Beautiful Banff

Last week we had a great little vacation at Banff, accommodation courtesy of a pretty amazing couple, Ed and Sandra Bryant. (Thanks so much guys, we had a great time!)

Banff is utterly gorgeous, the most amazing scenery and mountains! We were very impressed by the town, the shopping and just the general set up.

On our first full day here the weather decided to put a dampener on our excitement and it rained and rained. Bummer, No worries, Banff has tonnes of indoor activities, Museums, Swimming Pools, Waterslides and 5 Pin bowling! The girls totally loved the bowling and we had a lot of fun too! The girls and Alex also decided to go to a crazy waterslide in the evening.

The day after the weather was even less appealing, rain rain and more rain. The girls didn’t mind though, because thankfully there was a television in our room and the girls haven’t watched TV in 5 months. So as far as they were concerned this holiday rocked! They literally watched TV all done except when they were eating. Alex took a well deserved nap in the afternoon and then decided he was bored out of is brains and went to go look around.

That evening we decided to buy a movie from pay per view. But the TV told us we had to talk to front desk before we could buy it. After calling about 5 times and getting no answer I decided t let Laura use the phone. She wanted to pretend to talk to the front desk too. I said no worries as long as she let me know if a real person talked back. Alex and I were discussing who was going to make the walk in the rain when we hear Laura interrupt with “MUMMY, MUMMY, MUMMY, IT’S A REAL PERSON!” Oops how embarrassing. Especially when the guy proceeded to ask if I ACTUALLY needed anything or was just letting my child play with the motel telephone. Whoops. I made myself feel a little better thinking I’m sure other mothers have made the same mistake!

The next day the weather looked a little more kind so we headed off to Minnawaku Lake and took the girls on a short walk up to get a great view of the lake and surrounding mountains. We took a few family photos and we must have looked crazy cute as we even had some tourists stop to take our photo! Which we found pretty funny.

No wonder everyone stopped for a photo, we are pretty cute!

We then decided lunch was in order and managed to find….(cue the music)…a Bakery!!!!!!!!!!!!! For all you back home you probably have no idea why this was cause our stomachs to rumble in anticipation and our heads to almost spin off with excitement. To all the Australians out there I have some very shocking news for you. Canada does not have bakeries!!!!!!!!

I know I know. First there was no lamb and now this!!? We have occasionally come across a place that makes a few loaves of bread and but that’s about it. No meat pies with sauce, no flaky sausage rolls, no lamingtons or delicious pastries.

What Canada does have is wings and pizza! And they are GOOD!

The bakery was awesome, a thing of magic. J There was much groaning in pleasure, as well as a ridiculous amount of finger licking to show our appreciation of this fine culinary feast!

That afternoon we drove around checking out more beautiful things, hoping for a glimpse of a bear or moose. We took the girls on another walk to see a very nice waterfall and a little cave, they really enjoyed this.

The next day we took the girls to a museum which had a phenomenal display of taxidermy with every Canadian animal imaginable. It was an excellent exhibit. The girls really enjoyed seeing all the animals up close and personal and having the chance to touch different types of fur and animal horns in the interactive room.

Photography by Hannah

That afternoon the girls requested going to the waterslide again, which Alex thought was a great idea, so they trooped off while Miss E and I indulged in a nap.

That evening, the weather was so good and the sky was so clear that we decided to go on the Gondolas and see if Alex could get an epic picture of the sunset up there. The girls were super keen and couldn’t wait to go for a ride. They called it an elevator seeing as Gondola made no sense to them.

Miss E was not so sure of this idea and screamed each time we got on the Gondola for a minute or so until she decided to either close her eyes and hide her face in my jacket or look at us in abject horror for making her do it.

MUM!!! What are doing to me????? Don't you love me????

Laura always the happy one.

The view from the top was fantastic! Alex took some great shots and the girls enjoyed reading all the information signs. Miss E had the time of her life climbing all of the stairs and the other tourist seemed to think she was hilarious. Yet again we had some more tourists take photos of us. We began to think that perhaps we were being mistaken for someone exceptional gorgeous and famous? You never know. LOL

Do you like my new Moose jumper!? I'm loving it, I feel so Canadian!

Love to you all!

Just had to share this incredible cereal I found at the Banff Supermarket. Didn't buy any though. Love the catch phrase..."Just add love". Hee hee

Holidays and the Good, the Bad and the Completely Bizarre about Canada

Hey everyone!

