Thanksgiving in Texas

I have been feeling sad about neglecting this blog, but 4 kids keeps me VERY busy and VERY tired. However, after using the blog to reference back over birthdays recently. I am even more convicted to get these memories down.

This was Gracyn's adorable Thanksgiving feast in her first grade classroom. Shortly after this feast, we were headed for a 10 day trip to Texas.

First stop, Pappy's house and Babe's chicken. It is my all time favorite comfort food...usually our first stop in Texas.

After Pappy's house we were headed to Temple/Killeen for time with Tommy's family. We go right through Waco, and since we are all pretty much in love with Fixer Upper (Little Guy excluded) we had to stop. It was freezing, so we didn't stay long, but it was so neat to see it all in "real life".

These girls were so happy to get their hands on cousin Noah. They had lots of play time over the next few days.

Dannea had the scoop on a small Shriner Circus near their house and we all had a blast. It was a small circus with a very small crowd. Just our style. We rode elephants and ponies and sat in the front row for the show. Glad we did this then, because since then, we read "The One and Only Ivan" for a required school fiction reading and my children will never step foot in a circus again. The novel was a little disturbing for school distributed fiction. Not only will they never go to a circus again, you might find them picketing them.

We did a little outlet shopping. Reagan HAD to have these glasses. I don't think I have seen them since this day. :)

Next stop was the Gaylord Texan. But we needed to kill some time before check in, so we played at Outdoor World. Love all the FREE Christmas activities. With 4 kids, FREE is always good.

Miss Debra and Mr. Phil met us for lunch and a little exploring at the Gaylord. They got to watch the kids do the  tubing hills, which were a big hit.

Real life! ICE!!! It was crazy. I think we managed to be there on the busiest day of they year. We were meeting Tommy's family and they got stuck in traffic and were way behind, putting us 4 hours past our ticket time. We finally made it through the ICE an hour before it closed. This is my crew after being literally HERDED through massive crowds in a giant parka. We were burning up waiting to get into the actual ICE. It was one hour past their usual bedtime and we hadn't even had dinner yet.

I kept wondering what little Noah thought about the whole crazy thing.

The actual ICE event was somewhat cool, although way too crowded to actually enjoy. We did have a nice dinner in the Gaylord, great rooms and a good swim in the heated pool the next morning to make up for it though.

Next stop, Mimi's house. Lots of sewing lessons, games and baby snuggles with Jax and my sister's nephew. It was a relaxing, quiet end to a long trip.

Random restaurant stop on the way home, where they got the best kid's meal pack of these little wax strips. Fun on a long drive.