So, this was our first time back to Canada since the boys were born. At first, we were absolutely terrified of taking this trip with Aidan and Ezra. For any of you who know our boys...you will probably understand why. Those little guys don't like to sit still for more than 5 seconds let alone a 15 hour car ride. But do you know what??? My little guys were amazing!!!! We only made 3 or 4 stops total. And that is usually how many Brant and I would make on our own trip. What was the secret??? A car dvd player and plenty of disney movies! I don't know how people did it in the old days. Now our trip could have been a castrophe due to the fact that just as were were ready to begin our journey I went to plug in the dvd player adapter into the cigarette lighter and it got stuck and then when I went to pull it out it fell apart. This, as you can imagine, was very upseting especially because it was a brand new player and adapter. Even more upseting was the fact that it was 5 am and we were ready to be on our way. On the upside, after a short stop at Walmart we were able to get ourselves a new car adapter and our little "tv addicts" were set for pretty much the rest of the trip up. We were so thankful and impressed by what great travelers they were.
Well, we reached Brant's home in Calgary around 9 pm and let me tell you Aidan and Ezra were ready to be out of the car. They ran around like crazy little chickens for at least an hour. Then we all passed out.
The next morning the action started early when Aidan fell and put a good sized gash into his head which required stitches;however, since we were in Canada and it was a Sunday we decided to try and use the super glue approach....I know...probably not the best for my child aesthetically, but it worked and we probably saved a few hundred dollars. The funniest thing about this was that Aidan wasn't even being a crazy dare devil like he usually is...he was just playing quietly and slipped and hit head right on the corner of stereo speaker. It was also funny because Aidan was just beginning to heal from a previous scar in almost the exactly same spot.
Well, with that mishap over it was on to church and a big family dinner consisting of delicious ribs and well, I can't really remember what else was served because I pretty much just LOVE meat!!!
The next day I finally got Brant to take me to Banff. It was absolutely gorgeous. We took a short right on the gondola up to the top of a mountain. The boys loved it and thought it was great...Brant got sick and wanted out fast. Here's a funny little thing about the gondola though. Before we unloaded the boys from the car, I had Brant ask the people in charge if it was okay to bring the stroller in the gondola and they said it was fine. What they didn't mention though was that once you got to the top of the mountain there were pretty much stairs everywhere so a stroller isn't really convenient unless you want to hoist it and two 30 pound twins up and down the stairs which I did not want to do. So, we pretty much had to just walk around the one observation deck. It was still gorgeous, but we could have seen more if we hadn't brought the stroller. I wish we had more time there because I wanted to see about a zillion other places there like Lake Louise. We did manage to take the boys to a different lake that was closer by and they got to spash around a bit.
After getting back from Banff we had a short spring training practice with Brant's dad and brothers in order to get ready for the family softball tournament that weekend in Cardston.
The next day we went to the Calgary Zoo with Brant's twin brother Vaughn and his wife, Tasha and their little girl Elina. Ezra loved the birds especially the flamingos. I loved the hippos. Brant and Vaughn loved the elephants...there is more to that story, but I can't post it on the blog so if you want the details you will have to call me.
After we visited the zoo the rains came and the boys got sick. The softball tournament was a ton of fun. And then it was time to say good bye and head home. The boys were really good on the way home too...thank goodness for portable DVD players. I don't know how people survive car trips without them.
