ICE at National Harbor

For a few years now, we've been hearing about ICE at National Harbor. So this year when I saw a Groupon for tickets, I snagged it. The only thing is I had to pick the date ahead of time, like back in October. Chip said he was out the week before Christmas, so it never occurred to me that the kids wouldn't be out too. Turns out they had school, but we pulled them out anyway. It was the day before the last day so it's not like they were missing anything anyway. They missed the last day too because Dan had his second surgery to completely remove his mole. 

Here we are before entering. The exhibit ranges from an icy 5-9 degrees. We knew this, of course, and were prepared with layers. They also make everyone wear these lovely fashionable blue parkas. 

This year's theme was Christmas Around the World.

First up was the slides. We all took turns doing this, including Chip and I, too. Anabella and Daniel were unaffected by the cold and went down multiple times before we finally encouraged them to check out what was next. 

This is where we were last year this time - only in NYC. 

I think this could be considered a real life igloo! 

Someone had to stand on the naughty side! 

Brrr, this sleigh was a cold one for the tush. 

The manger scene was especially beautiful. 

ICE was fun, but I think we had just as much fun exploring the Gaylord hotel and walking around the National Harbor.

This girl! She did this all on her own. 

Such a beautiful time to walk around the harbor. 

The sculptures were so cool. Very artsy. We both agreed we need to come back this summer. The kids would have a blast playing around in this area when the weather is warmer. 

They enjoyed it even in the cold weather. Made quick friends as usual. We had to pull them away to grab a bite to eat before returning to the Gaylord at 6pm for the atrium light show.

We finished dinner just in time to see this beautiful tree light up to music. I took a short video below. It was really gorgeous.

Cliff has a friend who I'm friends with on Facebook and she was just at the Gaylord with her family this past weekend. So, he texted her to see if she had any advice and besides telling us to point on layers (which we already knew), she sent us the schedule for the nightly hotel entertainment. It included this gorgeous atrium light show, which was synchronized to Christmas music. 

The kids wanted to sit by the fountain and it seemed harmless as we were just behind them against the wall....what we didn't know was how wet they'd get. 

Those fountains. Oh my!

They looked like two drowned rats by the end. 

Oh well, that's what we sometimes remember the most.
The unplanned, spontaneous fun moments when kids just get to be kids!
(And moms learn lessons like ALWAYS bring a second set of clothes even when your kids are almost 7.) Fortunately, with all our layers we made it home just fine. Just didn't make it to the National Christmas Tree like we were hoping, but it was still a super fun and plenty memorable day.