Gaylord Opryland Hotel 2011

We had a little family excursion yesterday.  Doug and I were wondering when the last time we went to Gaylord Opryland Country Christmas.  We decided that it has to be at least 7 years ago, way before Katie was born. 

We all have to have our picture taken in front of the poinsettia tree. 


I just love this Nativity Scene

At the main entrance of the hotel.  Y'all will have to excuse the blur in this picture.  The only way to capture the lights without it looking all pitch black, you have to set my camera to twilight.  This makes your shutter speed slow down, thus you need a tripod in order to make the perfect shot.  Unfortunately, I was not going to lug around a tripod to make these photos. 

Looking through a small window out to the waterfall

I was so happy to capture this waterfall from the skywalk, looking down.  So beautiful!

Doug and I tried to get the Dreamworks Experience package a while back, but missed the specials on the rooms $100 a night.  Normally, the room are over $200 a night.  Needless to say, we didn't get the special deals for the Dreamworks Experience, so we couldn't get the kids' picture taken with Shrek and Puss.  As you can imagine, they were the limelight of the kids night.  Colton absolutely loved Shrek.  Millard took him to get a better look.  Shrek came over towards Colton, waved and said "hey" to him.  One of the workers asked Colton what he thought of Shrek and he told her that he liked Shrek. 

Katie had a blast, looking around the hotel.  She couldn't fathom the thought of all of this in one hotel.  We, adults, were getting pretty wore out from all the walking, but Katie wanted to see more.  If it was up to her, she would research every inch of this place.  She told me as we were walking in the Delta room that this was the greatest day ever.  She is so funny. 

Today was the "Music City Bowl" - Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest in Nashville.  Well yesterday at the hotel, you had Mississippi State fan merchandise on one end of the hotel and Wake Forest on the other end.  Football fans checked in with their bulldogs sweatshirts on.  We found one guy holding a sign that read "Wake Forest tour".  We don't know what that was all about.  Buses were pulling in, one after another outside the main entrance.  We don't know who were in the buses other than just visitors.  People, people were everywhere.  Doug and I had to watch the children, so they wouldn't get trampled.  There were a few rude men, barreling through.  I did say "excuse us" to one guy because I just knew he was going to run over Katie.  I didn't let it ruin our trip. 

As you can tell, we loved the lights inside and outside the hotel.  Earlier, we did go by the Opry Mills Mall, but most stores were still closed for repair from the flood a couple of years ago.  We did get to shop at the Bass Pro Shop.  The rest of the stores are suppose to re-open this Spring. 

We drove up the road to Rivergate Mall and did little shopping.  Gymboree had a great sale going on; unfortunately, I don't have a dime to my name after Christmas.  Anyway, they had their entire stock for $15.99 and less.  Katie was going crazy because she heard that this mall had a Build-a-Bear.  Thankfully for her, she had a little money saved from Christmas and spent it all on her new bear "Rainbow."  It is cute and I think she did a good job picking out the outfit.  Colton was so thrilled that I finally got him a Spiderman t-shirt.  He was excited to try it on this morning that he wouldn't let me take it off. 

We hope you have a great New Years weekend.