Sunday, February 8, 2009

Winter Festival

The island's annual Winter Festival was this weekend. Despite the rain and 40 degree temperatures (in the middle of February!) we had a great time on Saturday morning

...skating...


I have to put in a plug here for my genus of a husband. Up here in the North, we often use chairs to help little ones learn to skate. I had grand plans in my head for something similar I wanted my husband to build out of PVC, but he had a better idea. See the child-sized walker my son is using on the ice? My husband bought two adult-sized walkers at the thrift store (for $5.00 each on Friday afternoon, measured each child, cut them down (the walkers - not the children,) drilled new adjustment holes, and had them ready for the kids to skate with on Saturday morning. Genus I tell you - genus! Another plug - my mom knit both kid's hats.

...sledding...

...getting our faces painted...

...looking for eggs in the snow...

... and munching on brats while getting warm by the fire.

We brunched in the school gym on Sunday morning...

...we passed on a ride...

...but we did scoop up some goodies to take home.

We voted on photos for the 2011 Seasons of Mackinac calendar...

...and watched the turtles race down the hall...

...until nap time was long overdue andwe had go home to put the toddlers to bed.

Another great Winter Festival - all thanks to the great volunteers at MIRD. If you ever plan a winter visit to the island, Winter Festival weekend is the perfect time to come!

11 comments:

Sam said...

That looks like a lot of fun :-)
Intrigued by the turtle racing!

And, in the UK, we sometimes call children "Brats" (when we're not being nice!) so I had a bit of a double take there, lol.

Lisa @ Life with 4! said...

looks like fun! great idea to use the walkers for on the ice.
we just went to a kids music festival at a local elementary school on saturday. those things are always fun.

Kristyn Knits said...

wow! what a great idea to use walkers! I could have used those when I started my ice skating lessons.

Kristyn Knits said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dutchcomfort said...

Our kids learn to ice-skate using a chair too. The walkers are a splendid idea!!

The Winter festival looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing!

antique quilter said...

what a fun day! the hats are adorable!!!!
DH came up with a wonderful idea using those walkers for the kids....
bet the children slept well during their nap with all those outdoor activities!
turtle races looked intriguing!
Kathie

Brenda said...

Looks like you had a wonderful time. very exciting.
Love the walkers

Marcia said...

Looks like a good way to cheer up those Winter "blues". February is always the worst month of Winter for me. We have Glacier Glide coming up on Feb 21st. I'll post some pics from that.

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful festival! it's 70 degrees here today and rainy. and great idea by your husband!!

Maggie said...

Fun! It was the Arctic Ice Festival here this past weekend, too, although the temps also soared into the 40s after weeks of bone chilling days. Glad you all had fun. Kudos to A.!

Mum-me said...

That looks like so much fun.

The first time Possum went ice skating there were those sort-of-walker type things for the children to use. Great idea.