Ice Festival

Sometimes in January you need incentive to get out of the warm, coziness of the apartment and brave the elements. So when I heard about the Central Park Ice Festival last weekend, I thought this could be a good outing. We get to wander through the park, see some ice sculptures, drink hot cocoa and head home. Easy peasy. And it kind of was. Except that the wandering took much longer than I anticipated. Carolina was enjoying her newfound freedom from the stroller a bit too much and took forever to make it down the Poet's Walk. We finally found Elisa a bathroom at the Boat House after much moaning and one closed restroom and then of course the automatic toilets kept flushing and she didn't want to go. By the time we made it to Belvedere Castle near the Great Lawn, the festival should have been in full swing.  But an hour and a half of sculpture time proved too soon and the block of ice still looked like, well, a block of ice. And when I approached the table for the "free" hot cocoa, they said it would be a half hour while they restocked. Ugh. This was starting to prove worthless. But I did manage to take Elisa up to the top of the castle while Nacho stayed put with a wailing Carolina.  I include these details only to remember how it really was. The highlight of the day being the walk through The Ramble as we headed to Shake Shack to make amends for our meager outing. And that burger definitely made up for a lackluster park outing. Even eating it on a bench in the cold outside the Natural History Museum. Sometimes, you just have to try. And we did. Now back inside where it's warm!