Christmas Lights

The idea sounded great. That's usually what begins most of the horror stories of my life. And while this one wasn't quite a horror story, it wasn't all warm and fuzzy like I'd hoped it would be.

My sister in law and nieces are in town for the holidays. My brother in law is in the military and is currently overseas. Today Angie called and wanted to know if there was something we could do with the kids. We thought and thought and decided it would be fun to go see the lights and decorations at Opryland Hotel.

We took the kids to lunch at McDonalds and then told them where we were going. Then the grumbling began. We dropped off my mother-in-law and the four kids at the entrance and then Angie and I parked and walked back. When we got back, all the kids looked bored out of their minds sitting in chairs waiting for us. Emily declared this, "BORING". Josh complained about one thing after another. I don't think I ever heard Lauren complain. Ellie and I were both dressed way too warmly and she had not had a nap even though it was after 1 p.m.

Do these photos give away how happy they all were or what???

We took pictures near the poinsettia tree and Ellie was less than accommodating. At this point, Josh tells me he has to go to the bathroom and I thought he went one way and we followed. After we all used the bathroom, I finally decided to yell into the boy's bathroom and there was no answer. I got kind of sick feeling, thinking that we might have missed him, misunderstood him or something happened. I gave Ellie to my mother-in-law and took off back to where we were when he went to the bathroom. He was there with the lady working at the information desk and he was on a cell phone. He looked distraught and when I got there, he burst into tears while I held him and told him I wouldn't have left him. He had called Kevin and told him that we had left him and asked him to come get him. Poor thing!!! After he gathered himself back together, we went back and met up with the others. By this time, I had to take off one of my shirts and we took Ellie's shirt off her and just left her overalls on. She was so hot and so tired.

These are the ones that turned ok good enough ...

I like this one of Nana, Ellie and Josh

As well as this one of Nana, Ellie, Josh, Emily and Lauren

We finally just decided to call it a day and go home. Angie and I were disappointed that the kids didn't have more fun. Afterwards when we took them back to McDonalds for ice cream, they had a blast. Go figure!