Frozen fun with Bret

These are some things Bret has created out of ice/snow in years past...including a special Pacific Northwest addition

I think this was made for the 2007 New Year's Eve party


This was the Wyoming Igloo...


And now...the Snowy Salmon! It's on the corner - in front of our house...You can't see the roe (small, red snowballs) behind the fish...but they're there!

More daddy creativity

Did you know popsicle sticks could look so cool?!? Bret and Sabine made these to give to the Uncles Kevin and Erik. (They'll be in the mail soon, I promise!) We realized after this photo was taken that our camera lens was severely smudged.

More igloo photos that didn't work before...

The igloo is done!

Here are a few night time photos...yes, that's a decorative door way...made with snow packed in the wading pool, with an ice "gargoyle" type of thing on top.

Bret took a light into the igloo...very cool glow!

Happy daddy...

...and even happier Sabine! The pile of small blocks in front of her are "supplies" because a "storm" is coming and the leopard seals (or something!) come out after the storm and will eat you if you go outside of the igloo. Consider yourself warned. BTW, the large block of snow behind Sabine is the TV. Thank goodness.

Igloo building 101

This is how Bret began our igloo. Mining blocks from all the snow that's fallen off the North roof of our house.


He painstakingly set up a circle (using a stake in the ground and some rope, spray painted with surveyors' paint) and added a doorway...and began stacking blocks. While trying to figure out how to build it up, he found the following video (it's long...but extremely valuable...great music...and it's from CANADA! Hey, if anyone should know igloos, they should, right?)



Ahhhh...the magic of the upward spiral, and building in the correct direction -- apparently there's a right and a left handed version. Maybe next time...The Eskimos did their whole igloo in 1.5 hours...Bret's took...a little longer (well, it's not done yet)...he says he scratched his head for that long...just trying to figure out how to do it...