Winterlude FUN! It's like Christmas all over again!

This guys was making a snowman on his computer, you can see the results on the monitor in front of him, in an igloo. Weird or awesome?

From February 1st to the 18th Ottawa/Gatineau celebrates the cold with a festival called Winterlude. This year marked it's 35th anniversary and let me tell you folks, the French know how to celebrate hiver (that's winter in French, look at me go).

There are three hot spots in the city, one being a five minute walk away from our apartment in Jacques-Cartier park. In the park they have a stage where performers can sing and entertain, a indoor tented shelter to escape the cold and eat some carnival-like food (such as Beavertails, poutine, hot chocolate, frozen maple syrup on a stick, etc) and a snow/ice playground. The playground has a climbing wall, a zip-line and cars that you pedal with your feet. 

Pedal cars!! And you can see the tower to climb up to use the zip-line.

Me going down the slide with my hands in the air like I just don't care.

There are three areas of ice slides, think the speed of a waterslide on ice. Two of the areas have slides to go down on your bum, one of them being wider so three-five people can go at the same time and the other slide is very much wider and higher up so you can go down on a tube! Amazing, right? I really don't know why Edmonton doesn't get on board with ice slides, I think it would be a hit.

I got a video of Big Guy and Little Dragon going down a slide, note: Little Dragon goes into "survival mode" any time he is outdoors and it's a little chilly. The first time we went to the ice park it was a Friday night and had a heavy snowfall warning which equates to NO ONE being there. It was awesome. No line-ups. The next time we went was on Family Day and it was sunny, but so busy! The second video is of me on a tube slide. It was really fun. Truly would recommend it as a good time to visit Ottawa if you have kids.

There is also a Armed Forces area where kids can go through kind of an obstacle course and a First Nations area with a little wigwam type tent. We went to the Jacques-Cartier park twice over the span of Winterlude. We are excited to go again the following years that we are here. When we went on Saturday there was a little tent sponsored by a shoe store. You had to knock three shoe boxes over with a foamy ball, just once to win a stuffed monkey. If you knocked the boxes over three out of three times you won a $10 gift card. Dave and I did it and I won Little Dragon a snow monkey named Jenna (legitimately that is the name on the tag, weird name for a monkey, right? But I love the weirdness).  And Dave won a $10 gift card. Might I add that they were very lenient on how close you could stand, which improved our chances ten fold.

The other area is in a park on the Ontario side, across the street from City hall. We didn't get a chance to visit it this year but apparently it is like a garden of ice sculptures. We were able to see a few sculptures that they had displayed in Jacques-Cartier park. 

And the last areas, but definitely not the least. It is actually one of the most well-known things about Ottawa is.... skating on the Rideau canal. I think my Dad would think he was in heaven on this, the largest ice skating rink in the world!!! There are many park benches on the ice to rest and heated little trailer-like stations to have a break or to put on or take off your skates. Also, there are a few little buildings (that's right, another Beavertails stand) to purchase food and drink.

So this is what we have come up with so far for the best times to visit Ottawa:
1) Canada Day, July 1st (we haven't witnessed the craziness yet, but it's supposed to get insane)
2) Winterlude, Feb 1-18th (ish)
3) Beginning of October, it's beautiful with the colors of the leaves and such, Byward Market is still going strong with the harvest of fruits and veggies.
4) Tulip Festival, May 3rd-20th