International Snow Sculpture Championships

International Snow Sculpture Championships (small sampling)

Today my friend Emily and I took our kids, minus Drew, up to Breckenridge to see the snow sculptures at the championships. We thought it would be cool and decided to make a day of it and do something fun with the kids. We had wanted to go during the week, but our schedules never worked out for us to be able to go on the same day. Instead, we ventured up on a weekend, the first day of viewing. Traffic was HORRIBLE!!! Tons of people going to Breckenridge to either ski or look at the snow sculptures. The kids whined and complained the last 30 minutes we were in the car.

This is what the teams start with: a 20 ton, 12 foot high block of snow.

It was very crowded, but the weather was gorgeous! Sunny and pretty warm. We never needed our hats or gloves since we there right around noon. The crowd was huge, but at least there were two of us to keep an eye on all the kids. The sculptures were amazing (only one or two were just so-so). There were 5 teams from the U.S. and 1 each from China, Mexico,Czech Republic, Canada and Lithuania. The program said there was a team from Russia, but I didn't see their sculpture. (The teams spent this past week sculpting and the judging took place today. The sculptures remain standing throughout this coming week for viewing, weather permitting.
The kids thought the sculptures were pretty cool, but were more interested in eating and throwing snow. We had a few meltdowns and Lily is kinda spacey and doesn't always listen and pay attention, so there were a few times she almost started wandering off in the wrong direction. At least she only ran off deliberately once. Any ideas on how to get her to stop doing that, other than using a "child leash"? We spent about two hours looking at the sculptures and trying to get as many good pictures as possible.

Life's Wheel of Time (Transitions)-
Team Canada and United States

Notice Erik is missing. This was the first sculpture we saw, and he was still in the middle of his meltdown. Not being able to be in this picture caused the meltdown to go even longer. *sigh*





Milite Est Vita (V sign glove for victory)-
Team Lithuania



Notice Erik's face. This was right after the end of his 20 minute meltdown.


I love this detail- this was one of my favorite sculptures.


Ball of yarn next to the glove.


The Altar of Quetzalcoatl-
Team Mexico



Erik, Tristan, Carson, Lily in front of another one of my favorites.


Winter Blues-
Team USA, Loveland, CO



Dance of the Fohn Wind Spirits-
Team USA, Wisconsin

I think this one might have won the judges' choice, but I'm not positive.


The Last Iceberg-
Team USA, Alaska





Apparently the last polar bear and an Eskimo play out the last supper on this sculpture.


Happy Herdsmen-
Team China

This one had so much detail! Pretty cool.


Leaning Out For Love-
Team USA, Minnesota




Memories from My Youth-
Team Canada, Ontario



Amazing detail!!


In Chorus-
Team USA, Idaho



Hard to tell these are frogs in this picture, but they looked pretty cool.


Save a Place for our Children-
Team Czech Republic

Not one of my favorites.


String Theory-
Team USA, Breckenridge, CO

As a side note, there are a lot of really clueless people in the world. At one point there were three of us trying to get pictures of a sculpture and a lady walks right in front of us all, stops and starts taking pictures of the sculpture next to us. Didn't have a clue she had blocked all of us. One guy walked right in front of me, maybe 2 feet away, at 4 different sculptures to take his picture...didn't even notice that I was standing there, camera pointed, trying to get my own picture. *Sigh* I wanted to say something, but I'm just too nice. Maybe if Daniel had been there.... I got the best pictures I could considering I had to take them quickly in order to avoid someone walking in right at the last minute.

I put this on here because this lady reminded me of one of those "clueless" people. I couldn't believe she actually put these furry little booties on her dog! Oh my goodness. She didn't mind I was taking a picture either... probably because she thought I liked it. WRONG! I've never really understood dressing up your dog.

The kids sliding on one of the sculptures made for people to actually play on. No, she is not wearing snow pants. At least she didn't complain too long about her pants being wet. They dried quickly though.

It was a great day and we're glad we went. We figure we get points for trying to do something fun with our kids, even if it didn't go as planned. I think if the car ride up wouldn't have taken quite so long we would've had a better experience overall. Hopefully the kids and I will remember the fun and forget the not-so-fun moments. I watched other families with children who were having so much fun and their kids were not throwing tantrums, running away, trying to eat/throw the dirty snow or being talked to loudly for repeatedly disobeying. Made me wish I was having the same kind of experience. Any suggestions... other than not taking my kids anywhere for a few years? (I have contemplated this idea many times, but I keep hoping one of these times we'll be able to go somewhere and actually have a fun, stress-free time.)

Despite what Lily's face portrays, she really was having fun. I couldn't see when I snapped the picture, so I couldn't tell if I needed to redo it. Oh well... at least she's not crying or screaming.