Canada was like a vacation like no other. You see, I’m a tropical weather kind of girl and well, as you could have guessed, Canada is cold. And then Canada in December?!? Brrrr! It was -11ºF!!! I have never been in such cold weather in my life!

If you think I’m kidding about it being that cold, check out the icicles my kids were able to tear off a window sill! These things could be weapons! Believe me, I told them quickly to drop them after they tried to use them as swords and lick them. What is it with boys and licking? I should have shown them the movie “A Christmas Story” prior to this trip!

When we arrived, my husband’s aunt whom we were visiting, told us that it was unusual for so much snow to fall in December. It was snowing pretty heavily. I was absolutely fine with that because I although I knew beforehand that it was going to be cold, I was hoping for snow and we got it! Aunt Jean, my husband’s aunt, said: “You must have brought it.” I don’t know how, but I wished for it and it happened!

I was wishing for it because this was our sons first time ever seeing snow! As we stepped outside the airport to get our rental car, that’s when they first saw snow! What a joy it was to see their faces light up with excitement! They picked it up, licked it (again with the licking), and threw it.

When we arrived at our resort, Calabogie Peaks Resort, the kids just couldn’t resist the snow. They built a snowman, made snow angels, and had a snowball fight. Well, we all had a snowball fight! This was my husband’s first time seeing snow, too after all. I had seen snow before, but it was when I was very young and it was only a few flurries.

I talk a lot more and you can see awesome photos of our resort Calabogie Peaks Resort, but we had a blast at the resort’s skiing and tubing facilities. None of us had ever skied or tubed and we were looking forward to it. Let’s just say that I am not that much of a fan of skiing because the shoes hurt my ankles so much and I was like Bambi when he was born! My husband did very well and our kids were like pros! They caught on so much faster than we did.

So, I just stuck with the tubing. That was a lot of fun! We must have gone down that hill at least 30 or more times. It was cool that we didn’t have to drag the tubes, or ourselves when skiing, up the hill with us because they have an automatic ramp.

If you get hungry, visit Shooters Bar & Grill located very close to this resort! It has amazing food with amazing service.

Parliament

Because it was Christmas week that we were visiting Ottawa, there were only a few places open to tourists. One of those places was Canada’s Parliament. You will love visiting here especially if you’re into History. Book early if you want to visit the Senate and the House of Commons. Each chamber has a certain color. The Senate is red and the House of Commons is green.

Can you guess below which is the Senate and which is the House of Commons?

While you’re out and about in Ottawa, you will most likely encounter the historic Alexandra Bridge which divides the Ottawa province and Quebec province. It is pedestrian friendly. We did not cross it because of the weather, but on a nice day, it would be a fun thing to do.

Canadian War Museum

My husband is big into visiting Historical sites, museums, or pretty much anything that is informative and the kids can learn as they are vacationing. If you have children, these are great ways to incorporate learning and fun simultaneously. They don’t even know that they are in fact learning! Don’t ever think that they are too young or too old to visit places while on vacation because I truly believe that you can talk to your children in terms depending on their age. You’re obviously not going to talk in detail about Hitler and what he did in History to a five-year-old, but you can explain about what you believe is right and wrong and to have compassion and empathy for other people. The Canadian War Museum has many interesting things you can read, see, and touch.