ICE - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

If you follow my blog, 

you know that during each Christmas Season we take a few days and visit

Gaylord National Resort, just outside of Washington, D.C.

to see ICE!

- ICE is an indoor Winter Wonderland -

A walk through holiday attraction, featuring two million pounds of ice sculptures, 

hand sculpted by 35 artisans from Harbin, China. 

 Kept at a chilly 9 degrees,

you can read more about the making of ICE, here.

This years colorful ice sculptures depict the story of

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Four ice slides and a stunning crystal clear ice sculpture scene of the Nativity.

We took a lot of pictures, I'll show you half today and the rest tomorrow.

It's all ice - it's unbelievable and it's oh so beautiful - more tomorrow!

The Escape Room!!

For several years I have been adding an "Escape Room" to my Bucket List.

For one reason or another, we have never gone.

Mike and Lila have done several and I have often expressed to them that I would like to do one.

As a surprise for me, they booked a room while we were visiting with them.

Bull City Escape - Durham, North Carolina

Here's what is says on there website:

"Bull City Escape is an exhilarating, interactive experience designed to test your wits. 

The premise is simple: 

small groups are locked in a room and have 60 minutes to escape. 

To find the key, 
you must work together to unearth clues, solve puzzles, and crack codes.

Book a room with your friends, family, or co-workers 

and see if you have what it takes to escape."

Your group has embarked on a quest 
to track down the Enchanted Kingdom's Crown Jewels!
These mystical relics have been lost to history 

and are scattered across the kingdom. 

Legend says that these magic jewels will only reveal their secrets 

 when they are united and restored to their rightful place. 

Can your team complete the quest in time?

We Did It, We Escaped, Crushed It,
- We Are The Champions -
This was so much fun, and we finished with 11 minutes to spare. 
If you ever have the chance, do this...it is a ton of fun!

The Gingerbread Masterpiece!!

I was surprised to see this beautiful tree in Mike's place 

when we arrived on Wednesday.

Apparently, it has been up since right after Halloween.

- Seems Mike and Lila are all ready for Christmas -

They had purchased this in advance for us to put together...

it comes like this and none of our pieces were broken.

The boys did a lot of watching...

a little helping...

but mostly...

smiling!!

This was really fun and not extremely challenging with the kit.

Lila made us hot chocolate while we finished up,

it was yummy!!

Here it is all done, this was lot's of fun!!

We played Racko, this is my winning rack!

Skip-Bo

I have never played this before and it's really fun.

We also had a few games of Uno,

enough so that everyone got a chance to win!

Here's Mike and Lila...I love them to pieces!!

On The Road Again...

We have been traveling....

A trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina 
to be with youngest son Mike and his girlfriend Lila for Thanksgiving.

We extended that a few days and stayed with them until Sunday.

It is still Autumn in the area and we stopped for some photographs in our travels.

This beautiful pond of water was close to Mike's house,
it looked different each day I photographed it.

We did a lot of really fun stuff and we had an awesome time!
- Lot's More Coming -

Saturday Critters ~ 206 ~

Last week I shared many of my yard birds, but did not include a picture of the 
Downey Woodpecker.
Both males and females hang around the feeders...
neither are camera shy.
Here are some pictures of the male, he quite likes having his picture taken.


He lands here first...


then shows off his pretty red feathers.


Next he comes in closer to the window...

and catches the pretty light.

A wink...

then a stare down...

and this is the last one I took, right before he took off.

Sharing today with 

Eileen at Viewing Nature With Eileen
and
Anni at I'd Rather Be Birding

House Tour...

I usually decorate the house for Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend...

- but -

we were not home for Thanksgiving, our little get-a-way continues for several more days,

so we decorated before Thanksgiving, when we had the time!

I only decorate the main rooms, 

nothing upstairs and I no longer decorate the railings to the upstairs.

First is the Family Room, 

this is my favorite because the green and red match so well in here.

It's a huge room, with an 18 foot high slanted ceiling.

Pretty much everything goes and is replaced with a Christmas themed item.

Next up, the Living Room

I use golds, blues and snowmen in this room because those are the natural colors in the room.

Red and green just doesn't look good!!

I have decorations in the entry way, kitchen, and even in the bathroom.

But I think you get the idea.

We will decorate outside when we get home from our trip.

The hubs helps a lot with this, I could never do it alone.

Many Thanks to the hubs!!