I don't know about you but I am totally over this winter, or should I say over the month of February. What to do with a 5 year old when there is 6 feet of snow on the ground and its -10 degrees out? Go to an ice castle of course. Now many of you have seen all the beautiful pictures of the ice castles in Lincoln NH on facebook, intsagram, and even the news. It looks like a magical wonderland where for a minute winter doesn't suck so hard. 
We decided on Friday afternoon that we were going to take a nice scenic drive out there to check out these ice master pieces. My daughter was so excited because of course Elsa the snow queen had made these and she was going to be there to welcome her with open arms and of course build a snowman with her. What she didn't know was that it was almost a 3hr ride and Elsa was not going to be there and the only snowman there was a replica of Olaf that she couldn't touch.
After 3hrs of driving we had reached our destination thanks to Tom Tom, ended up in the back entrance .Word to the wise do not plug in the address from the website actually plug in the address to the McDonalds in Lincoln NH that will bring you right to it. We made sure to dress very warm, my daughter was rocking fleece pants, snow pants, long sleeve shirt, sweat shit, winter coat hat, mittens, and winter boots. Take a minute to imagine dressing a small child who is bouncing up and down looking for Elsa.
We get our tickets and walk into the fortress, and it truly is breath taking how pretty the ice looks and how they made slides and tunnels, the coolest thing was these snow globes they made that had trees and dragons inside. Of course it was the most beautiful place to take any sort of picture and just marvel at the sight of it. 30 minutes after walking through the gate it begins...Mama wear is Elsa? Why isn't she here? I'm freezing! and then full out IM FREEZZZING melt down. (In my mind I'm thinking OMG we just drove 3 hrs, you need to suck it up plus you are wearing like 8 layers of clothes if anyone is freezing its me in my jeans.!) But do I say that Of course not, I take her nice warm mitten covered hand and walk her inside the gift shop area where I tell her we can warm up and have hot chocolate and then go back out. Wouldn't you guess, they didn't have Hot Chocolate or anything hot for that matter which honestly you are a freaking ice castle you should have something warm, maybe a small bonfire near by. We had to leave immediately to get to the nearest Dunkin Donuts for hot Chocolate or all hell was about to break lose.
Here are my Tips for visiting the Ice Castles with a small child.
1. Dress Warm
2.Bring Hot Chocolate
3. Spend the night out there, we drove 3hrs for 30mins and then 3hrs home...not fun
4. bring a camera you really can get some beautiful pictures.
