winterlude 2010

We had considered going to Winterlude last winter because it was all outside and safe for Delaney for avoiding germs. We didn't end up going so this year thought we'd go for it. I was impressed with all the activities in Ottawa and Gatineau and the kids loved it. Our favourite part was the ice slides at Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau. We spent a full day here on the ice slides, looking at snow sculptures, snow tubing and even snowshoeing.
We stayed right downtown and could walk to Confederation Park and the Canal.
There are some videos of the ice slides here too.

At night the ice sculptures are lit up and they look fantastic. The photos don't really capture how huge each sculpture was. Davin's favourite was the ice dragon that breathed fire. Delaney loved the butterflies.
Our favourite snow sculpture was the ice skates. They had amazing detail like the laces all twisted and the stitching on each skate.

winterlude food!

We definitely ate our share of beavertails - yum! Our favourite is the classic cinnamon and sugar. The maple taffy was amazing too. I loved how they were displayed on ice ready to be eaten. The kids were excited to have these giant cotton candy treats (yikes.). So fun to eat lunch and hot chocolate out on the canal!

Day two: One of our other favourite snow sculptures was this polar bear.

We watched this bobsleigh ice sculpture being carved the first night, then the next morning it was finished.

We skated on the canal for a while this morning... Delaney got tired fairly quickly but Davin LOVED it and wanted to continue. So fun to see all the people out skating.

They had an area where the kids could build their own sculptures out of coloured ice.

valentine's pics

Yes, I am way behind. Thought I would go back and post a few photos from Valentine's day... :)