Family Weekend

One of our 2017 goals: Alberta National Parks (Jasper, Banff, Waterton, Elk Island)
Partially completed! (Banff National Park)

Over the long Family Day weekend in February, Calista had five days off of school. We decided to make the most of it.

We started with a trip to the zoo on Thursday (sans Kyler. He has to work sometime!)

We got to see some of our favorite things, like the tigers.

We also took pictures at some of our favorite places.

I promise Caleb was there, too, but I have zero pictures of him. Oh well.

On Friday, we picked up Kyler just after lunch and drove out to Banff. We started a hike that was listed in "open" condition online, but some of the bloggers warned might require ice cleats to complete... which we don't have.

Part of it went pretty well, but we got to a few patches of ice that scared Calista and Craig, so about half-way through we turned back.

Instead, we headed into town and threw rocks in the river.

And tried to not fall through the ice, of course.
Then we headed to our hotel for the night. Oh, man, it was the nicest place we've stayed since we've had kids. Two bedrooms, a kitchen and living area... It was nice!

We ate dinner and then settled in for a movie and popcorn.
After a decent night of sleep, where I enjoyed the king-sized bed because Caleb spent half the night next to me, we went to the Banff Hot Springs.

We'd never gone before, and I was a little nervous about Caleb, since he was hating baths. He cried for about 15 seconds, and then discovered he could splash. Life was good.
After a relaxing soak, we drove to the "scary poopy tunnel" at Calista and Craig's request: Cave and Basin.

I love this building there. Such a great place to sit, relax nurse a baby, read a book...

Everyone wins! They had a pretend curling rink set up, so we played there a bit, too.

It wasn't actually ice, and the rocks were on casters. Kind of fun, and not slippery!

Finally, we headed to a late lunch at our favorite Cajun place. The boys slept while we waited for a table.

Then it was back home, our grand Banff adventure (and part of our 2017 goals!) done.

On Monday, the actual holiday, we took it a bit easy. Calista had a playdate in the morning with one of her friends. While she was there and Caleb was napping, Craig and I got to play, just the two of us. He is such a funny guy, I love when I get to spend some time with just him.

After lunch, and after Calista came home, we took a walk to the park, played, and spent some time together.

And climbed the underpass, obviously.

All in all, a very Family Weekend!