Friday, January 21, 2011

The Arctic Tundra

We went to Minnesota this week to visit some family and let the girls play in large amounts of snow. We had an amazing time and are so glad we went. What we didn't know when we went was that we were visiting on the coldest week of the year...actually the coldest week in years :) The warmest day was the first one we were there at a balmy 7 degrees for a high. This was our first time flying with the girls and it went great. The large amounts of snacks and activities in their backpacks helped make it seamless. The amount of snow that was on the ground was crazy to me, I actually looked out the window before we were landing and thought we were still high in the clouds but we were near the completely white ground.
Our first day in Minnesota we went sledding. Both girls loved it. Here is my cousin Danielle with her son Wesley and Alyssa Kate


Caroline shocked us all and loved flying down the hill on her reindeer sled. When she would reach the bottom she would say "I do that again".


Wes getting some air :)

Wesley and Alyssa Kate flying down the hill.


Mommy's snow beauty






The kids standing in front of the neighbors mailbox covered with snow....it was crazy!


Lego Land at the Mall of America...the Woody made of Lego's was very impressive


My Aunt Donna (my mom's little sister)


The big kids waiting to go on a ride at Nickelodeon Universe in the MOA.






This is the big roller coaster, it was so cool to have an entire amusement park indoors and the kids loved it.

Caroline sat on two rides but refused to actually ride them and got off.

I thought Caroline looked like an Umpa-Loompa(sp?) in her snow gear


On the other side of the fence is the Mississippi River...it was a trip for me to see it covered in snow and ice!

We visited the aquarium at the Mall of America... the kids loved it.



My cousin Jessica with Caroline at the aquarium


The Family: (L-R)- Danielle, Wesley, Travis, Caroline, Big Wesley, Alyssa Kate, me, Aunt Donna, Kate, Jessica and Mark

I took this picture this morning. It was a phenomenon I have never heard of. It was -20 degrees this morning and I walked outside and it looked like a glittering snow globe. Apparently when it is that wildly cold any moisture in the air freezes...the air was frozen :)

Another freaky trick in the cold....when it is over 15 degrees below zero you can throw a boiling cup of water into the air and it will immediately freeze into snow....you can see the steam coming from the cup

This one you can see the first bit of water hitting the air at the end of his hand turning to snow

Most the water is out now...cool right? :)


When it is that cold you have to find something fun to do :)

Our trip home...Alyssa Kate is looking at Minnesota covered in snow

Caroline was not impressed :)

3 comments:

Shelly, OTA in training said...

Looks like fun, I can't even imagine what that extreme cold felt like, though. Loved the cup of hot water trick! The Mall of America looked like a lot of fun too. I've always wanted to go there. Glad you got to have a little vacation and fun with your family!

Lisa said...

Looks like so much fun! What a great time!

The Cornelisons said...

Ha! Love the picture of the hot water! And man Wesley James is such a big boy now, what a little cutie he is :) Glad you guys got to have a little vacation and I'm willing to bet you never got hot on this one!!!

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