Here is some of what we did this summer:
1. Beach Bums
What do you do when you live north and your sister lives south? Meet half way of course! That is exactly what we did....at Sylvan Lake. The weather was beautiful this trip resulted in my first painful sunburn in quite sometime. We loaded up all our beach stuff and snacks and headed down. Unfortunately there wasn't any "beach" where we were on the strip but there was plenty of grassy area for our chairs and toys and the water is quite shallow; which makes for some fun playing for the kids.
Here are the two bright beach babies. Two moms with 5 kids between them and no one drowned! That would be a very successful trip in my books. My sister brought her blow up pool which acted as a playpen type structure to corral the girls in. It worked pretty well.
Here is Megs trying out the floating "surf" board. I also had an orange blow up floater mattress and as per tradition Megs and I held on and kicked our way out to the buoys. Which is quite a ways further than it looks. With the wind blowing slightly we were a little off course.
We also brought Meg's whale. The girls had fun sitting on the whale and splashing in the water with their mom.
2. Capital Ex Parade
The parade starts at 10 and we got there about a f hour early. I bought some timbits for a little treat and some toys/small games to help keep the kids occupied while we waited.
Here is one of the entertainers that came by to help pass the time until the parade started. He was from Australia and he was this amazing balloon tying guy. He was one part of a 3 man marching band. His two band mates were made entirely out of balloons; hair, faces, instruments. Awesome!
Here was one of the bigger floats to pass by. It was always funny to watch then maneuver these giant floats under the pedways downtown It was a pretty tight squeeze.
There was also clowns, horses, little motorcycles, various people riding by on floats, bands....etc.
We lasted almost up until the end. Aaron had had enough and wanted to go besides the fact that we were being squeezed out of our spot and I wanted to try to beat the rush out of the downtown. Unfortunately it took us over 1/2 hour to just get out of the downtown core; what with all the walkers crossing the streets and others who also decided to leave early.
3.. WEM Water park
I almost forgot about this we took a Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the fun of an indoor water park. It was pretty busy. The kids had way more fun this time around. They loved the kids area and a few kid friendly slides. Not to mention the tube ride and hanging out in the actual wave pool.
We were having such a lovely time but then 1/2 way through Evan wasn't feeling well. He just sat on his chair sleeping and wrapped in his towel. We actually ended up staying a little longer since Megs was having such a wonderful time. Poor Evan he just sat there not feeling that good. He was the one who wanted to go into the hot tub to warm up. That is so not him, usually it is too hot for him.
Afterwards we went to Tony Roma's for a little dinner. What a fun family day.
4. Fort Edmonton Park
I love this place. There are little fun things that you can do for fairly cheap. A train ride is always a good idea and a great way to start a day of exploration. Here are Megs and Aaron (Aaron just woke up from a little power nap in the van).
I bought some tickets and was hoping for the kids to go on a little guided pony ride. Evan and Megan went and had fun. Aaron on the other hand cried so much just sitting on the horse that the lady said he would have to stop crying or get off so as to not scare the horse. So off he came.
Then we stopped at the bakery for a treat. A huge brownie, a cinnamon bun and some giant cookies with some icy cold lemonade to wash it all down.
No trip would be complete without a trip to the fair grounds. The kids love to ride the Ferris wheel (I did once; I'm not a big fan) the carousel is also a hit. Here is Aaron riding on a free ride that is powered by hand by one of the workers. They also have some penny carnival type games where everyone is a winner!
There is also a photography studio there where you can get an old fashioned picture taken. If you want to see that you'll have to come visit me and see it hanging on our wall. There is a 4D theater, playground, wagon and stage coach ride, various candy shops, ice cream shop, mini golf, hotel, shooting range and a few restaurants. We always seem to go when it is the hottest day out? The kids have been really good sports as there is a lot of walking involved.
5. Elk Island Park
Elk Island Park is one of our new favorite National Parks to visit. We went there for a short afternoon visit this summer. The mosquitoes were terrible on the short hike that we went on and caused us to do some quick walking and brief periods of running.
Of course we came prepared to check out the living boardwalk. The kids had a grand time scooping out whatever water bugs they could. The water was quite murky and we didn't find as many insects as we have in the past. Here we are on the boardwalk.
We also secured a fire pit and picnic table and had a hot dog roast. Afterwards the kids played at the park there. The best part of this park is that it is only 30 minutes away and you get to see Buffalo up close.
6. Camping in Jasper/Family Reunion
It was a long planning process but we were able to get everyone together for a camping reunion. The weather was pretty good. We had a couple of rainy periods but nothing that didn't keep it exciting.
