As the snow started falling Sunday (Feb. 18), some people were staying warm inside, but the Forrester family decided to do something different.

Ruby Forrester said she and her husband Andy, their two children, Quin and Leele, and their two international students spent most of Sunday building a nearly eight-foot igloo outside of their Vancouver Island home in Parksville.

When it snows, Ruby said, a lot of people sa国际传媒渉unker down inside,sa国际传媒� but she said she didnsa国际传媒檛 want to waste the opportunity.

sa国际传媒淲e wanted to do that, but at the same time, it barely snows like this and I donsa国际传媒檛 want the kids to think that itsa国际传媒檚 just a time to lay around,sa国际传媒� Ruby said.

So, the family got to work.

Ruby said she and Andy put most of the snow blocks together while Leele did most of the shovelling and transporting the snow to the igloo. Ruby said the only tools they used were a saw to cut some of the snow blocks, a cooler to shape the snow blocks and sled to transport the snow.

For the first two or three levels of snow blocks, Ruby said, Andy used the full cooler-sized blocks of snow. She said as the igloo grew, Andy would cut the blocks in half.

The hardest part, Ruby said, was getting to the top of the igloo. She said she and Andy had to use a ladder to finish the igloo.

At the end, she said, they sprayed the igloo inside and out with water so it would freeze.

Ruby said the family worked from about 11 a.m. to nearly 5 p.m. and then went inside for dinner for a couple of hours before going back outside to finish up the construction.

sa国际传媒淛ust that difference of going in for a couple of hours and stopping and then coming back out to find more snow, it changed the texture of the snow,sa国际传媒� Ruby said. sa国际传媒淚t was too cold and so the snow wouldnsa国际传媒檛 pack properly. It was too light and fluffy.sa国际传媒�

But, Ruby said, the family finished the igloo because Leele wanted to.

This is not the first igloo the family has built in the community. After they moved to Parksville from Victoria nine years ago, there was a big snowfall that year and they decided to build an igloo. Ruby said at that time, Leele was so young she could barely watch, so they made a chair out of snow for her to look on from while they built the first igloo.

Leele, now 11, said because she was so young the first time, she wanted to be a part of the process this time.

sa国际传媒淚 barely remember the first time we built one, so I wanted to remember this one,sa国际传媒� Leele said.

Ruby said the family planned to set up Christmas lights around the igloo Tuesday night (Feb. 20), and hopefully sit inside with a hot chocolate.

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