Edmonton Day One! (emphasis added)

Last week we headed up North to Edmonton for our first family vacation. We have been on holidays many times in the last 5 years that Tyler and I have been married, but this was the first time we went as just our little 4-person family. We had a great time! Tyler had to be in Edmonton on Thursday and Friday for a conference at the UofA, so we headed up wednesday to spend some time together as a family and enjoy a little R&R. We didn't get much R&R because we tried to pack so many things into our 2 1/2 days, but it was worth it nonetheless. We arrived in Edmonton at about 2:00pm on Wednesday after a fun ride. The kids each had a nap in the car which made for a more pleasant drive and afternoon at WestEd. Lucy kept noticing fields of yellow flowers as we drove and we told her they were canola fields, so each time she saw one after that she would yell out, "CANOLA!" And fortunately on the ride from Cochrane to Edmonton you see Canola fields about every couple of miles. We headed straight for WestEd and had some lunch - a McDonald's happy meal for Lucy (she shares fries with Max) and the BEST wraps I have EVER had for Tyler and I. It's a little place called WestCoast Wraps and Smoothies and I had the teriyaki wrap, and tyler had the Thai wrap. It's a complete meal and SO tasty, and you don't walk away feeling like you had "Mall food". If anyone is headed there, I HIGHLY recommend it. (I don't like use exclamation points very much, so instead I capitalize my words for emphasis). After lunch we headed to the Sea Life Caverns to see the penguin show at 3:00, the snake show at 3:30 and the Sea Lion show at 4:00. The kids loved it. 

There was a huge aquarium with sharks and sea turtles that we got to watch swim around, and we got to watch two Corn Snakes each eat a mouse. My description of it would be very disgusting, but it was actually very fascinating. Because it takes a snake so long to swallow it's food (opening it's mouth up to 150 degrees) they can actually push their windpipe out of their mouth so they can continue breathing while they eat. It's like snorkeling basically. We learnt that a corn snake eats one mouse, once a week, the larger boa snakes each a rat about once a month, and larger snakes like anacondas will each something like an antelope once a year. So don't catch them on the wrong day! After the snake show we went upstairs to get our seats for the Sea Lion show which was amazing. The two sea lions did a bunch of tricks for the audience and after the show was done, we got our picture taken with one of them (the female, who is only 200lbs, the male sea lion weighs in at 650lbs!)

We were all pretty exhausted by then so we headed to the hotel to check in and order some pizza for dinner. I was still so full (and satisfied) by my wrap that I only ate 2 pieces of pizza, whereas the rest of my family devoured a lot! 

We took a quick drive to the UofA to make sure Tyler knew how to get there in the morning and then went to the pool in our hotel for a quick swim before bed. Well, our quick swim was REALLY quick because the pool was up to Tyler's waist at the shallow end and FREEZING cold. Max played for 2 minutes and Lucy and I refused to get in, so it was quickly up to the hotel room and into a warm tub and off to bed. Lucy was excited to have her own bed at the hotel (a hide-a-bed couch) and went to sleep quickly after a busy day. Tyler and I stayed up a bit with Max and relaxed before heading of to lala land ourselves. Stay tuned for details on Day 2!

Gymaniacs

There's a great little kids gym in Cochrane next to the Post Office that the kids love to go to.  We went most recently when there was a lot of rain in July and the kids were getting kind of tired of being inside.  

They have every jungle gym arrangement you could possibly hope for, and the kids can spend a good 2 hours at least without getting bored.  Max's favorite area to play in is the ball pit.  Lucy enjoys the little houses and castles and taking toys in to play with on her own.