My 16-month-old daughter Austen got the surprise of her life over the weekend when she saw a larger-than-life giant Mr. Potato Head!  It was one of the many amazing snow sculptures that were part of this year's St. Paul Winter Carnival.  We went to the State Fairgrounds to check them out and all Austen could do was say "Mama, more!"  It was so much fun to see her wonder and amazement.  Check out all the pics in this blog.

What do you do in Minnesota when winter temps warm to their highest in a couple months?  Go outside, of course, and enjoy it!  After spending the morning playing at an indoor playground, I decided the late afternoon temp of 46 degrees was too warm to pass up an opportunity to spend some quality time outdoors with my daughter Austen.  I figured she would get excited when she saw the huge Winter Carnival snow sculptures, but I underestimated the power of great big snow creations.  She was absolutely enthralled!  After all, she got to meet a giant Mr. Potato Head!

Austen first lays eyes on Mr. Potato Head!

Let's just say the minute I got her out of her car seat and over to the snow sculptures, she was staring in amazement.  I don't blame her!  Not being a native Minnesotan, I had never seen snow sculptures like these until my first trip to the Winter Carnival a few years ago!  Austen is very inquisitive these days, and I could tell she was trying to process what she was seeing.  We stopped in front of each scupture so I could tell her what it was..."Train.  Choo-choo!"  "Tree!" "Dragon!" "Snowman!" "Car!" were some of the ones she enjoyed.  She's in a habit of repeating pretty much anything I say, so it was a fun learning experience.  But I think her favorite was Mr. Potato Head!

Austen & Me with Mr. Potato Head!

And we were lucky to enjoy the sculptures while they were still mostly intact!  There was a continuous drip! drip! drip! from many of them due to the warm temps.  The snowman family was one of the worst off.  You could see where the individual snow blocks had been placed on top of each other with gaps showing where the snow was melting the most.  Although the sculptures were no longer pristine as they had been through our cold snap, they were still awesome!

Mommy, More!

Austen also enjoyed walking around the snow maze.  It was a giant-sized castle and though I could see over the walls, Austen couldn't.  She kept plodding down each path looking at the walls of snow all around her.  Really cute!

It's aMAZEing!

What fun!  Mild temps, cool sculptures, and best of all, it was FREE!  Austen enjoyed the snow sculptures so much, that I think I'll take her to see more of them this weekend at Ham Lake's Snowbowl!  Maybe I'll see you there!

Thanks as always for reading my blog! 

-Chikage