Fire and Ice Festival

Above: Eli all bundled up for the cold

Below: Joe learning to harvest ice

When you live in Maine and you have little ones it's pretty tempting to stay bundled up inside all the time. And not that this would be wrong (I love to snuggle up next to the fire, watch videos, color, craft, play and bake the day away as much as the next person)- but we are also a family that needs to get out!! This has been even more difficult this year since it's hard to get out (at least outside) with a little little one. But a week and a half ago we decided to go for it and we headed out to the Fire and Ice Festival and the Fields Pond Audobon Center!

As soon as we pulled up to the frozen pond it was time for Eli to eat so while Joe and Lily headed down to the ice I stayed in the truck and fed the baby. And wouldn't you know it, just minutes later Eli had a major poopy diaper!:) So I put on a happy face and just laughed as I finished feeding the baby and then struggled to change his messy diaper in the front seat of the truck! And just as I finished putting layer after layer of warm clothes on our baby Joe and Lily came back to the truck because Lily wanted to go home! Grin. I refused to leave though until I had at least made it out onto the ice for a few minutes. So Joe drove the truck down onto the frozen pond and we convinced Lily to head back out for a little bit. For about 10 or 15 minutes all four of us enjoyed watching the ice harvesting demonstration/lesson. Then the children and I headed back into the truck to warm up. Because Joe parked the truck on the ice we were able to watch the ice harvesting from the relative comfort of the truck. Lily munched on cheesy popcorn (which made her very happy) and I was even able to nurse the baby. Now how many women can say that they have nursed their baby in their truck parked on a frozen pond?:) Lily would head out from time to time with Joe and then come back inside with me. After a little while we all headed up to the Curan Homestead to watch a blacksmith lesson and then headed to the warmth of the Audobon Center where we had lunch and Lily got to play in the hands on kid's discovery room!

So yeah, it wasn't easy. It didn't turn out exactly as we hoped. And our truck looked like a tornado of winter gear and popcorn hit it, but Joe and I decided that it was still better than sitting at home all morning. So we'll keep trying to get out there and I'm sure we'll have many more stories of our little family adventures!

P.S. Thanks again to our friend Tessa for the pictures (especially the rare one of all four of us)!