Winter Festival???

Snowy Saturday! The weather commentators have been saying that if we get the normal amount of snow for the next three months – yes, winter includes April – we will break the current records for snow falls. The city is running out of salt for the roads and mixing in greater and greater quantities of sand. The roads are still being plowed pretty well but I guess if we get too much more snow, life may get a bit dicy.

We went to the winter festival today, and after last week's wonderful entertainment, we expected a lot. There were supposed to be booths and stuff for kids and racing and exhibits for all of us to watch. As it happened, I think it may have been snowed out! Hard to believe that they couldn't accommodate the snow, although last year at this time I had started reading on line news about Madison and for this festival they had to “import” snow. Not necessary today.

Anyway, very few booths went up, the tub slide that we had talked up to Julia looked so dangerous that she wouldn't get near it, and if she had, I'm not sure which of us would have been willing to risk our lives to go down with her. I'm sure there are some 9 year old boys who had a great time. There was cross country ski competitions but it was too slow to enjoy watching – a skier or two at a time going through a rather short course racing against the clock.

We walked around the square, looked at a few things, and went to the kids museum. There Julia was going to show Daddy her favorite exhibits, but the dinosaur exhibit was gone, as was the milking “barn.” We still had the city streets and the trucks and stone table, but the loss of the dinosaurs cuts a big hole in the museum. Julia was disappointed, and everything else was quite crowded. Thankfully, her behavior was really fine. She was disappointed but just went onto the next thing instead of throwing a tantrum.

We had lunch at a chain called Noodles. Julia heaven! She had pan friend noodles and sampled my Pad Thia and David's Italian noodles. The kid is eating. I've notice that she been eating a lot the past week or so. Three meals and lots of snacks – most of it pretty healthy. I am expecting a growth spurt.

After lunch, we did a bit more walking and found a guy carving ice. We could see his Bucky Badger and a horse. He was working on a sled with a dog behind it with a small chair saw and a big chisel. Julia watched his work and when he noticed her, he said hi to her. Julia asked him if he knew it was snowing. He said yes, and she said the snow should stop. And he laughed at her and said that he loved snow. Then he bent down and handed her a chunk of ice. It was about the size of two handfuls for her to carry. It had been cut from his sled chunk so it had some very nice angles cut out of it. Julia was very happy with this gift. She thanked the sculptor and carried it for the rest of the afternoon.