Ice Ice Baby - roadtrip!

John took off the week after Christmas this year. Since the boys and I had A LOT of quality time prior to Christmas, John and I decided to change it up a bit. We took a quick day trip to Nashville!

Apologies to anyone I wasn't able to see in Nashville while we were there. We literally were in Nashville for 24 hours!

When we got in town we met up with Annie, Greg, and their two boys who are the same age as Luke. After lunch, we didn't see the boys for about 2 hours...or when they got hungry for a snack! It was great for them to run off some energy after a 3 hour car drive. They literally were gone and playing so long that I didn't get one single picture of them! But I got the picture that did matter!

We then headed to Heather and Shane's house to meet up with their family! Their girls were SUPER excited to host 'the boys'.

On Friday we headed out to ICE at Gaylord Opryland. We couldn't leave without a proper breakfast, some snuggle time, and a little art session.

ICE was COOOOLD! It contains TWO MILLION pounds of colorful ice sculptures kept at a chilly 9 degrees. NINE. My southern blood is too thin!

See if you can find Luke and Evan! LOL!

The sculptures tell the story of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Luke has been obsessed with everything Charlie Brown Christmas this year. He even heard Hark the Herald Angels sing and excitedly told me, "Mommy mommy!! I know this song! It's from Charlie Brown Christmas!!"

The visit ends with a beautiful nativity scene is crystal clear ice. I really wanted to take a lot of pictures of that, but my hands were so cold!!

There was a 2 story ice slide that Luke went down twice. I sent Evan ahead because he was cold. By the time Luke got down the second time, I really couldn't feel most of my extremities! We still had about half of the exhibit to go, but my picture taking reduced dramatically.

When we got done Luke exclaimed, "This is the most awesome thing I have ever seen!!"  

We also went ice tubing. And by WE, I mean, the boys. And by the boys, I mean Evan. Luke is not my risk taker. He'll try most things with his brother by his side, but if he decides he doesn't like it, you can't talk him into doing it again. After his one trip down, he put up his tube so fast, I didn't even get a picture!

But this guy could have gone for hours!

We did a little more walking around the hotel, but by the end of the afternoon, both youngest were melting before our very eyes. Thankfully after 32 years of friendship, melting 3 and 7 year old can't phase us! See how calm and unphased we are?!?

Luke slept the ENTIRE three hours back to Memphis. To say he was tired is an understatement. He was exhausted! But I always think that is the sign of a good trip...even if it was only 24 hours!