Winter Carnival Snow Sculptures

It was a cold, windy, sunny day here in the Twin Cities but it's expected to get even colder next week. We used the clear skies as an excuse to cross the street into the State Fairgrounds to check out the St. Paul Winter Carnival's snow-sculpting contest.

About a dozen 10-foot cubes of compacted snow were delivered onto the Kidway of Machinery Hill this week, and today was a working day for the sculptor teams to put their creations together.  This year a new feature was added; a giant snow slide that Wynn and I took a ride on (very fast and no way to brake...)

They had speakers up around the perimeter of the grounds playing Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers tunes - it's cold enough now as I write this in the evening that I can hear the music, and we are about a mile away...

That's Wynn and Baba in the orange sled!

 

Click on this picture to expand - notice the little grey clay model on the snow chunk in front - that's the pattern the sculptor is trying to achieve with the big piece

Hilton Head Day 5: The ride home

Ugh, awake at 3:45 Eastern Time...  Ann and I are still paying for it now that we're home, although Wynn seems totally unaffected...  

Farewell, beach (after sunset last night). We will miss hearing the sound of the surf while we sleep.

Had to roll out from the hotel at 4:30 for the hour's drive to SAV, top off the tank on the rental car and turn it in. Only 17 people on our flight to New York this morning. Quick load and very early pushback.

Just before sunrise over the coast - click to see the detail of all the little islands!

Sunrise in the near-empty cabin

Sun still coming up as we got to New York City - we flew over the Statue of Liberty and along Manhattan - then over the World's Fair site and a tight TIGHT turn to land at LaGuardia.  (Again, click to embiggen - see the crane on top of the new Freedom Tower?)

We arrived *really* early into New York and had several hours to burn. Nice upgrades to the Delta gate areas. The girls found quiet space to play and read while I looked around.

Our bird home on the right. Again a light load, only half full.

Someone earned her wings on the trip down - the favorite of all the flight crews - and got to visit the cockpit before our final leg home! (See her wings?)

    

Finally a picture of the three of us...

Winter Carnival Snow Sculptures

Living next to the State Fairgrounds is great - when events are taking place we're only moments away.  The St. Paul Winter Carnival is underway now, and they've had truckloads of snow brought onto Machinery Hill at the Fairgrounds for their annual snow-sculpting contest.  It was a pleasant night, so we wandered over after dinner:

Dozens of sculptures - most of them intact but there were a couple that fell apart in today's 38-degree weather...

Of course, Wynn liked the dragon.

Great detail and craftsmanship on this one!  Wynn is taking piano lessons weekly after school...

Work is still underway - this looks like it'll be a Vulcan palace when completed. They were giving fire-truck rides around the Fairgrounds this weekend; we could hear the siren going off every so often during the snowstorm...

I think this was a Far Side cartoon...

They had a big snow maze set up, and she had a blast running around inside that.

What a charmed life she leads!

Post-Xmas Pictures 2012

Visited her grandparents in Burnsville today; on the way back we stopped by the airport to watch airplanes for a while, and she got her picture taken at one of the holiday displays they have there.

And we had lunch at Culver's in West St. Paul, next to Lowe's where we got paint to do our living room over Xmas break.  She's showing off her Oreo ice cream cake she got as part of her kids' meal!  (She needed a little help to finish it.)

Yet Another Midwestern Blog Post Cleverly Entitled "White Christmas"

Why So Confused, Frosty?

When the forecasters started spinning tales of doom and gloom for the holidays, we quickly rearranged some plans and ended up doing our traditional Christmas Eve with my family - but on the 23rd. We figured it was going to be easier to do it a day early; then if things were really bad on the 24th, we could all just hunker down at home for the day and watch Wynn play with all her new toys.

Helping Grandpa Open One of His Gifts

(Hint: It was a BIG year for slippers!)

Our Christmas Eve Eve celebration was lovely and as low-key as could be, considering there was a three year old and a MOUNTAIN of gifts in the room. The biggest gift was sitting in front of the fireplace, topped with an enormous silver bow. Wynn knew it was for her, peeked through the wrap as best she could, spotted the roofline at the top and proclaimed, "It's a dollhouse." We tried to convince her that she was wrong; obviously, it was a refrigerator to keep apple juice and pizza in, but, there's no fooling Wynn. She still managed to get seriously excited when the time came to open it.

Oh, What Could it Possibly Be?!

She's deeply in love with her dollhouse (and all the accessories - including a pink convertible - that come with it). The only problem is, with SO MANY gifts and such a BIG dollhouse, we couldn't fit everything in the car for the ride home. So, the dollhouse is staying at Grandma and Grandpa's until they can transport it in a few days - once the storm of the century has passed. Meanwhile, Wynn is content as can be, playing with her dolls, games, and puzzles. We also cleaned her room a bit today and talked about how the dollhouse couldn't come home until there was enough room for it, which she totally bought.

The Gecko We'll Use to Stage a Monster Movie

at Her Dollhouse If Things Ever Get Dull

This Christmas has truly been the best yet with Wynn. It's the first time that she's anticipated the holiday and had enough background knowledge to talk about the things she was looking forward to: getting a tree, opening presents, watching the Grinch, etc. Watching her excitement build over the past few weeks has been such a treat.

The Gecko's Going for the Car First, I Guess

Our family outing this afternoon was to the front yard to build a snowman (her first!) and knock the snow off the pine branches.

Getting the Top Branches -

with a Boost from Baba

Note: Wynn has stated that we may give our frosted monstrosity of a gingerbread house to Santa. Apparently, reindeer LOVE frosting and can eat tons of it without getting sick. Excellent!

Fun in the snow, with a new friend

Winter break has begun, and fittingly we received a reasonable amount of snow today for the kids to frolic in.  After naptime this afternoon, Mom and Wynn suited up for a foray into the front yard.

I broke out the long coat, too, and leashed up the newest addition to our family to go for a short walk.

His name is Shadow, and he is a ten-month old tricolor Sheltie we adopted last weekend from a breeder in western Minnesota. This past week we have all been getting to know each other and establishing some ground rules - such as Shadow sleeps in the bed with Mom and Baba.

Wynn really seems to like him, and he has done very well around her. She is a little anxious about us paying attention to the pup - wiggling in when we are trying to teach him a command or engage him in play - but we won't go so far as to call it sibling rivalry. They're already figuring out how to collaborate with each other...

In other news, Wynn had a recent follow-up appointment with her surgeon, and it looks like it will be a couple more years before any additional reconstructive work is needed. In the upcoming year, we will be ratcheting up her speech therapy activities to try to stay a step ahead of her ballooning vocabulary.