We were also able to get campsite as per our request fairly close together. The cousins had a fabulous time running around and playing together. We went on various hikes and rotated dinner cooking responsibilities through the three days we were together. Some of the best times are at night around the campfire. Sharing stories and treats and catching up with family that we haven't seen in awhile.
I was going to do it with just myself and my kids since Spencer was going to be writing his final exam right through the time but after his last day he quickly drove out to Jasper to join us. Which was really fun. Camping is a lot of work for one adult. Our van was packed full and we even brought the kids bikes strapped to the top of the van. Evan re-learned how to ride his two wheeler in just one day and loved riding around the campsite with his cousins. Spencer had to bring out our toques and a few extra blankets as the temperature in the morning was quite chilly until the sun popped up over the trees.
Here is the train that my boys could spend an entire afternoon on if the could. There isn't really much to do on it except fool around and climb all over it.
I went a day early to spend sometime with just my kids before everyone else arrived but Grandpa and Grandma thought that was a fabulous idea so they came a day early too. Actually my one brother and his family were already camping there so we all hung out together. Here we are at pyramid lake. We rented a canoe and Grandpa and uncle Jeff took the kids out. Unfortunately the weather turned on us and we had to put a hold on the fun.
Here is a view of our campsite. Our tent is the blue one in the background. We purchased a new Coleman stove and I loved using it. It made cooking food faster than over a campfire.
Here we are after a short hike up to Angel Glacier. The water was freezing and the kids had fun picking out the chunks of ice from the lake.
It is called Angel Glacier because it looks like an angel with its wings or arms out stretched.
Here we are before the hike. Excited and ready for adventure.
This is us hiking the seven bridges. It is really a pretty hike and you can cross over seven different bridges. It is neat to see the rock canyon and how deep it is and how powerful the water is to slowly carve away at the canyon rock. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks down each time.
This is lake Annette. A little sandy beach with shallow water so it warms up some in the sun. Spencer always has such fun building sand castles at the beach.
Here is the rest of the crew with snacks and blankets and shade. This is our take a break area. The weather was nice. The one thing that was a first for me on this trip was the fact that Aaron kept on having accidents and so I ran out of clean clothes pretty quickly. I hauled the kids into town and we had to wash our clothes at the laundry mat. The town has two and of course we picked the dumpy one. Oh well we got most of our clothes clean again and we had a chance to look around town for a little while.
7. Jazz Night at the Muttart
A week night date at the Muttart was a fun night to spend together especially in the summer when babysitting is easier to come by. They had a Jazz band playing and the show pyramid was in full blooms with Dahlias to enjoy. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Culina Muttart and most important time spent together. We also got the chance to pot some herbs that are outside in our garden.
8. Carson Lake/Pegasus Provincial Park
We knew that we had to get in one more trip to the beach and Spencer missed out on the canoeing on our Jasper trip so he searched around to find a beach where you could also rent canoes. This is what he found -- Carson Lake. It said that it had a day use area and also camping sites. So we drove and drove and thought we were lost but we weren't it just took a while to reach the turn off. Yes, we drove about 2.5 hours up past Whitecourt to be able to enjoy a beach and canoe rental. The drive was really quite pretty and a good highway to drive on.
Here is our beach stuff. We were a bit surprised at the size of the day use beach area. It was no bigger than a postage stamp. But we still staked out our spot and it made it easier to keep an eye on the kids. They had fun playing in the sand and with the other kids. The water was ok to swim in. We packed snacks and a picnic lunch of some frozen KFC chicken (which wasn't thawed for us to truly enjoy or have much of a lunch with). The mosquitoes were terrible but the sun was shining and we had a good time.
Here we are enjoying the lake. Me and the boys are sitting on our air mattress and Megan is knee deep in digging as far down into the sand as she can to reveal the clay underneath.
The canoeing side of the park was just a short walk away. The prices were ridiculously cheap compared with Jasper. Spencer took Megan and Evan out first and I look like they paddled to the other end of the lake but Spencer said they were still quite far away from it. They had a good time while Aaron and I hung out on the shore, watching the other boaters come and go.
I went out with Aaron and Megan came along for the ride. I didn't last long. I was too paranoid about tipping over. Canoeing with little experience is not my cup of tea especially with a rented canoe.
We lasted about a hour doing this and then had to start our long drive back home. We stopped to grab a bite in Whitecourt and then enjoyed our drive back home after a busy but fun and successful day.
