trip to Calgary

We just returned from our family vacation in Calgary on Tuesday. We went up to see my sister, Stacey, her husband Cris, and their beautiful baby boys Sam and Diego, who were born on June 1st!

This was Marshall’s longest plan ride ever. We left here at about 5pm August 1st and arrived in Calgary around 9pm Calgary time (midnight NB time), after a quick plane change in Hamilton, ON. He did really well, especially with his new dvd player and his new Backyardigans dvd. He loves that show! He watched it the whole way and only started getting wiggly in the last hour of the trip.

Our first day, Sunday, we spent the day just hanging around the house, went to the playground and to Kate’s house to pick up a stroller (we forgot ours!), and picked up some groceries. The twins are so tiny, but doing well as they are now over 10lbs each (up from 5.1 and 5.4 when they were born) … so hard to imagine that Marshall was ever that size. They each have their own personality, and other than both looking like babies, they do look quite different in person. Diego looks a bit more like Cris, and Sam looks more like the Arnolds. It was quite a hot day but the forecast was calling for rain all week.

Monday we hit the Calgary Zoo. It had rained overnight, in fact, there was a hail storm, though we didn’t see it. We were able to see most of the zoo without any further rain, and it was perfect cool overcast weather for walking around all day. We started to notice that Marshall was a bit more difficult than usual…likely due to the no nap and no sleep on the plane Saturday, and the 3-hour time change. He had fun though. For supper, we went to my uncle Brad’s and aunt Jeannie’s place for a bbq. My cousin Denise and her son Kris were visiting from Saint John, and my aunt and uncle Ron and Roberta and my cousin Lara were there from Edmonton/Whitecourt for dinner. So it was an Arnold reunion of sorts, as I haven’t seen Denise/Kris/Brad/Jeannie in over 5 years, and I haven’t seen Ron/Roberta/Lara for over 15 years. We had a really nice visit. Brad makes great burgers and Jeannie does the best pies! MMM.

Tuesday was rainy and perfect for a trip to IKEA. We did the $1 breakfast, and Stacey and I toured around at our leisure, while Rick looked after entertaining Marshall. Then we headed to a coffee shop/playplace called Sip ‘n Safari. Marshall had a blast and we had mochacinos.

Wednesday we headed for Clareshome – about an hour and a half south of Calgary, to visit Aunt Bernice. We arrived and took a quick tour of the museum there (to get to the bathrooms!) and found a wealth of tourism info there as well as a little steam engine for Marshall (which I just realized we may have left somewhere along the way…). We had a nice lunch with Bernice, then headed out for a tour of Clareshome, and a stop at the market where we met some Hutterites. Then I was courted by a hornet, bought some peppers and got the the tarnation out of there. *L*

On the way back to Calgary, we had promised Marshall a stop at the Candy Store, but he fell asleep 2 kms from it (in Nanton). I found a Mickey Mouse pez dispenser and some other odds and ends for him though. We decided to make a little side trip to Vulcan, because HEY, it’s Vulcan, and only 30 mins out of the way, so why not? So we went and had our picture taken in Star Fleet uniforms, like the total dorks that we are ;) hehehe

Thursday we headed for Banff. We stopped at Lake Minnewanka on our way into the town as recommended by Stace, but we didn’t see any wildlife. Marshall liked to throw rocks in the lake though. We checked into our hotel room and had a nap, then drove into the town to check it out and grab some supper. It was very lovely, but turned out to be quite an expensive place. After paying $70 for a mediocre dinner for the 3 of us, we decided to get some groceries for our hotel kitchen, and headed back to our room.

Friday, Rick cooked us some bacon & eggs and we had a swim in the pool, and Marshall checked out the Playzone, then we took the bus into town and had lunch in the park there, then bussed up to the hot springs. which was rather a disappointment. I then refused to go on the gondola because of my fear of heights, but offered to walk around while Rick and Marshall went. In the end, none of us went. Maybe next time! We booked a boat tour of the Minnewanka for 50% off on our way back to the hotel. Whoo!

Saturday we got our boat tour of the minnewanka which was great. The water is really really cold. So cold, that if you tried to swim in it, you would get hypothermia! They use this lake for cold water high elevation diving licensing. This was the same day this photo was taken, by the way. I’m sure I remember seeing these people! We then headed back to Calgary for a quick visit with Stace and her boys before they went off to the Pearl Jam concert. We checked into a hotel nearby for the last 3 nights of our stay.

Sunday we headed to the Calgary Farmer’s Market where we enjoyed Simple Simon Pie samples and bought a bunch of Going nuts! products, and fruits and veg and Phil & Sebastien coffee. We ordered a dozen Simple Simon pies to go (small ones) for meals and lunches, and Rick grabbed some Wild Rose Beer, and we headed off to find the Marda Gras street festival. We walked around and got a tattoo for Marshall and a balloon and necklaces and ice cream.

Monday we tried to get to the Calgary Tower, but Marshall wasn’t interested! We ended up going over to Stacey’s and I went with her to her doctor’s appointment to check on the babies’ weights and how they’re feeding etc. Rick, Marshall and Cris headed to Costco to return a tv Cris had purchased for work, then Rick tried to get Marshall to nap at the hotel at his request. We headed back to the hotel for a swim and ordered some thai food and Stacey and Cris came over and we ate in the hotel lobby (way too many ppl for our room!).

At 5am Tuesday morning we were ready to go. A quick stop at McDonald’s drive-through and to drop off a balloon and a few things we couldn’t bring on the plane at Stacey’s and we were headed for the airport again. This time I gave Marshall a gravol to help him sleep on the plane, and boy did he sleep! He slept most of the trip! He had a runny nose and a bit of a cough, so we figured he needed it. We arrived in Moncton around 430pm after a bit of a scary landing. (scary for me! the plane was almost landed and suddenly pulled up and climbed right back up high…. the captain didn’t come on and say anything so we were all wondering what happened…. finally he came on and said their sensors had picked up a wind shear warning, and automatically pulled back up. geez dude!)

Grampy was there to meet us and Marshall lit right up. He invited Grampy to come over and play toys with him so they did puzzles for a bit when we got home. It was a great trip, but tiring for sure, and we were really glad to be home!

the end! I have uploaded a ton of pics and vids here.