Snowy Cold Christmas

After spending Christmas morning at home, we packed up the Odyssey and headed north for McKinney. Traffic was light and would you believe we saw some of our neighbors when we stopped at the Madisonville Buc-ee's.

When we passed north of downtown Dallas we immediately went on the lookout for snow, since they received a few inches of the white stuff Christmas eve. Little patches of snow could still be seen in the gullies and shadowed spaces once we got north of Plano. The girls were thrilled to see snow in Brad & Amanda's yard!

The girls delighted in proving to me that enough snow still lay on the ground to provide them with over an hour of snowball fights. Most of my photos are on the iPhone, and I have not figured out how to move them from the phone to the computer, but a long thick line of snow lay between the two houses and supplied them with ample ammunition.

Eventually I got too cold and wet and went inside, but Bryan and then Brad went outside and joined in the screaming, panting, running, chaos. Cameron ruthlessly taunted and watched for opportunity to strike, but when the tables turned and she received a handful of snow down the back of her pants she didn't like it one bit!

Amanda prepared a delicious Christmas Day supper for us and we enjoyed a somewhat quieter evening. The next night the six of us went into Allen for the Americans hockey game. Bryan took me to my first hockey game for our second date, yet we had never taken Cameron or Brenna to see a live hockey game. Both girls take after their parents, getting really into the game, calling out to the ref and players and everything. The Americans played a very close game, but pulled it out at the end for the win!

The next day we said goodbye to Brad & Amanda and headed west into Fort Worth to visit Aunt Debbie. Cameron & Brenna were very excited with their gifts from Debbie, which included riding clothes and pierced ears. She took them to get their ears pierced, with my (albeit) nervous permission. I can't really explain why, but I had some real anxiety over allowing them to get their ears pierced. Both girls handled it very well and love their pierced ears.

Before leaving Fort Worth, we finally (as Bryan would say) went into the Cabela's store right across the highway. Bryan has been really wanting to go into this store. He's been to the one in Kansas City, KS and told me it would make Bass Pro Shop and Gander Mountain look like a Walmart. He wasn't far off - the store was amazing. In addition the retail shopping they had incredible taxidermy exhibits of every possible game, including Conservation Mountain, an African Diorama, an Aquarium, and the Texas Big Game Museum.

We spent over an hour just walking around marveling at the products and the displays. Before we left, we stuck our head inside the shooting arcade/gallery to see what it was about and this young guy leaving gave Bryan a handful of his leftover tokens "for the girls." Bryan helped Cameron & Brenna have a little fun in the shooting gallery, though I'm not sure who had more fun in there.