ICE HOUSE and ICE CASTLE

On Friday, Boston was struck by another snow storm. At first, it looked relatively harmless, and actually pretty around the BU campus.

However, when we got home, we found our house cold and dark. The power outage had struck our whole neighborhood and over 300 houses in Dedham were without electricity. 

 

We embraced the adventure, bought a lot of fire wood, grilled sausages, and read books.

 

The next morning the power was still out and we were longing for some warmth in our 49F/9C home. 

So after a fireplace breakfast (picture by Samu), we fled our ice house.

 

...and hit the road to New Hampshire.

We visited an Ice Castle in Lincoln, which we had planned to do for a few weeks.

The castle was truly impressive: A gigantic building made by hand out of self-grown icicles!

There were mazes and tunnels and little fountains - and a lot of people.

 When we were so cold that we could not take it anymore, we drove to our hotel, a rustic homey lodge in Franconia. The kids liked our room immediately.

 We "played pool".

 And found other ways of relaxing.

 Before going to bed, we enjoyed a family evening swim.

 Surrounded by the White Mountains, we had a lovely breakfast the next morning. We were so tired from our adventure (and the kids were so cranky) that we decided to go straight home without any additional activities.

 So after Sofia had read the Bible (heehee), we drove home, which gave Samu and Sofia the nap they badly needed. We arrived in sunny Dedham in the early afternoon, and found a warm and bright house. Welcome back, electricity!