Edmonton Part 2: Family Vacation Hightlights

 

 

 

As you may have read last weeks post the trip to Edmonton brought a pleasant surprise for me at the half-marathon, read about here,  but today I want to talk about the amazing opportunity this little mini-vacation brought to our whole family.  Initially Logan and I were going to just drive  in for the weekend alone but then we decided to take the kiddo's along and make it a mini-mini-vacation, jammed packed of family goodness.

 

1.  Friends and babies.  We stayed with our good friends, Shaun and Karli, and their sweet littles, Will and Libby.  Karli and I have been friends since high school and the husbands totally hit it off years ago when we brought them into our circle.  We were thrilled when they added Will to their little family, shortly followed by Libby. Halie especially took a liking to hanging out with Will and playing trucks with him, reading stories, blowing bubbles and carrying him around. 

 

2.  More Friends.  We were also hosted for dinner by  our best man Nick and his family.  Logan and Nick have been best friends since primary school and we were pretty sad when they decided to move away.  It was awesome to spend  time catching up over dinner with them and to have the kids reconnect after a few years of not seeing each other.  Nick also ran the half with me, I was so extremely proud of him as he is not really someone that runs.  Kendra, his wife, is wonderful at navigating through the city closures and got us there in time!

3.  Waterpark.  Highlight of the trip for the kids for sure.  They spent 7 hours there!!!!!  They loved the wave pool the most but we also hit many of the waterslides.  Halie is a total ride junkie, while Anya could take it or leave it and as a rule of thumb doesn't enjoy the funny feeling in her tummy that you get on rides.  Logan and I did the big huge pink slide, refer to pictures, and I almost bailed waiting in line but it was such a thrill.  You stand in a tube at the top, it starts a countdown and  all of a sudden the bottom gives out and you are flying through the waterslide tunnel.  It's over before you know but it's an adventurous waterslide.   I bailed at hour 5 and spent 1.5 hours shopping by myself.

4.  Shopping.  I basically went into two stores, H & M and Simons, and bought everything there.  I was hoping to mull things over and pick them up the next day or try a few other stores, but that didn't happen.   I will post the things I purchased over the next few weeks but here is a quick shot of the embroidered skirt and stripped top that I picked up (full details on Friday).

 

 

The girls hit up the American Girl Store.  WOW!  That store is impressive and expensive.  LOL!  Since that day Halie has purchased her very own American Girl doll through Indigo.  She takes her everywhere and the girls have spend endless hours playing with their dolls.  Honestly, I am thrilled to have her hold on to some childhood play for a while longer.

Halie is obsessed with Harley Quinn.

 

5.  Ikea.  We went to Ikea with kids and actually they loved it.  How is it that you walk into that store with no real list and walk out with a $350 bill?  I love all the things I bought.  I love fresh cut flowers but since I can't always have them on the table, I splurged on this arrangement for the home of fake flowers.  I think they look really nice and I love seeing colorful colors in my living space now that the days are getting shorter.

 

 

 

Shop Ikea: white rug; cookbook/iPad stand; old-fashioned milk jug vase; flowers (lilac, snowball green flowers, hydrangea); napkins (watercolor, fall leaves; old-fashioned floral)

 

Overall an amazing get-away.   As we drove away our hearts were full from all the visiting we got in with our sweet friends and the fun memories we made with the girls.  Traveling is much easier now that we don't have nap schedules, food needs, diapers and diaper bags to attend to.