Ice Cave... well there's a first!

Hey y'all!  I'm home!!  And luckily I've already loaded lots of pics from the trip onto the 'puter, so you'll have to hear about Colorado for a few more days!  Cool?!

Todd  calls me "Pigpen" (like on Charlie Brown).  I have no idea why!

Ok, so we'd been to town a time or two and noticed this big mound of ice.  There were colored lights in it which would change colors, so we knew it was something cool that we'd probably have to explore later in the week.

And so the night came.  We, the Groves Family, were going in!

Into the Ice Cave, as we have since learned.  Note to self:  Uggs do NOT have traction on downhill icy entrances.

It started out no big thang.  Just icicles and paths, really.

But as we would soon find out, there were tunnels and slides, and winding areas, that needed to be explored!

Gabbi typically tried to get her legs out before she'd actually get her head out or remain on all fours, and would inevitably get "stuck".  Not a tough rescue though.

Todd actually considered trying to crawl in after them.  I really, really wanted to see that!!  A few guys DID go in.  But MY guy is NOT "small".

I, of course, only use my iphone for pics these days.  There were some folks in there with tripods and fancy SLR cameras, and I can only imagine how those pics must've turned out.

As you can tell, I couldn't decide whether or not to use the flash or not.

Sometimes it was a bit of a no-brainer.  For instance, the above photo is no flash.  ANd the one below is WITH.  The girls would crawl into a tunnel and suddenly emerge in a place like this, calling "Mooooom.  Daaaaadd."

I was sort of freezing.  I didn't know what to expect and was wearing some thin leggings only.  As was par for me, I AGAIN forgot to put the girls' gloves in their jacket pockets, so they were crawling around on all fours on ice with bare hands!  (Mom of the Year!)

So, I was sort of antsy to go.  But they had to explore every single tunnel in the cave.

Ta da.  There's me.

We learned that they had 90 sprinkler heads that they turned on every night to harden the ice.

So, if you find yourself in Breckenridge, you need to know about this.  It makes a pretty good evening activity after a day full of toting skis (yours and theirs), goggles (yours and theirs), poles, ski boots (yours and theirs)... you get the idea.  This was nice, cause we just sort of walked around!

And there was little to no effort required on the part of parents here.  Just remember gloves.  And, actually, snow pants might not be a bad idea either!

Glad we went!!

OK... One more thing.  Art Retreat coming up in a couple of weeks.  It'll entail painting, mixed media, jewelry making, and some self-awareness activities and information which will hopefully make you leave very glad you came.  The cost is $450.  The agenda will be posted later this week.  I have Joleen and her daughter coming, as well as Jennifer, a participant from the past.  We'd love to have you!!  Todd will be cooking.  And of course, you'll be staying at the BAH!  If you need more details, contact me at mojoy@att.net

MO