Oh Canada!-Jasper

After leaving the castle, we headed to Jasper to see more gorgeous views. it was a long day in the car, but there was lots to see along the way.

A glacier fed lake

A view from above

waterfalls

Glacier fields

That you could explore in the these giant buses (our minivan in comparison)

Mountain goats

more waterfalls

Emma became a very good rock climber

Oh Canada!-Lake Louise

We spent one day of our time in Banff at Lake Louise. We took an amazing hike past the lake, up a mountain to a tea house and glacier. The weather was perfect for the day hike and everyone enjoyed the views of the mountains, streams, lakes, and waterfalls.

From Canada Trip - Lake Louise

Beginning our hike

Don't we look excited?

Another Fairmont Hotel...this one is a Chateau

Ian just chilling out

One of the waterfalls along the way

Emma did a great job hiking

but Daddy helped out quite a bit

Snow!

Snow fall!

parts of the trail were a little tricky

but you could not beat the scenery

This was also a horse trail...Emma was watching out for the horse poop

The glacier

G-pa and Emma build with rocks

Ian and I did not quite make the last half a kilometer

Nana and I stayed at the Tea house so that Ian could have a break

Emma and Daddy took a detour

Back at the lake...still all smiling

Oh Canada!-Banff

After experiencing our first Stampede, we loaded up the minivan and headed into the mountains to the beautiful town of Banff. Banff is surrounded by mountains and has beautiful turquoise glacier fed streams and lakes that are amazing to see.

The town of Banff
We stayed in Banff for 3 days and it was a treat. We spoiled ourselves and stayed in the Fairmont...or as Emma calls it, The Castle.

Complete with chandeliers..


Gorgeous views...

and what would a castle be without it's own bagpiper?
The place was very impressive.. especially from the top of the gondola ride we took to the top of the mountain

The ride up

The Castle

Emma pretends to fall off the mountain

Ian's favorite form of transportation on the trip

What a view!

Oh Canada!-Calgary

We are back from a whirlwind trip to our neighbor in the north! We started out in Calgary and ended in Victoria with the wedding of Dan's brother (or as Emma calls him, Uncle Scott) and Tricia. We had a wonderful time touring Canada with my parents along for the ride. So be prepared to be inundated with family vacation photos... I would consider this the modern form of the old slide shows that my family loved to share after a long vacation :)

Our first stop on the tour was Calgary. We were only there for a day, but what a day it was. We happened to be in town for the Calgary stampede. The moment we stepped off the plane, we knew we were out of our league. With me in my capris and Dan in his Khaki shorts, we might as well have had Tourist stamped on our foreheads and we walked through the sea of jeans, cowboy hats and boot. The stampede is Canada's form of a giant state fair and everyone dresses for the occasion. So we strapped on our cameras and binoculars and headed to the show!
We were amazed at the food offers at the various booths... For instance, bison anyone?

We stuck with some good old fashion pork bar-b-que

The main event of the evening were the chuck wagon races. Imagine an old fashion covered wagon racing around a course with 3 horses following behind...

Now imagine that four different teams are doing this at the same time...

Add to the fact that it was a rainy, muddy day and it was amazing that there were not some serious collisions

As you can see, the whole family was thoroughly enthralled
Although the Races were exciting, they were soon surpassed by our last stop for the evening...

Yes, we are back at the food stands....(is the drool on Emma's chin?)

You would probably be drooling too if you could smell these freshly baked mini donuts!

We shared the bag of sugary goodness

Even Ian got into the act

But I think Daddy has created a monster in Emma...It is the cousin of Cookie monster...Otherwise known as the Donut monster. I think she would have eaten the whole bag if we let her
Thus ended our day on the range. We headed off to our hotel to prepare for more adventures

Emma's dream come true

Emma has been begging to feed Ian, so yesterday, daddy finally gave her the chance. She fed him the entire bottle and everyone was happy!

Happy Fourth of July 2009

We all got decked out in our Red White and Blue to celebrate the 4th with friends. Emma was really excited about fireworks this year!

Emma and Ian in their red, white, and blue

Emma


Bouncing with friends

Down the slide

Daddy helped Ian bounce, too