Christmas in Ice

I thought this one was so cute!

The winner of the competition. Can you believe the detail inside

Don't you love the bunny hat. The big guy is pretty cute too!

My little Eskimos!

Before going in.

My kids actually tipped over one of the poles holding up a barrier to keep people away from the ice tree. We leave a wake of destruction wherever we go. (Think twice before inviting us over)

This is definitely something that is one of the advantages of living where they know that it is not going to get above freezing for a very long time. North Pole (where we live) has the annual "Christmas in Ice" celebration starting just after Thanksgiving and going until after New Years. I actually drove by there the other day and the sculptures and ice slides are still there (shocking).

We were glad that we held out for a little while, because when we went it was actually warmer than it had been for a long time (only -20!). It was so much fun. The ice slides are the best. They have the little slides all around that the kids can just go on with their snow pants and then the giant ones that you ride on with a sled. I must be getting old because when I went on the little ones I did not find them all that fun. I was wearing snow pants, have plenty of cushy softness for landing and still felt like my tailbone was broken after landing at the bottom. The sculptures were amazing and it was great to see all the wonderful creations that people can make from ice.

The only way we could get the kids to leave was the promise of going to the big ice slides in February. The international ice carving competition has 2 story ice slides and close to a hundred different sculptures. It is something to look forward to after the long winter.