Winter months and activities can be a struggle. Too cold, not enough snow, raining, freezing rain, changing conditions, difficult road conditions,…what can we do?

Activities you can consider in general: Skiing (downhill or cross-country), ice skating (indoor and/or outdoor), sledding, snowshoeing, visit a museum, indoor swimming pool, spa, just stay in, build a fort or a snowman, theater, winter camping, Ceramic Cafe, pyjama and movie day at home, and more.

For me, every year especially holiday season is a surprise. Last year (2017), too cold during the holiday to ski so… we stayed in the comfort of our basement most of the time by the fire place and manage to go to the Ski Bromont (warmer option than the Laurentians on that day) for skying on 1 day (we were not the only one who have thought about this option). 2017 turned out to be relaxing, unstressful and re-energizing. This year (2018), nicer weather but no snow so… we decided to visit museums and no ski at all (probably Tremblant would have been a good option) but we did instead some indoor skating which was nice.

As I mentioned above, we did two museums on two non-consecutive days and I really appreciated the fact that we could take our time to really visit the museum and not rush to get to the another place or feel we lost time indoor versus outdoor.

I really appreciated the fact to not remind my kids “come on, let’s move on”, I let go.

We did the Nature museum and the Science museum both of them are in Ottawa. We needed to consider the drive but it was not bad and the museums were our only and main destinations. By the way, both were very nice and yes, I recommend to visit them. I will post individual reviews in the near future.

Unfortunately, for visitors to Northern regions of US or southern part of Canada, and for us as well, winter months conditions in November, December, January and February are difficult to predict and you may want to have different options /activities in mind to change according to mother nature decisions.

Tip: You need to dress well: winter boots, scarf, gloves, hat, winter coat, snow pants. It can get very cold. You can also buy “hand warmers” and “feet warmers”. These are one time use pouch that last for hours. It really help you do outdoor activities for a while but careful expose skin are subject to frostbite.

That being said, enjoy what is around you and be ready to review your plan!