Ice Castles

I think it's pretty obvious (it will be to me when I look back) that this winter has been a trying one. I have had neither the energy nor the motivation to do much in the way of outdoor activities, and frankly the weather hasn't been all that conducive this year. We were floundering for something to do yesterday afternoon, though, and I remembered that a friend had mentioned the Ice Castle made from icicles outside the Mall of America. The weather was stunning yesterday so I talked my crowd-averse husband into a family excursion. It turned out to be great. Potentially not quite worth the price of admission, but then that is always relative when it comes to activities involving kids. I think the structures had probably done some decent melting over the last week, but they were still pretty darn cool.

This man is a giant sucker for his boy

View from inside

Awwwwwwww

You can't really see it, but there's a heart carved into the snow behind us :)

After the kids had had their fill of running around we were tired of chasing the kids around, we went to a well-known local place for ice cream. The kids were surprisingly well-behaved and I got to fulfill a craving with some mandarin orange-chocolate chip ice cream. And then on the way to the car Pacey fell and scraped his hands on icy snow, Brighton got told off for jacking around too near the street and both kids ended the adventure in tears - as all good outings with young kids do.