Through

It was soooooooooooooo cold this week. When it’s negative-bajillion outside, sometimes the only thing to do is escape into your own little world and pretend you’re somewhere and someone else. Like a captain on a pirate ship.

or a queen in her castle.

Excellent though we are at being in our castle, after days of not leaving the house, braving -25 for a walk to a restaurant seems an acceptable alternative.

Luckily, the people in our life seriously bring the warmth. Joe worked from home Wednesday so I could have some support and go do yoga. My neighbor, Donna, baked me this delicious cinnamon swirl bread.

And on Thursday, while the delicious and warming soup Colleen made simmered on the stove, Jim let me sit as long as I wanted in the beautiful sauna he built in his backyard.

Finally, Charlie and Henry made this week truly great. It could have been miserable to be cooped up at home for days and days with two small(ish) children. But they weren’t bothered by the weather at all, and just had a really fun time playing together. It was a joy and a pleasure to get to spend all week with them. (Plus most of last week. Whew!) So following that up with a weekend together while Joe’s away on a trip was not nearly so daunting as it could have been. Especially since today got up nearly to FORTY DEGREES!

The snow sculptures of the St Paul Winter Carnival seemed like a perfect start to our afternoon.

Snow maze!

I thought this one was wonderful! On one side it’s a little boy looking in the refrigerator for a snack, and on the other it’s over-grown foods being friends.

Someone gave us their extra ticket to the giant snow slide (which was big and long, but not super photogenic), so we bought two more and waited in the long. long. long line. But the boys were totally champs waiting, and said it was  definitely worth it afterward.

We mosied around the fairgrounds for another good while and then hit Whole Foods. After shopping for our Barbadian dinner Charlie had planned, we weren’t quite ready for home. Macalester was mere blocks away, so I figured it for a perfect place to just wander around.

Always is.

Foucault’s pendulum is always a good reminder of how big the world is.

They loved this rock where they could feel amethyst, hematite, quartz and marble

Henry, of course, loved the dinosaurs the most

We ended our wanderings, appropriately enough, on a big mountain of snow that they immediately decided was their castle. I’d left my boots in the car, and didn’t ascend, so I was sometimes the guard, sometimes the Castle Bunny, and sometimes the princess who was in charge of capturing approaching enemies.

After cold, cold, cold, drinking out of a coconut feels like the most indulgent thing you could possibly do.

Henry took the camera here, so the rest of these are a super-minimal sampling of what he captured.

Dinner cooking

Oh, hey!