Monday, June 25, 2012

A Short Family Holiday to: Alberta

In case you noticed (and at least one did - thanks for the MARCO email, M!) there was a commercial interruption in blog posts last week. That's because we took a much overdue family holiday and I couldn't freaking wait. It was the first time I had been on an airplane in almost a year and I was starting to get VERY twitchy from the lack of travel. You know, the kind of travel twitchy that convinces two usually sane adults that travelling with a four, two and eight month old three quarters of the way across the continent for just five days sounds like a good idea? If you are interested in some of what we experienced, one of my SILs, Liffey, sums it up nicely here.


However, we hadn't seen our good friends and godchildren in a dogs age (that's a long time to you CFAs) and I was desperate. We hadn't seen their new-to-us-already-lived-in-for-five-years-to-them house. We hadn't seen their new to us vehicles. Our godchildren are almost grown up and DH and I had not been back to Alberta together since leaving for Germany in the summer of 1998. 


The proverbial straw, however, was that we had not been on a family holiday in over a year and a half and, even if it was going to be short, it was going to be worth it.


And it was worth it. TOTALLY. Despite the fact that we flew stand by (the way our family is able to get seriously inexpensive tickets through DH's work) resulting in some minor flight and seat shuffling each leg, despite the fact that Aidan threw up all over himself at the Toronto airport resulting in a fresh and newly purchased wardrobe for the day (and the bin for his original outfit), despite the fact that the five days were, without a doubt, Finlay's crankiest ever (we blame his teeth - his first two in the front on the bottom are now up) or that Aidan appeared to have a bug and his getting sick at the airport wasn't just an airport thing, etc, etc, our trip was fantastic.


It was such a good time that I didn't even have time to take many pictures. I'm hoping my wonderful friend with the fancy camera in Fort Saskatchewan is going to forward me some decent pictures (hint! Hint!) but, until then, here are a few cute ones of the experience:


Waiting at the St. John's Airport

Not sure what they're talking about but I'm pretty sure the conversation began with Iain asking "Why...?"

Finlay's first flight. Despite this picture, he did not sleep for the entire flight. Nope. Mr. Nosy Pants here socialized with everyone who came within four feet of his Royal Cuteness.

Our trusty steed. No, I'm not being sponsored by them.

Waiting for DH to pick up the rental vehicle in Edmonton.
DH's finely honed engineering skills put to good use.

Aww, brothers.
On the stage at Fort Edmonton. The boys first time, mine and DH's second. Still amazing for young and older.

One of our handsome godchildren.
My beautiful girlfriend.
Everyone enraptured by a horse and carriage going by. These are our other two beautiful godchildren.

Turns out old tree stumps bring out the actor in Eldest!
I had to add this picture. This is how you tell who your good friends are. Aidan had another accident and we spent the rest of the day trying to dry out his cleaned underwear on top of the stroller and our friends continued to walk next to us like they knew us. Even the teenagers didn't complain. Wow.

Taking a break on a perfectly located bench.
It was shameful how little attention Finlay got on this trip. Truly shameful ;)!

The colourful burlap near the top of this picture is a colour coded burlap for hooking a rug/mat. I was involved in a brief tutorial on how to hook a mat with the volunteer at the covered wagon. Hookers: not just another pretty face ;)!

Elk Island National Park. The boys were THRILLED to see these.
On the flight home.

I'm the monkey in the middle!

Most of these pictures were taken using my iPhone. This is the face I get from Finn each and every time he sees my phone. What a ham!
Here is a run down of the things we saw other than the great visit with our friends and despite the lack of photographic evidence. We also visited a local splash park in Fort Saskatchewan, the waterpark at West Edmonton Mall (and to say that Finlay loved the water would be a gross understatement), and, be still my beating heart, IKEA (be thankful I'm not including pictures of the displays)!


We still love you Alberta and We. Will. Be. Back. Even if I can feel the province shudder from here...

1 comment:

  1. Wow. I guess I've really fallen off on the blog reading. I don't think I even knew you had another baby! A much-belated congratulations!

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