Canada Recap

One of my favorite memories of our family life is the trip we took early summer to visit the Hoden family in Canada.  We had a totally awesome time.  We started off the trip flying into Edmonton.  Then, we drove to Banff and spent a few nights there taking in the mountains before heading back to Edmonton for the last part of the trip.  

Here's a list of my favorite parts of this awesome vacation:

1.  Seeing the girls' and Grady's awe/excitement at the airport (and having everyone take naps on the plane).

2.  Watching Olivia, Grace, Max, and Mya all run to each other when we picked up Max and May from school.

3.  Experiencing the later sunshine and staying up playing cards, talking, and watching the NBA.  The kids stayed up later too because it was so easy to lose track of time, but we didn't mind.  They were so good despite random sleep schedules!

4.  Having the kids totally entertain each other as long as they were periodically offered food and drink.  The kids were amazing on this trip - they played together so well - seriously, I don't think we ever had to deal with even a minor argument.  It was neat to see how they would pair up sometimes but then also all play together.

5.  The mountains - wow!  I had never seen mountains before, and I'm not sure anything I'll ever see will top the Canadian Rockies.  Seriously, I could have just stared forever.  I want to go back!

6.  Hiking - my enjoyment of this definitely probably had to do with the views.  Brian wasn't as big of a fan of hiking with the kids - he was much more nervous than me when it came to the kids' safety!  

7.  Swimming at the hotel - good thing we decided to stay outside of Banff to save a little money because I'm pretty sure the kids enjoyed our hotel more than anything!  They had a blast in the pool, managed to create a game out of going on the slide, didn't mind sleeping four in a bed and one on the floor, and would have happily stayed for a week.

8.  Hearing the kids ask right when we got home:  When can we go to Canada again?  Even though they were sad to leave and sad that I couldn't really answer their question, it made me happy they asked because it shows what an awesome time they had.

Enjoy all the pictures to follow.  If you'd like to see my sister-in-law's post (which includes more details - and thank you Beth for so many of these pictures) on our time in Canada (written much more appropriately right after we were there), click here:   So Much to Blog About.

These pictures are all from the town of Banff and then Bow Falls by which an amazing hotel called Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is located.  You can see the hotel in the pictures of us as a family.

This next set of pictures is from Johnston Canyon.  On our way there, a bunch of cars were stopped alongside the road - we soon realized why:  a bear just munching away on some tasty flowers! So cool to see for both kids and adults!  We had a really nice hike on the trail although it got crazy crowded on the way out.  As you can see from our clothes, the weather we had was totally amazing and unseasonably warm.  In fact, Beth's friend visited the next week, and they had to wear winter wear while hiking and it even snowed a bit.   Eighty degree temps was a definite bonus to the trip!

  

Another favorite place of mine was Lake Louise.  If we ever go there in the future, I would love to take the canoes out and paddle around.  The color of the water in the lake and all the rivers is indescribable - so amazing.  Beth said it has something to do with the granite.  I would like to paint a room this color sometime!

After visiting Lake Louise, we went to the Lake Louise Ski Resort.  We rode the gondola to the top and took in some amazing views and saw some of the mountain animals (stuffed) at the little museum of sorts at the top.  The kids thought it was pretty cool that they got to stand on snow while wearing shorts!

Before heading back to Edmonton, we went to Mount Norquay.  We ate lunch at the top of the viewpoint and took some pictures.  We were hoping to see the wild goats that sometimes are in the area but contented ourselves with the prairie dogs.  The kids were pretty beat at this point, so our stay wasn't long, but it was memorable.

I was sad to leave the mountains behind on our trip home.  I still have hope that we can take another trip in the future!  Now that Beth and Chris know their way around so well, it'd be awesome to have an adults-only tripwith them and Tara and Tony if we can ever arrange it!  Thanks for an awesome trip Hoden Family - I enjoyed writing this post and reliving the experience!