Ice, Ice Baby

Everyone is going crazy here over the weather this week. To be fair, it is Florida and the forecast is calling for a snow and ice mix this week. People around here are just not used to that.

In our house, though, there is nothing but excitement in the air! In fact, to prepare ourselves we stopped to observe a "frozen lake" on the way home from my grandmother's house this weekend.

We had passed by this little pond several times over the course of our trip and remarked that it was amazing that the water remained frozen even in 50 degree weather during the day. Of course, we had to investigate it on our way out of town, so we stopped on the side of the road and trekked over hill and dale like city folk walking on the side of the road in ballet flats and boat shoes the daring explorers we are until we reached the iced pond.

On the walk, we explained to Canon that we couldn't step onto the ice or get too close. Falling into icy waters was not on our list of things to do that day, after all. We were surprised to see, though, just how thick the ice was.

Craig commented that Canon was always posing for pictures {see above} and that he should try and actually act natural during the picture - maybe even touch the ice. So he did.

Um, dude? I am not sure that is exactly what your dad was talking about, but nice try.

The ice was about 3/4 of an inch thick. Pretty impressive since we just assumed it was a very thin layer on the surface. {For all of you in very cold climates that can boast 15"+ thick ice, I know this is nothing but for our area this is almost unheard of so stick with me here.}

We tried many different things to try and break the ice, including but not limited to, throwing that chunk of ice that Craig was holding in the previous pictures. The end result is below...that piece shattered but was not enough to even crack the pond's surface

That of course didn't stop Canon from trying to break the edges with a stick - which, by the way, also didn't work. Surprise.

In the end, Craig found a heavy rock that he and Canon hurled into the pond thinking that it would do the trick.

And yet, it still only made a small hole. The cold weather really did a number on this place. Color me impressed. It doesn't take much, though. Let's be honest.

Of course, true to my nature, I did have to get one shot of this really cool ground cover. Note to self : Never walk outside barefoot. That would be more than a little painful, but man it looks cool.

This little side-street excursion only proved to fuel all of our desires to explore more of the world around us. And it made us even more excited for this crazy winter weather that we should be experiencing this week.

Our fingers, toes, eyes, and tongues are crossed for some snow!