A Little Mountain Getaway

Last week, we decided on a whim, to head to the mountains for the weekend! Meaning, we booked a hotel room Friday afternoon, packed that evening and loaded up the car Saturday morning. Who says all spontaneity dies once you have children? ;)

We didn't have too much of an agenda - the hotel we booked had a pool with a waterslide, and we knew we wanted lots of time to enjoy it with Sully. He loves swimming right now, and loves going down waterslides, so we knew it would be a big hit with him (it was!). We stayed at the Best Western in Canmore, and I would definitely stay there again. The rooms are nice and clean, there was a fridge and microwave (a definite must when traveling with kids!), and a fireplace! Plus, my other must have when staying at a hotel: hot continental breakfast. Nothing makes you feel like you're getting your monies worth than a free breakfast for you and your kids! Unlimited juice for everyone!

On Saturday, we headed out past our hotel, to Banff, where we had lunch and then walked around for about an hour. It was unfortunately raining all day, but it wasn't too cold so it wasn't miserable. Plus, Sully had a blast jumping in all the puddles and throwing snowballs on the sidewalks (snow plus light rain equals the best snowballs).

The hotel had a late check-in time of 4pm, so around then, we made our way from Banff back to the hotel. We changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool for a few hours. Emmy slept in her bassinet the entire time, which allowed me to get a few runs in down the slide and some time in the hot tub. We ordered pizza in that night for supper and when it was time for bed, Jim and I wished each other the best of luck! Haha! We chose a room with two queen beds so that Jim and Sully could sleep in one, and Emmy and I slept in the other. Sully was pretty restless all night and fell out of bed once (oops!), but thankfully Emmy slept well, other than needing to be fed and changed once in the middle of the night.

We didn't have time to go swimming again Sunday morning, but we did take advantage of the hot breakfast, and then once we were packed up, we headed back out towards Banff to drive around and explore. There's so much out that way that I've never actually seen and we made lots of notes of places we will return to once it's a) warmer out and b) the kids are older.

Then on our way back into the city, we detoured a bit towards Kananaskis and attempted to hike to Troll Falls. I did this hike on a girls weekend trip just over a year ago, and it's an easy, family friendly hike. I knew I wanted to return with Jim and Sully one day, but unfortunately, all the rain turned the trail into a sheet of ice. We managed to get about 3/4 of the way by walking on the edges of the trail where there was still some untouched snow, but it was challenging for Sully and for me since I was wearing Emmy. But my family was a great sport about it and Sully walked the entire time, so I was proud of him! I'm sad they didn't get to see the frozen waterfalls, but we will be back!

And that was about it! Our little hike ended around 5:30pm, so we hopped back in the vehicle and made the drive home. Despite the logistics of traveling with a toddler and a newborn (ohhhh the logistics!!), we had a really nice time. The weather didn't end up being as nice as we had thought it was going to be, which made everything a little bit more challenging - like stopping to nurse and change diapers - everything had to be done in the vehicle with it running. But I think we made the best of it, and a trip to the mountains, no matter how short, is always so good for the soul.

Weekending: 'Tis the Season!

Phew! What an incredibly busy weekend, but in the best possible way! I haven't felt inclined to share our weekend happenings lately because they've mostly been filled with home projects or lots of laziness. Or a combination of both. But this past weekend was crammed full of family and friends time and even though it's bitterly cold outside, it was a perfect weekend.

Friday

Originally, Friday night was supposed to be Jim's company Christmas party. I wasn't too keen on going given that I'm 37 weeks pregnant and needed to go buy a new dress that fit, but since my Aunt and her husband were more than happy to babysit we figured we might as well go and get a free dinner out of it! Then two days before the party, Jim called to tell me we weren't going to as it wasn't a semi-formal dinner, it was a casual cocktail/appy evening. Ya, not happening in my condition or in this weather. So I gladly returned that dress and instead we headed out to dinner and a movie (never happens!). The timing and location of where the movies were playing that we wanted to see just didn't work for us, so we ended up going to a cheap theatre and watching Deepwater Horizon, the film based on the true story of the BP oil spill. (Mark Wahlberg sold me). It was actually really good and really interesting to see the events of this horrific event from the people directly involved on the rig.

Anyway, afterwards we headed to Phoenix Grill for dinner because I've been wanting to take Jim there ever since the Blog Squad went after our OTF workout back in the spring. Funnily enough though, even though everything on their menu sounds delicious, I ended up ordering the exact same salad I had last time and it's still one of the best salads I've ever ordered at a restaurant.

We grabbed Turtle sundaes from McDonald's on the way home (SO good!) and then ate them while watching F is for Family on Netflix.

Sully had a blast decorating a gingerbread train while we were gone, and clearly didn't miss us at all!

