Mads Homemade Ballpit

For the past few days, Mads has been recreating the ball pit from Callaway Park in the basement. He collects all the balls we own, and puts them in the corner and crawls in them. He makes a very happy noise.

I was hoping to get a photo of him lying down in the balls, laughing like he does. I got the camera out a bit too late for that though.

Playdates

Jake has a super cute playhouse in his backyard with real flowers! Kind of like a croked house but smaller and straight.

Izzy and Bobs were playing house.

Jake enjoyed playing soccer with Mads. He has a little sister who is still too little to walk around.

Mads and Bobs occupied the sandbox.

Calaway Park

We went to Calaway Park today with Cael and Joshua and their parents. We got in on a special deal and arrived right when it opened. Surprisingly for us, Bobs was happy to go on all the rides, non stop.

Cael especially wanted to go on all the train rides. I think there were three different ones.

The weather was splendid. Mads also enjoyed a ball pit. It took him awhile to warm up to it, and then he didn't want to leave so he swam away from me in the balls to avoid being picked up.

Cael's mom made sandwiches. We ladies know each other from my old workplace. We enjoyed our first maternity leaves together.

Below is Cael's dad whom we can thank for these photos.

Many of the rides needed a parent on it, so the dads were happy to ride along. I went on a few rides too. One was a spinning balloon. It went really fast and I had to hold onto Bobs really hard. We were both scared. Bobs thought it was fun after he got off though.

Mads will enjoy the park better next year. He was able to nap in the stroller at least.

I hadn't been to Calaway Park since I was around 13. They have added a lot of rides since then, but the main core of it hasn't changed much.

Hanging Around the House

Cowboys and Cowgirls

Prince's Island

It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. We spent the morning and lunch at Prince's Island Park with Jansen and Casey and their mom.

I am sure it was incredibly busy in the afternoon, and very hot, so it was good we got there early. The babies need their naps in the afternoon.

Jansen and Bobs both enjoyed the blue water sprayer.

Casey enjoys climbing up on the big kids play structures.

The preschoolers always want the same toy to play with, so a teeter totter is perfect.

Jansen loves to give hugs.

It is our last day with Grandma and Grandpa sadly. They leave tomorrow.

Pancake Breakfast

Since being back from Invermere, we have been going to several Stampede breakfasts around town. Sadly, my camera got really wet at the Dalhousie station breakfast when it started pouring buckets on us.

While the camera dries out, I am using my ipod's camera. We had my aunt Heddi over for supper along with my parents. Heddi is from Copenhagen.

Bobs had his hair cut at Beaners, and they styled it with with gel and purple spray. He saw a little girl on the way out with sparkles in her hair and he cried because he wanted sparkles too.

The photo below is from a peaceful point in Panorama.

This morning we went to the Danish Canadian Club for their Stampede pancake breakfast. Mads was asleep for most of it.

Bobs had his face painted.

Mormor and Heddi joined us later.

Bobs chose to have a purple fish painted on his face. This was the same face painter from last year and she does an incredible job.

After the breakfast we went for a walk by the Lougheed House gardens.

And finally on the way home we stopped at the local church's pancake breakfast and Bobs bounced in one of their blow up castles.

The weather is beautiful and we are taking a break for lunch to think about what we want to do this afternoon.

Canmore and Invermere with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa have arrived from Ottawa. Just in time for Stampede!

So we immediately packed up and took off for the mountains to get away from the Cowboys.

We stayed at a friend of Grandpa's winter place and ate at some local restaurants.

We also managed to find every playground in Canmore.

Mads had a fever for the first two days, and he was very quiet and snuggly.

In the evenings, Mommy and Daddy had date nights, and Grandma and Grandpa had senior's night out.

After two nights we drove to Invermere and then up to Panorama.

Our rest stops included an outhouse and hiking path on highway 93, and Radium Hot Springs.

While Daddy and Grandpa went up the mountain to pick out a hotel, we got to hang back at lake Windermere.

They found a nice place with incredible views. The only downside was that there wasn't air conditioning and it was super hot while we were there.

Bobs enjoyed his breakfast out on the balcony.

They had a huge outdoor hot pool and warm pool for us to enjoy.

We also had access to two gondolas. Mads' stroller was even allowed on the bigger gondola.

We went for little hikes and sometimes we split into groups so we could enjoy different age appropriate activities. I think Grandma and Grandpa and Bobs were the most active.

Bobs rode the quad up the mountain for the first time. One day he will have skis on.

Mads kept us up two nights in a row, and put on a sweet smile in the morning to try to make up for it.

There was a Kids Funzone that Bobs went into a few times.

We would definitely recommend Panorama for a family friendly weekend. Just don't go when it is too hot. I think it will be even funner when the boys are older.

A major attraction in the summer is mountain biking down the ski hill, and taking the quad up.

All in all, a great trip. Now it is time to enjoy what is left of the Stampede.