A day at the Gaylord Texan

 We always get together with the Hooks at Christmas, and this year we opted to spend the day with them in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan. We had tickets to the Santa themed Escape the Room challenge at 1, so we met up at 11 for lunch at Uncle Julio's before going over to the hotel to wait for our appointment. The hotel is really beautiful at Christmas so we knew the girls would enjoy walking around while we waited.

 We were hoping we would be alone in our group for the game, but they put a family of 3 with us. It turned out to be ok and they were a lot of fun (and helpful) in us finding the golden key and escaping before time ran out. We were given 40 minutes, but we got out in 21. 

 After that, Heather had the bright idea to go ice skating, so we got tickets for the girls and Nick and Will. She can't ice skate due to her hip and I had no desire to risk falling and hurting myself, so we watched instead. But we didn't plan ahead for that, so it was really cold outside and none of us were properly dressed for ice skating anyway. Kate has been wanting to try for a long time, and she was super excited....until she got out on the ice. Turns out, she has discovered she is not a fan and wouldn't even leave the wall because she didn't want to fall.

 I decided not to torture her any longer, and she and I went back inside the hotel for hot cocoa while everyone else skated for a little while. It turned out to be a good decision.

 We stopped by the Grapevine Mills Mall for just a little bit (Will had to visit a specific store so the girls all went to the Disney store and spent some money) before letting the kids pick our dinner spot (Chick-fil-a). Then it was time to head home.

Holiday in the Park

We were given season tickets to Six Flags for Christmas this year, which is a pretty neat gift. We needed to visit the park to get our passes printed before 12/31 in order to get the free parking as well, so we bundled up and headed out this evening with Yiayia (who also got a season pass) so we could see the lights of Holiday in the Park.

Kate has been to Six Flags once, but it was a long time ago when she was a toddler so she doesn't remember it. We didn't end up riding anything other than the train around the park and the carousel. It was pretty chilly and getting on a ride would have just made it colder. But we did enjoy the pretty lights everywhere. Kate is excited to go back during the daytime when it warms up a little bit.

Christmas with Pop & Paula

The day after Christmas Dad and Paula drive up from Mount Pleasant to bring more gifts for the kids and spend the day with us. We decided on Posados for lunch because no one wanted to cook or eat dressing again, and the kids had fun playing games and opening more gifts.

Christmas Day 2017

Christmas morning began at 7 am when Kate woke us up so she could see what Santa had brought her. Obviously we would have liked to have slept in, but an excited child will never allow that. 

 Mommy and Kate got new bikes this year!

 Jason, Heather, Kylie, and Logan arrived at our place around 3 that afternoon to spend a couple of days with us. We've never done that before, and it was really cool to have them here for Christmas Day. We loaded up pretty soon after they arrived to go to Mom's for Christmas dinner and more presents!

 We got home from Mom's rather late, but that didn't stop the kids from begging to open their gifts that we had left at the house from us. So we gave in, and the kids opened even more gifts before bedtime:

 It was a very long day, and very late when we finally went to bed, but one of my favorite Christmas Days so far!

Christmas Eve with Yiayia

Christmas Eve, in pictures: