Harbin, China (about as far north as you can go!)

This past weekend Ellie and I traveled to Harbin, China for one of the world's largest snow and ice festivals!! Danny decided that practically going to Siberia would not be fun for him, so he kept the boys for a "boys" weekend! El and I flew up on Friday and began our getaway at Zhaolin Park which was filled with all things Disney in ice and snow. The sculptures truly took my breath away - they were amazing. Of course, I had hundreds of questions about how they can actually make these huge scultptures in time for the festival, which runs from late December until early February, but then I remembered that, when in China, all things are possible!!

Harbin is typically very, very cold (obviously) but we lucked out and our weather throughout the weekend was actually warmer than our dear friends in Bettendorf and Chicago were experiencing! We were very thankful for that because I'm sure it helped make the experience so much better than if we were freezing!!
It was still cold enough to freeze these poor hawberries that had been dipped in sugar!
Ellie was on a gigantic swing with a beautiful ice house behind her! This is Sleeping Beauty in all of her snowy glory!
One of our favorite parts on this night were all of the ice slides that were scattered throughout the park! This particular park was the smaller of the three, so it was not very busy at all (by China standards). The kids got to go up and down as many times as they wanted on the slides. I have to admit, I'm pretty sure I had just as much fun as Ellie!! The only thing troubling was the fact that there appear to be no safety standards in China, so we made sure to watch people go down the slide first to see if it was safe!! The biggest safety issue for me turned out to be my Uggs - apparently the traction is awful on ice because I fell numerous times!!
I think I may have beat El down this slide!! After all of the sliding, we needed to relax in these wonderful ice chairs!!
I have many more pictures to share, but I am experiencing a bit of technical difficulty with my computer, so hopefully tomorrow it will fix itself!! Stay warm and enjoy this last bit of winter!!