First Fridays- Fire and Ice 2011

I love First Fridays in Goshen. It always provides a nice reason to go downtown and spend time together as a family outside our home.

And being this was the second January Fire and Ice Festival I've gotten to attend, it must be said that January is quickly becoming on the favorite list of months for First Friday events.

I truly enjoy watching the artisans carve the ice with both chain saws and hand tools. And the finish products are always amazing. To add to the splendor both this year and last year it snowed. So while it was cold, it was so pretty.

Watching the snow fall, seeing beautiful ice sculptures and then dashing into stores to get warm and check out sales and art shows. The boys also seemed to enjoy watching the sculptures being made.

And it was fun to see if they could figure out what the different sculptures were. Some were easier than others to determine.

All in all it was a wonderful night. We went home cold but soon snuggled up in warm pjs, under warm blankets with warm stories to guide little boys to dreamland.

First Fridays

First Fridays is a monthly affair in Goshen. And all year round too. Businesses open stay open late, stores have specials, churches and other organizations have food and people flock downtown for the evening. My first time going to First Fridays was actually back in January. It was the second annual ice sculpture contest. And although it was snowing pretty heavily it was so fun to walk up and down the streets. Plus the fire station had opened up for the public to come in and see the fire engines. There was a demonstration on how to correctly use a fire extinguisher and you could even sit in one of the big engines. :) Lots of fun for our boys.

Anyway, this last Friday was June's First Friday. It started off the summer music series. Which we didn't get to hear any of because they had moved the groups inside due to light rain and we didn't know the indoor location. However we did have fun. Maple City Market was grilling hamburgers made from local beef. Which Ian, Cai and I enjoyed. We stopped in Ten Thousand Villages

The boys tried out the obstacle course they had created for their push toys And then we ended up on the court house lawn, eating popcorn, Nathan's hotdogs from the hotdog stand and watching people learn to juggle. Finally we stood in line for balloon animals for Cai and Ian. Ian got a dog and Cai got a caterpillar. While it sprinkled for a few minutes in the beginning, it turned out to be a lovely night. I plan on enjoying the July one come next month. Although I think I would like for June to be lazy in its passing. I'm hoping to really enjoy the summer months.