Building inside, building outside

I was finally able to track down some sugar cubes. Easier said than done in this day and age; really, when was the last time you saw a bowl of sugar cubes served anywhere? The kids couldn't get over them and wondered what they are used for, and the only answer I can really think of anymore is to feed to horses... right? 

We needed the sugar cubes to build a craft: wintry igloos. Liam took the job very seriously and meticulously stacked his. Mallory went willy-nilly on the first round and then asked me to finish it for her. She wants the end result but does not want to put in the effort. Somehow we have to get through to her that this is not the way the world works, but I finished the igloo up anyway. Secretly, I was having a lot of fun with it.

After we finished up our igloos, we headed outside, where the snow was starting to melt and it was easy to pack. Here, we completed a construction project of another sort, though kind of similar-looking: a fort, or half a fort, anyway. One wall of defense against the evil snowball thrower.

Mallory was Princess Diamond inside the castle (appropriate that she was wearing her tiara winter hat!) and Liam, the noble knight who was the first line of defense for the castle. Really, he just enjoyed getting pelted.

It was all fun and games until Mallory actually got hit by a snowball. And then it went downhill pretty quickly from there.

This morning, after a good dose of rain and some strong winds overnight, our fort is kind of a mess. One of the flags is missing and the whole wall is crumbling down. Building the fort got me thinking though, next time the snow is right - which is not likely to be til next winter now - how fun would it be to build a real igloo?

That's my heart talking though. My mind knows how much effort it took to get the dozen or so blocks that we did form packed up and stacked. Sticking with the sugar cubes will have to do for now.