Other things we saw and did this weekend...

Bow Falls and the Bow River:

Lake Minnewanka loop and Twojack:

Elk herd on the Lake Minnewanka loop:

The Banff Hoodoos (today Kevin has gone to Drumheller for an overnight trip, and will see the Drumheller Hoodoos)

The 'Three Sisters' mountains in Canmore:

Tunnel Mountain loop ending with an amazing view of Cascade Mountain:

Playing on the Bellman cart in the hotel:

Bass Pro/ Outdoor World store and Crossiron Mills Mall

 in Airdrie on the way home.  The boys went shopping together and I found something to send back to Germany for Kevins Mom.  We had supper there too.  I had Lebanese food which was really good:

Learning to Lasso at Bass Pro with Miss Airdrie Rodeo 2012:

Seagulls in the parking lot:

And then home!!  Laurence drove ALL the way!  In fact apart from the trip from Red deer to Canmore on Friday night, Laurence did ALL the driving this weekend - he wanted to prove to himself he could drive all the way home from Canmore and could find his way so he can drive himself at some point!

Sulphur Mountain

On Sunday morning we headed to the Banff Gondola and went up to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  It was drizzling rain and was VERY cold and windy up there - the wind really was crazy.

Sam decided to stay inside in the warm, Susannah and I just walked about half way, but Laurence, Kevin and Abby ventured to the top - a friend of Laurences had been up there Saturday with her German exchange partner, and they had written their names somewhere, so Laurence and Kevin were determined to find them :)  They did!

Yes it was VERY blowy:

Luckily despite the weather it was still quite clear and we had a nice view

Up on the panoramic viewing deck they have signs showing you the direction and distance of various cities around the world - Edmonton was right next to Berlin, Germany, which was PERFECT for a photograph :)  

Saturday in Banff continued....

After Lake Louise we were all a bit sweaty and damp from hiking in the rain, and so we headed back to the hotel to shower and change, then drove back in to Banff.  The stores stay open until about 9:30pm and it is lovely strolling along the sidewalks and seeing all the people and just soaking up the atmosphere.  Laurence and Kevin went off for a couple of hours to do some shopping.  I took the younger three and we looked through all the souvenir stores and then found a really nice coffee shop and sat in there until the boys were done.  Everyone was hungry by then, so we went to our usual supper haunt when in Banff - Old Spaghetti Factory.  

Saturday...at Lake Louise

Saturday started with coffee on the balcony overlooking the beautiful mountains.

I love Canmore soooo much :)  

We went to Craigs Waystation for brunch, and Kevin tried French Toast for

the first time - his English is sooo good!!  The only difficulty was trying to explain the ways you can have your eggs :)  

We headed up to Lake Louise.  Sadly Lake Moraine was closed - the road was closed off completely, so we didn't get to take Kevin there, but he loved Lake Louise! We went by Castle Mountain on the way - so stunning with the low cloud over the peaks!!

 It was raining a little but not enough to stop us enjoying it there and we hiked up to Lake Agnes too :)  

The hike to Lake Agnes was exhausting after our busy week, but once we got to the top it was worth it and the hike down was easy.  Sooo glad we did the hike - although we all ache a bit now :)  

Lake Agnes Tea House:

While we were up at Lake Agnes, we saw a guy propose to his girlfriend!  She said yes, and so we all cheered :)  We took pictures, rested for a little while and enjoyed the waterfall, before heading back down to the hotel:

We were tired and cold when we got back, so had hot chocolate/ coffee in the deli:

Me...pics from the last few days....

Soooo flattered :)

I woke up to this on Friday:

Wow - one of my pictures is on the storyboard screen at Canada Place!!  Yay and it shows my profile picture and name too :)  I want to go down there and wait for it to be shown so I can get a picture :)

Woot - it's like having my name in lights...well, I guess it is in a way :)  

I LOVE Instagram :)  

Friday...

Friday was an unbelievably busy day for us.  Sam had a fire safety class in the morning, so we took him there and then ran to pick up medications that we had run out of...then back to get Sam (amazing how fast an hour can fly).  We got some lunch before heading back to the community centre to drop Abigail at her class!  She was in a 'Home Alone' class.  Her class was two hours long, so while she was there, we headed to the police station to get my criminal record check done.  I should have got it done months ago but kept forgetting - it was for having an exchange student stay with us - but Kevin had already been with us for two days by the time I got it done!  I sent Ki a text and told her that we were at the police station, so she came through to see us and chat for a while - and I think she managed to get Sam to give her a kiss :)  

After that we headed to the post office...and then the school to drop off the police check form...and then back to the library - we waited to pick Abigail up - and she came in to the library as her class finished 30 minutes early - and she had some friends with her, so we waited with them until their Mom arrived.  We chatted for a while and made plans to go to the  cheap movies with them this week.

Arrived home and packed, and then the older three arrived home - we all threw our stuff into the truck and headed South to Canmore!!  Laurence drove to Red Deer and I drove from there.  It was dark so we couldn't see the mountains, but we did get to show Kevin the Olympic Park all lit up - he likes to ski so that was good!

At the hotel the children enjoyed having television - I quite enjoyed seeing commercials for a change and hearing what songs are being used on them - so strange when you are not used to commercials any more.  I watched some Police mystery type shows with Sam which he really likes - oh and we watched Men in Black:

So hard to believe there are mountains in the background of this picture:

I relaxed in the bath before bed:

Homeschool club

We had our second homeschool group session last night. We all made scarecrows!!  It was a really fun session!  Messy and chaotic - but really fun!  I had straw EVERYWHERE on me by the end of the class haha!!