If you're like our family, we have the best intentions to go places together but it rarely happens. Usually either myself or my husband takes one or both of the girls to do something while the other does something else. But this time we made plans to meet another family for a holiday outing and stuck to them. We piled into the mini-van and headed down to the National Harbor. GO TEAM!
We took the girls to the ICE Experience at the Gaylor National Hotel. The theme was Merry Madagascar and they had all of the characters and Santa and his reindeer carved out of colored ice. Really amazing stuff. Incredible craftsmanship. Alex the Lion, King Julian, even Mort all carved out of ice. But guess what? IT'S COLD! Like "OhmyGodmyfaceisfreezingoff" cold. Yes, they give you big blue parkas to wear over your jackets and such. But still. When you're standing on the stairs waiting to ride the ice slide and there's cold air blowing on your face, you realize you paid for this torture.
Let's talk about how much it costs to be freezing for about five minutes, because that's about how long the kids lasted. It cost $130 for our family of four to walk through the ICE Experience. (I know there were discount tickets being offered on Living Social last week but we had already purchased ours.) All the kids wanted to do was go down the slide. That's it. They pretty much ran through the whole thing, did the slide and couldn't wait to get warm. And as luck would have it, you come out at a hot chocolate station. YEAH! Let's spend more money! Then they have a meet-and-greet with the Penguins of Madagascar. So fun! Oh wait, you have to pay for that too. Moving on...
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We went back over to the hotel to see the Dreamworks characters. Shrek, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, etc. So exciting! Mommy look!! "Excuse me, where do we go to see the characters?" Over there? And it costs how much? Taking pictures with the characters is another $35. WTF? (And guess what, no one was getting pictures.) We were lucky because all of the characters walked right by us on their way into the picture area. So we got to see them and that made the kids happy. Almost as happy as watching a free fountain show and making wishes on pennies.
So, what did we learn from all this? Family outings (especially with great friends) are really fun. Sharing new experiences is awesome. Enriching our childrens' lives is wonderful. Am I happy we went? You bet. Would I do it again? Probably not. Because sometimes, the best memories are the ones that just...happen. The ones we don't plan or seeing coming. The times we all play Candyland or build a fort in our own, ICE-free homes.
