Every year since Jacob turned one, we tried to set aside his birthday and take time from the holiday craze to celebrate him. Some years it's a simple lunch or dinner at a restaurant and other years it's a bit more. This year the holiday season has been stressful and crazy for the Coxes, so we decided to do something a little extra special to celebrate our birthday boy!!
Jacob knew we were going somewhere special for the night after church on Sunday, December 21st but didn't know where. His first guess was New York. Nice try. Seriously, he is obsessed with visiting New York and is even more so now that he met his newest cousin, Clementine, over Christmas!
We loaded up the car after Jonah's nap and headed to The Gaylord. We arrived in mid afternoon (it only takes 30-45 minutes to drive there depending on traffic), got all checked in to our room and started exploring. All of the hotel restaurants were already booked that evening (note to self: book reservations ASAP), but it worked out for the best! We got our car (praise valet!!) and drove over to Grapevine Mills to eat at The Rainforest Cafe. None of us had ever eaten there before, but we thought the boys would enjoy it. It exceeded our expectations! The food was good, but the boys had a blast!! We were right next to the tigers, which the boys loved. After dinner, we went to Build a Bear and let each boy choose a stuffed animal to make. The line was crazy long, there were only two ladies stuffing and it was HOT. But, we tried to keep them excited and occupied while we waited! Jacob chose Rudolph and Jonah chose Frosty. When we were (finally) finished, we headed back to the hotel and watched Arthur Christmas. It was such a fun night!
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| Checking in |
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| Testing out the bed! |
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| The face of excitement! |
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| Sweet birthday boy |
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| Jonah would NOT turn away from those tigers! |
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| Scary faces at dinner |
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| Each boy got a balloon animal. Jacob chose a lion and Jonah chose a tiger |
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| Jonah just won't look at the camera!! |
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| Picked his friend! |
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| Making a wish... |
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| Helping! |
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| Jonah's turn! |
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| Lots of hugs! |
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| Ready for bed with his new friend! |
The following morning, we ordered room service for breakfast, got ready and headed down to the atrium to enjoy all of the decorations. There were only a handful of people milling about so we had plenty of time to look around and enjoy without all the big crowds. It was wonderful! Jonah particularly enjoyed the trains and I could not get him away! We did a little shopping and bought a few new ornaments for the Christmas tree then decided to head back home.
We had grand plans for the rest of the day. But, Jacob was exhausted and just wanted to stay home and play with his birthday presents! It was such a fun little "getaway" and we're hoping to make it a yearly tradition.
