Ice fest 2014

Icefest is truly one of my favorite "holidays".  It is local, gives our family roots in a community tradition as well as a family one, it is not at my house so I do not have to clean, my family comes, my parents brother and niece, it is really cool, amazing artist show off their talents, and their is a chili cook off, but sadly because of all the kids pallets we have not been to that part in a few years.  There is also an Ice Ball which I so very much want to go to, maybe one year when I can find a sitter, and they have special theater events, ballets, cake contest, bands, it really just keeps getting bigger and better.  The only down side is it is SO COLD!!  Yes it is right during our coldest times of the year.  It has to be to keep all the ice still ice but some years are worse than others.  With the surrounding weeks dropping down to the negatives and highs sometimes in the single digits we were over joyed when this years Icefest was in the sizzling 40's!!  It was a single day heat wave, the next next two days it dropped and snowed us in again.  But with warm weather we, the whole town headed out, some in t shirts and shorts, it was not that warm but at least I saw no flip flops.

This year the older boys each had art work in Ice fest.


Evan had an owl and chickadees


Gregory had a haiku and many snowflakes

Besides the kids awesome art the ice artist did fantastic jobs once again.


We all loved this guy from Monsters Inc.  Just to darn cute.  And Smiley scaring just to perfect.


This giraffe was my favorite.  The picture does it far from justice but it was...cool. haha


And my boys in front of a truck well that just fits doesn't it.


There is getting to be to many of them to fit on the biggest ice chair.  Awe I remember bring only 2, once upon a time.


Me and the kids by a dog and a golfer.  The ice sculptures line the both side of streets and some allies for  over 4 blocks.


My parents and the kids.  Yes that is Smiley licking the sculptures, smh.

However to the bigger kids nothing tops the ice slide.

The boys all love this.  The girls loved the s'mores station better.

It was fun and not so cold.  A nice chance to be outside in the middle of crippling temperatures that keep us in most days.

other years:
2008
2009
2011

And there is more but ... recently we lost an entire hard drive of pictures.  I need to print more out immediately.  Such a flaw of mine.