Midway Ice Castles

I just wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago and I'm already itching to write another.  Must be because I just received my printed and bound book of posts from last year.  I love having them as a journal of our family each year and now I'm all motivated to better capture 2014's moments for the 2014 book.

Last weekend we bundled up and ventured with the whole family to see the Midway Ice Castles.  They were pretty neat.  All these tunnels and corridors with icicles hanging down and as the sun starts to set there are glowing lights behind the walls.  We were lucky enough to be there just as the lights were turning on.  They had also created an Olaf snowman from the movie Frozen to Olivia's delight.  I found this aerial pic that may give you a better view of what it was like.  To make the castle I guess they have an Ice Farm where they grow icicles. Once they are a certain size they are broken off and attached to the top of a current Ice Castle with some slush. At night when they are closed they turn on some sprinklers which spray the entire structure. The water and the cold nights cause the Castle to grow. I guess they just keep adding on to it all winter long.

We ingeniously decided on this sled as the best mode of transportation for the boys through the snow castle.  It would have been very tiring to carry them and may not have worked well in the backpacks.  They were the hit of the castle.  They got all kinds of attention and everyone thought them so cute cuddled up with each other in the sled. 
We convinced Jared and Heather to come with their boys and Liv adored exploring the castle with Eli and Emmett.

Other pics worth posting:
One day when it was 40 degrees I deemed it summer-like enough for us to all brave a walk.
Every day Liv wants to role play a different princess movie.  This morning it was Beauty and the Beast.  She can quote the whole thing and tells me exactly how to act my part.  I was Gaston and had to throw her book in the mud.  She picked it up wiped it off with the corner of her dress and shouted, "Don't talk about my father that way!"  Yesterday it was Peter pan.  I was Peter Pan, the boys John and Micheal, she Wendy of course and we got to reenact the window scene where all of us take off flying to Neverland and then of course the boat sword fights with Captain Hook.  This day she was Rapunzel long hair and all.

The boys up to their usual mischief.  Every time I pull out a new roll of toilet paper there are usually a few bites missing.

And I really wanted to post this collection of chair pictures.  The two boys just recently and this old one of Liv when she was almost exactly their age.