My special birthday surprise

For my birthdays, Brent usually comes up with something very special for me. This year, my 28th, was one of the best. He started out by taking me to a fancy dinner, then told me to get in the car so he could take me to my next surprise. I guessed all the way there, but I was not at all expecting him to turn into the Gaylord Texan resort for the ice scuplture exhibit! I had wanted to go for a few years, but it never seemed to work out. I was giddy with excitement as Brent told me about the evening ahead. "The room where the sculptures are displayed," he told me with a note of excitement himself," has to be kept at 9 degrees so they don't melt....they will give us special trench coats to wear so we can stand the climate." I thought we looked very cute in our matching "eskimo coats"! (Seen above)
The ice sculptures were so cool! (no pun intended) They ranged in size, shape and color. Everything you saw and touched was made of ice - even the walls! This one of the teddy bear was huge! (But not the biggest!)
The best part was the ice Nativity scene. We were pleasantly surprised to hear them playing music about Christ (O Holy Night, What Child is This?, etc.) The sculpters did an outstanding job putting in so much detail.....they looked so real!Brent made friends with a near-by sheep....naah!
All of the white behind us, excluding the lights of course, was ice! At first, I thought it was branches....and it was branches.....but they were branches of ice....they looked so real!

The ice cave was neat as well.....by this time I was starting to feel the cold on my cheeks and nose. At the end there was a slide made of ice that you could get yourself pushed down - weee! I wish there was more room to show you more pics....but they wouldn't all fit on the blog. Hopefully you get a pretty good idea though...

The penguins were so cute...the colored ice made you forget they were not plastic!
After the exhibit, we walked around the resort and saw all of the Christmas decorations. It was so festive with huge lighted trees, a real gingerbread house, and model trains zipping all around. Thank you, my sweetie, for making another birthday unforgetable!