I'll bet you have been wondering what we have been up to since the end of summer eh (see how Canadian I am with my Eh's?)

Well we have been lazing about, going to the pool, the water park, buying things to take home, playing, going out to supper with all our friends and just basically relaxing. Family Camp was a  lot of fun and it was really awesome meeting so many of the supporting families and to meet many of the parents of the counselors we got to know over the summer.

I think we slept like 14 hours straight after the camps finally finished :) Even the girls slept longer then usual. (!) And although they loved going to child care and having so many people to play with, I think they were pretty happy to get their Mum and Dad back. Nice to know they do love us.

For his birthday, Alex spent the day golfing (what a copy cat!) with Ginny and Rea. His day was made complete when he managed to knock 7 off his stroke (18 holes) due to his new birthday golf shoes. It's the little things that make a birthday great hey?

Alex has a big week planned, Joshua is down for the week and they have organised to climb some mountains, go caving and take a ridiculous amount of photos.

The girls have already begun to ask when we are heading home and I have also begun to feel the excitement to return growing in me. Until then though we are content to tour around and enjoy our last few remaining weeks in this fabulous country.

I have been planning on doing a blog on this topic for a while. But it’s taken a while to compile the list, so here you go…The Good, The Bad and the Completely Bizzaire things about being in Canada.

The Good

The people - Seriously the people here are completely salt of the earth. They are willing and happy to do anything to help, and I’m not just talking about the people here at Crow, I mean ALL Canadians!

Percy’s Pancakes – To DIE FOR! Wow, we must have eaten pancakes at least once if not twice a week since being in Canada and I can tell you without a doubt that only Percy's pancakes are worth the extra workout!

The Rum Runner - We are seriously going to miss that place. We have eaten there probably 10 times and we have NEVER had a bad meal. I don't care how many hours you have to drive, if you are on this continent you have visit this place. And have a Crow burger for me. Or two, whatever. :)

Sev (Seven/Elevens) - No day out would be complete without a stop at the Sev (more Canadian lingo for you, this blog is so educational!) to get a Slushie and wings. The kids and I are totally addicted. Miss E totally jumps out of her seat when we pull up. (Don't tell my child heath nurse please, I must maintain my perfect Mother record)

Restaurants are kid friendly - Restaurants are so great over here for families, when you rock up they set your kids up with crayons and toys and paper and when they bring their drinks they are always in cups with lids and straws. GENIUS!

The Bad

Speeding - Canadians are very liberal with "speed limits". It doesn't matter if I'm going the speed limit of 5 over. I will still get overtaken at every opportunity and even just in the pull over lane if there isn't an overtaking lane coming up fast enough. I'm not really sure why this is when Canadians pride generally themselves on their politeness.

Milk Cartons - Yeah I can see your face, what do mean Milk Cartons, why in the world could they be bad? Well let me tell you (and every Milk Carton Manufacturer over here) their design is utter stupid! The nozzel is almost in the centre of the carton and no matter how hard you try you will either:

-Spill it all over the table

-Or it will dribble down the side, and then all over your pants.

Pedestrians - Canadians have a courtesy rule here that you ALWAYS give way to pedestrians. It doesn't matter where on the road you are, they will just step out in front of you and you are expected to stop. When I mentioned that in Australia this is called J-Walking they said "Oh, it is here too, but we do it anyway". Okaaaay.

Four way intersections- The general rule over here isn't give way to your right, it's whoever was at the intersection first goes first. SOOOOO CONFUSING when three cars turn up at the same time. Oh and then to throw a spanner into the works, have some pedestrians rock up and just cross without looking. Seriously!

The Completely Bizarre

Canadians put Ranch dressing on practically everything - It doesn't matter what the meal is, Ranch dressing is a must.

Cheese on Apple Pie - I'm not joking. They really do that! Cheese on their Apple Pie or Crumble. Have I dared try it you ask. No. It makes no sense!

Owl pellets - okay so this one came up in conversation one day. Some people (I won't say all Canadians, maybe I was just sitting with a really strange bunch that day) like to buy Owl pellets (Owl Poo just so we are clear) and dissect it because when owls eat they only digest the meat and then everything else, say the bones, skin etc is made into a compact little pellet that the owl poops out and I assume someone must run around collecting to sell.