over your own jacket. (Hats and gloves a must) I will not try to describe the ice I will just show you pictures to see for yourselves.
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| Tree Made out of PEEPS |
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| Meat Locker jackets |
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In the middle there was an ice slide which the adults enjoyed as well. We had to pull the kids out of this area as it was getting really cold by now.
It took about 30 minutes to get through the ice part. Maybe longer for those of you coming from the Far North where 9 degrees is an early spring day!!
We spent the rest of our time in DC at the mall exploring museums as it was only a 15 minute drive.
This will definitely get you in the Holiday spirit if you live within driving distance. The Gaylord has many packages if you chose to stay there, only one night is needed. Also get an early am show if possible as we had no wait and those going at 5pm had an hour and 15 minute wait just to get into the ICE area. (remember this was before Thanksgiving so the waits will only get longer)
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“Per your suggestion Maria, we got tix for the 10:30 a.m. show (was going to do earlier, but figured leaving before 9 would not work!). We actually got there before 10:00 and there was hardly a wait so they let us in…waited maybe 5-10 minutes…we hit a small line right at the coat distribution, but could see the signs for 30-90 minute waits! We had great fun…girls really enjoyed it. Not so sure I would have liked it so much if we had to wait 90 minutes though! Wasn’t too crowded inside either which was nice. We were back in the hotel watching the Irish dance competition before 11:00.
We are trying to plan a 8 yr old girl birthday party (Dec 24th baby so having a party a week before) – do you think taking several girls to the ICE exhibit and a meal at the Gaylord with cake and a meal at a restaurant inside — since everything is decorated Christmas? Or do you think painting clay is more exciting?