New Zealand glow worm cave dreams

We needed to make a few small changes to gingerbread houses this year because of covid gathering recommendations.  Instead of a whole Pearce crew night, it was just a Rogers crew night.  I asked Cambrie what we should build, and she suggested a New Zealand glow worm cave.  I thought that was pretty appropriate considering that we were supposed to be in New Zealand this week.  After Cambrie came up with the inspiration, it was up to me to find a plan to implement it.  We moved the construction day up to Friday instead of Saturday, which meant that we had to cram every bit of creation into one day: planning, baking, shopping, and building.  I think it took all of us nearly ten hours to finish all three houses.  We did a layered paper effect with the gingerbread to create depth in the cave.  We did flood frosting on each piece to decorate all of our flat pieces.  Unfortunately there was a serious problem with the icing and it did not behave as it was supposed to.  You'll see what I mean by the end.  

While Jeremy, Cambrie, and I worked on the cave itself, the other three kids worked on their shepherd huts and flock of sheep.  They had to do it all completely on their own and I was pretty proud of what they were able to accomplish.  

We tried something new this year with the water and poured it directly into our cave.  It gave it a really cool effect.  After that cooled we put on our grass and let the kids put on their huts and the flock of sheep.  The frosting would not set, and as a result the sheep kept falling over, the trees kept toppling, and by the morning the hillside of grass eroded all over the trees with Christmas stars at the base of the hill.  Oh well.  Overall we really liked our idea and everyone thought it was pretty fun.  

I thought it was telling that all of the builds this year were dreams we had:  we were supposed to be in New Zealand and so did a New Zealand theme.  Brody and Aly are dreaming of a lake house up in Idaho and created a magnificent recreation of the cabin and a speedboat.  Dantley and Cyd are building their new house and decided to create that.  2020 and our lost dreams huh?  At least we can live vicariously through sugar!