Spring Has Sprung....Again!

It amazes me how time flies but this week we celebrated our 3rd Spring Carnival here! Can't believe it! I know I have posted about Spring Carnival before but I am posting again. It is one of the most fun events we have and after the winter we had this year, we were all ready for Spring to arrive. This years plan was to start on Friday since that is a school day off for Spring break. But the weather man decide to send us a winter storm! REALLY STRONG WIND and blowing snow. We don't get much wind here but this was a doozy! Since the carnival takes place on the frozen river, the wind is even stronger there. So the "officials" decided to postpone all events to Saturday in hopes that the weather would clear. So the Potluck at the community hall was the kick off instead. It was a fun event with food, cake walks, music and dancing!
Saturday afternoon began some awesome races. Dog races, Money scramble and snowshoe races for all ages. And what BEAUTIFUL weather we had too! It warmed up and the wind died down. It was so nice out. I even got a sunburn!

3 dog race~ these are kids driving the team. Very impressive!

Women's snowshoe race

Madeline with her welcoming crew at the finish line!

Kids snow shoe race

Kaden's snowshoe race

He was sad he didn't come in first. Had to explain that everyone wins in these races. As long as you try hard and have fun you get a prize. And every kid does, they get a free meal at the concession stand.Big Kids ski racesOur friend Jacob

Aubrey trying hard. She did great for being her first time to ski in a race!
Way to go Aubrey!!

Kaden's ski race
In this race you don't really have to be the fastest, you just have to be the one NOT to fall down, because getting 4 year olds to stand up after they fall is quite the challenge.

Kaden made it all the way to the finish line with out falling down. We were proud of him and he was proud he finished 3rd and didn't fall at all!

Snow machines are not only for riding on. They make good chairs.

Little kid/ little snow machine races. These are small snowmachines and the kids riding are about 5 years old. It was fun to watch. Future Iron dog racers in the making. If you are worried they might get hurt....DON'T! I can run faster than any of those machines. =)
Ice picking.... This activity show what REAL MEN are made of... or just how dumb we are! Let's dig a whole in the ice and weaken it while we are all standing on it and see who reaches water first. Yeah I sometimes question our logic but it was great fun! Any people thinking this is easy, the ice in some spots is 4 feet deep! I am working my strength up for Next year!=)

This is the returning champ. He must know what he is doing!

Our pastor, Chris Kopp, giving it a try this year

Here comes the water

Since Cara and Isaiah were not old enough to participate in any of the races, they created their own...Who can lick there way to the ice first!
The final event of the Spring carnival was the Kopp/Hornfisher Barrel Blast extravaganza. Must be a Louisianan thing, put some gun powder in a tennis ball with a fuse wrap it with duct tape and other stuff, then stick it under a barrel and see how high we can blow it. And just for fun lets do it 3 times! Be it from Louisiana or Germany, It was exciting that is for sure! And a great end to a fun weekend! Welcome spring! Now lets melt the snow and see some grass please!=)
Oh and here is a picture Keith took. Makes me laugh! This is a sign for a road going on to the airport. It says "yield to taxing aircraft" but as you can see the road is not used right now it is under 4 feet of snow!