A few years ago, Andy and I traveled north of the border to Quebec City for a winter holiday.  We timed our visit so we could attend Carnaval de Quebec, their winter ice carnival, and we had an amazing time.

At the time we talked about how nice it would be to go back and share the fun with our families and future child(ren) one day.  We decided 2013 was the year! Lauren is such a great little traveler and we think she’s the perfect age to enjoy the fun. Andy’s parents, always up for adventure, are coming along this year too!

Carnaval de Quebec has tons of family oriented attractions including parades, sledding, ice skating, snow sculpting, and pretty much anything else you can image that’s related to snow, ice or winter fun.  (See the official page here.)

Andy and me in front of the Ice Palace in 2009

An amazing snow sculpture

Bonhomme

The host and mascot of Carnaval is Bonhomme, and while my French is not so good, I believe that roughly translates to good/friendly man.  He can be seen all over town, and I think he’s just adorable!

Another absolutely amazing experience we had while in Quebec was dogsledding.  It was something I was so excited to do and the day did not disappoint.  Looking back, even now, it was a magical adventure.

The company we toured with was Adventures Nord-Bec in Stoneham.  I think dog sledding is a bit too dangerous for Lauren at this age so we won’t be going again on this trip, but I would HIGHLY recommend this company to anyone who is looking to book a trip.  *Do be advised that Quebec is French speaking, and pretty much no one there speaks English, including the dogs, so brush up on your French.  Imagine trying to learn how to drive a sled and give commands in a foreign language! It just made it that much more of an adventure!

I wanted to take this fluffy guy home!

Another neat attraction we visited was the Hotel de Glace, or ice hotel. You can read more about it here, but it’s exactly what the name says, a hotel made of ice.

Even the beds are made of ice and covered in animal skins.  In the hotel bar, the drinks are kept in refrigerators-not to keep them cool, but to keep them from freezing! Crazy! I’d love to actually spend the night there when Lauren’s a bit older.

My absolute favorite part of our trip, and in fact the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, was Valcartier Vacation Village.  It’s a huge winter park with over two dozen snow slides, ice skating, snow rafting,

and high speed sledding hills (seriously 50 miles per hours-that’s fast!). It’s just the BEST fun I’ve ever had.  I can’t wait to go back!

I’ll share more about Quebec and Carnaval after this year’s trip! I can’t believe it’s just a few days away! Time to bundle up!