Winterlude Part 3: Snow Park

After lunch we headed over to Jacques Cartier Park in Quebec - the site of the Snowflake Kingdom. There was a huge area with demos, equipment and soldiers from the Canadian military. It was pretty neat and Cameron really liked checking everything out.

First up was trying on a backpack bigger than Cam was! He tried his hardest to lift it up, but even with help from the soldier, he couldn't move it.

The next item on Cameron's itinerary was to get into every vehicle that they had on display in the park. First was a rescue dingy.

Next a snowmobile

Then he rode on a four wheeler with Nana.

He also went on a couple of other boats and in some tents. He really loved it and probably would have spent an hour going between the various vehicles if we let him.

Leah was not so interested in the vehicles, but she was bundled up all warm and was checking out the crowd.

There were a few really neat snow sculptures. Some of them were carved into snow walls, like this one.

Then there were huge sculptures like this guy.

The coolest part of the Snowflake Kingdom was the huge slides. This was the walkway up to the giant family slides. It seems like a crazy line but actually went really quickly because large groups could go down the slides together.

On the first slide down, Matt and Gina went first. They took our camera down with them and tried to get up quickly to take a picture of our family going down the giant slide. This is what they managed to get... Mama keeping Leah safe while Tim and Cam tumbled along behind me!

We all loved the slide though, so we got back into line. Here is a shot from the top of the slide looking down. Sliders are Tim, Kristin, Leah, Gina and Matt.

When we got to the bottom, Tim got up quickly and got the camera ready to take a picture of Nana, Poppa and Cameron sliding down. This is also a great shot of the family slides - all eight of us probably could have fit across on one!

Nana, Poppa and Cam at the bottom of the slide. Cameron loved them!

The other kind of slide that they had a ton of was racing slides. It was a bunch of high-walled tracks that one rider could go down, racing the other riders.

Here comes Cam! Uncle Matt set him down at the top of the racing slide and gave him a push.

Good job bud!

Uncle Matt and Gina racing

Another cool snow wall carving

The Snowflake Kingdom is in Gatineau, Quebec. Not sure what the giant Adirondack chair has to do with anything, but we took a picture in it anyway!

Gina, Cameron and Matt

Mom and Dad

We left earlier than everyone else to go back to the hotel to take naps. Mama was very interested in napping, everyone else... not so much. So no nap for Cameron or Leah. On the walk over to a restaurant for dinner, Leah conked out in Mama's sling. The first part of dinner was spent like this, holding Miss Leah while she snoozed:

We went back to the hotel and went swimming, then to bed. We ended our weekend with a visit to the Ottawa Ikea - amazing, of course! It was such a fun weekend and we can't wait to go back next year.

Winterlude Part 2: Skating on the Canal

On Saturday morning we woke up and got all bundled up to head out to the canal. It was a chilly morning, but clear and sunny. The canal was pretty empty and it was so nice! It was covered in a couple of inches of snow from overnight but soon enough there were plows that cleared paths on the canal.

Leah was bundled up with two layers of clothes, her bear outfit, a hat and scarf, and a blanket. She was tucked into the stroller and kept nice and warm!

The Rideau Canal - the world's largest skating rink!

We set out, Matt pushing Leah in the stroller, and Mama and Gina skating with Cameron.

Oh no! What happened to Mama's sunglasses?

Nana and Poppa take a turn skating with Cameron

The whole group, minus Tim the photographer.... Gina, Matt pushing Leah, Mama, Poppa, Cameron and Nana

Uncle Matt and Leah. By this time she had fallen asleep, so we covered her all the way up with the blanket so that her face would stay warm. She slept for quite a while.

Daddy and Cam, having some fun. Cameron loved to GO FAST with Daddy!

Once there was some clean ice, Cameron wanted to skate on his own. He did so well, skating for a good distance all on his own.

Our little hockey player!

Tim even got fancy and laid down on the ice to get some cool shots.

Poppa, Cameron and Mama

After quite a lot of skating on his own and with help, Cam got tired and asked to ride in the sled. He had a backpack as his pillow and was quite comfy.

A look down the canal. Uncle Matt was now pulling Cameron - we put him to work this morning!

After an hour or so, Leah woke up. We stopped at one of the "rest stops" along the canal - there was a Subway booth that had free soup and a Burts Bees stand that had free lotion and tea. We sampled everything - both Cam and Leah quite enjoyed the soup!

There was a WestJet (Canadian airline) booth that had this funny set up to take pictures. We were hoping to take a family shot but Cameron was NOT in the mood. Instead we took a picture of Nana and Poppa, all bundled up but dreaming of the Caribbean.

Cam did such a good job skating, he got a treat of maple taffy. He enjoyed both the taffy and the sugar rush that followed it.

Our whole group!

And our family :)

Mom and Dad

We decided to head back after going around half way. Mama took a turn pulling Cam on the sled.

One of the rest stops along the way back had this funny beaver. Cameron wanted to eat the beaver's tail, but other than that was not interested in getting anywhere close. Leah was confused about what in the world that big thing was. Matt and Gina were neither scared nor confused, so they got their picture taken with the beaver.

Almost back - Mom and Dad in front of the Chateau Laurier

The four of us in front of the chateau

After skating we had worked up quite an appetite, so we headed back to the hotel for lunch. We stayed at a hotel with suites and had brought food for lunch, so we headed back there to eat. Matt and Gina had another idea though, which started after they saw this sign:

Gina LOVES poutine, so once they saw this poutine restaurant near our hotel, their Saturday lunch was set. They went over to the poutinerie and grabbed some for everyone.

Gina was SOOO excited

Mmmmmmmmmmm poutine, so yummy!!! It was amazingly delicious.

After lunch it was playtime. Matt got busy playing in the TV stand. But what is that noise we heard from under him in the cabinet?

Surprise! Cameron was hiding in there too!! He loved having Uncle Matt play with him like this!

Then Leah decided to climb in with Cam. She loves playing with her big brother.

Cam decided to let her be in the TV stand by herself.

She got bored and climbed out. Well, face planted out. She didn't seem to mind though, she just liked being part of everything.

After lunch, we made the bold decision to forgo naps and head over to Quebec and the snow park. Pictures in the next post!