Saturday

I was up early to head out the door to pick up my Baby Box and run a few errands before meeting Jim and Sully at Sully's last gymnastic class of this session. He was so proud to go up and get his certificate at the end. And I was so proud of him because most of the time he's so shy in situations like that and won't go up on his own.

Afterwards, the boys ran some more errands while I headed home to get ready for the annual Blogger Christmas party that I was hosting this year! We were missing several of the girls, but we still had a great time chatting and catching up, eating delicious food, doing our gift exchange and taking cheesy group photos! After I spend time like this with these women, I'm always overwhelmed by how lucky I am to have found such a good and honest group of friends. Our blogs may have brought us together, but it's our friendships that bond us.

{Nicole//Kris//Leigh//Jen//Me//Ange//Alison}

Leigh and I also exchanged our Blogger Christmas Swap gifts, as we were paired up this year. Leigh spoiled me with not one, but two ornaments that are totally me, plus some other goodies!

Sunday

I've been sleeping terribly lately so I opted to sleep in the basement Saturday night hoping to get a good nights sleep and not keep Jim up with my constant repositioning. I tell ya, the day I can once again sleep on my back and give my hips a much needed rest can't come soon enough! Luckily, I had a pretty good sleep and slept in till 10 a.m.! After we all ate breakfast, we got to work tackling clutter and some final home projects. Tomorrow Mad Maids is coming in to do a deep clean of my house and to say I'm so excited would be an understatement! This is the adult equivalent of a kid on Christmas morning!

Anyway, it's time for this pregnant momma to climb into bed and read a few pages of her book before going to sleep!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!


Tell me something fun you did this weekend! 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2016

It was a cold and snowy Thanksgiving this year, but honestly, I feel like it added an element of warmth and coziness that I enjoy when hanging out with family all weekend.

It started snowing on Friday and we debated waiting until Saturday morning to make the drive up to Red Deer, but at the last minute we loaded up the car and headed out late in the evening. I was already packed and ready to go, and there's something I like about waking up in the morning and already being where I'm supposed to be, rather than rushing to get somewhere the next day.

We spent the weekend at my sister-in-law's place and while we had originally planned to come home on Sunday, we ended up staying until late Monday afternoon. The holiday weekends we spend at Patty's are some of my favourites. We all just hang out in our PJ's, eat lots of delicious food, watch movies, play games and drink wine (ginger ale for me this weekend!). Sully adores being around his big cousins and the two dogs, and it was just really nice to have a weekend with no agenda, no driving, no running errands and no where else to be.

I didn't take very many pictures, and there's no need for a play by play of what we did(n't) do, but here's a few snapshots to capture the memories. I'm so very thankful for my family (those near and far), our health, good food, warm beds, nature walks, and our country.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends & family! I hope you were able to enjoy some time surrounded by the people you love.

An Extra Long Weekend with Gramma

This weekend was extra special because we got to spend it with my mom. She arrived late on Thursday night, and then left this morning, which is why I'm just getting around to writing this post now. We hadn't seen my mom since January, so her visit was LONG overdue. And as a nice surprise, she brought along my grandma for the visit! My grandma lives out on a farm north of Edmonton, so I don't get to see her very often at all. Sully was over the moon to have Gramma and GG here, and he never let my mom out of his site for very long!

Friday, Jim had to head off to work, so we hung out at home with my mom and grandma. The weather was beautiful and in the afternoon, my aunt and her husband joined us. We ordered Chinese food for supper, and Sully thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by so much family. He even got to go on two walks with my aunt and her little dog, Oliver, who Sully calls "Aw-we", which I think were one of the big highlights of his day! Sadly, I have no photos from this day. I really need to step up my photo-taking game!

On Saturday, Jim and I took advantage of my mom being here and headed out when Sully went down for his nap so we could run a bunch of errands childfree. It's amazing how much you can get done when you don't have to lug a toddler in to each store with you! We arrived home around dinnertime and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Sully and my mom.

Sunday at noon, we had a mini photoshoot booked, so we headed north to Confederation Park for that. It was so hot out that we didn't stick around to explore after our photos were done seeing as how I had failed to pack a hat or sunscreen for Sully. We passed Peters' Drive-In on the way home, so we stopped there for a late lunch. I honestly can't say if I've ever been there before or not! Their milkshake (we got chocolate) was amazing! And their onion rings were perfection too. Just the right amount of batter to onion ratio.

We headed home after that and I ended up having a nap while Sully napped. That evening, Jim took me out for dinner to The Italian Farmhouse in Bragg Creek. It was such a quaint little place and the food was amazing. The menu isn't overwhelmingly large, but it was still hard to decide what to order. I ended up going with the Braciola Di Maiale, and Jim got the Pollo.

