Christmas on the Potomac

Today we went to see ICE . Ice is a winter wonderland carved out of 2 million pounds of ice. A troupe of ice loving artisans hail from Harbin, China to create this magnificent display .

The story of ICE began long ago and far away - in fact ,on the opposite side of the globe. Ice lantern festivals can be traced back as far as The Ming Dynasty .
During long winter months, getting lost in the forest was a real problem for hunters. The clever Chinese came up with the novel solution of allowing water to partially freeze and form ice blocks into which a candle was placed , creating a lantern.
In modern times , an ice lantern festival began to be held to celebrate these brave hunters. In 1963 , the Mayor of Harbin created the Lantern Festival .

This was actually my Birthday present from Ed and the kids. We really had a nice time. The funniest part of the day was Gemma. She looked like Randy in A Christmas Story dressed in her snow gear . Everyone is given a parka to wear over their coats and Gemma could not move her arms . One part of the attraction is a huge ice slide . Gemma went down the slide and could not get up because she was so bundled up . She also could not resist the temptation to taste the ice ( she loves her food ), so out came the tongue. Out of the blue Ed turns around and she has her tongue on the ice . It was hysterical .