{stuffed pork chop with apple & fig in an apple cider & sage sauce,
with beets, broccolini, pumpkin & garlic mashed potatoes}

{prosciutto & sage stuffed chicken breast, topped with a marsala demi-glaze, with the same sides as mine}

After dinner, we drove to two near by campsites just to check them out, and as we were about to leave the second one, I asked Jim to stop at the washroom for me. When I was walking back to the truck, Jim goes "we have a flat tire"! Not the words you ever want to hear at 930pm on a Sunday night, in the woods, where you have no cell service! Luckily, my husband is smart and handy and he had the tire changed in about 20 minutes, just as the sun was setting. Neither of us has ever had to change a flat tire before so it was actually kind of a good experience to go through. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but not tired enough to not watch one more episode of season 2 of Bloodline - we only have one episode left and I'm so sad!

Yesterday was a quiet and lazy day. My grandma has been at my aunt's since Saturday, so I just spent the day hanging out with my mom and Sully. I headed off around 630pm to my weekly Bachelorette girls night at Ange's place. And that pretty much brings us to today (Tuesday). My mom left before lunch today, and then because I was feeling sad, I hustled Sully out of the door and off to the library and then to the grocery store. It was so nice having my mom here even if the visit was much too short. I'm already looking forward to when she can come back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! 

Weekending: Stampede Parade, Movies & Family Time

I have trouble getting these posts up the night before because Sunday nights are usually reserved for movie watching or catching up on our latest show on Netflix. Last night was no exception! We watched Paul Rudd's newest flick on Netflix (a Netflix original), The Fundamentals of Caring, and it was so good, guys! Sweet and funny with that total indie vibe I adore in movies. But it was classic Paul Rudd with his usual demeanour and humour.

Anyway...backing up!

I kicked off my weekend early Friday morning when I woke up earlier than I ever do, in order to meet up with Ange and Jen to take in the Stampede parade. I was out the door by 8 a.m. to catch the train downtown along with the rest of the people in Calgary. Let's just say, I'm lucky I get on the train at the very first stop it makes. It was packed by the second stop!

We met up at Ange's place, then walked to Starbucks before carrying over to the end of the parade route (where it's usually a bit less busy according to Ange). I wouldn't know, this was my very first Stampede parade experience. I decided not to bring Sully along since he's not an early riser and I wasn't sure how crazy the crowds would be. While the parade was neat and something different to do, I have to be honest for a minute here, I don't really understand the big deal about it. I mean, going to it is one thing, but people literally camp out the night before just to get a spot sitting on the curb! THE NIGHT BEFORE! This isn't 1995 and lining up 3 days in advance for Michael Jackson tickets! This is just a parade, people.

We hung around watching the parade for just over 2 hours (we didn't see it all since we were at the end and starting to get really hungry), and then we walked over to The Beltliner for brunch. Their steel cut oats with walnuts, raisins, goji berries and fresh fruit was calling to me so that's what I ordered, and I am serious when I say it was the best bowl of oatmeal I've ever had. So delicious!

After brunch, the three of us headed south and caught a matinee showing of Me Before You. The movie was so good, I cried a lot (which was to be expected) and I almost wanted to just watch it all over again as soon as it was finished. The casting was perfect!

I headed home after the movie, exhausted, both from all the walking and standing, but mostly from the crying. I hung out at home for the rest of the evening, catching up on The Mindy Project while Jim went to Stampede to see Walk Off the Earth.

Saturday I was still feeling tired, and I had a headache for most of the day that would just not go away. I didn't get up to much that day, other than running some errands with Jim and Sully. Jim went out to watch UFC that night, so I had a google video chat date with Becky and Ange. I didn't even know this was a thing, but it was really fun! We chatted for two hours before calling it a night. I watched the movie Mother's Day afterwards (so disappointing!) before heading to bed.

Sunday was another low key day spent at home. Sully wouldn't nap despite seeming to need one, so we packed up and headed out to Fish Creek Park to walk along the river and let him throw rocks in the water (one of his favourite things to do). I feel like it's so rare that I get any good, non-blurry photos of him these days so I was pretty pleased with these one's we caught. And yes, I'm sharing all of them! Haha.

After we got home, we had dinner, gave Sully a bath, and then crawled into bed to watch The Fundamentals of Caring. And just like that, another summer weekend has come and gone!


Local Friends: Do you go to the Stampede parade every year? 

Tell me something fun you did this weekend! 

Weekending: Eat, Run, Surf

I was pretty sure I couldn't top last weekend's fun, but I was wrong! I was exhausted last night which means I chose my bed and my current read over blogging. Which are good priorities to have, don't get me wrong! But I do love having these recaps to look back on.

ANYWAY! Another jam-packed weekend in the books. I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

FRIDAY

To kick off the weekend, I met my Calgary Book Club at an Indian restaurant near-by, Moti Mahal, to discuss May's Book, The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badami. Since I was running a race the next morning, I decided to keep it safe with my food choice, and went with the butter chicken, naan bread and jasmine rice. It did not disappoint! I got to sample a few of the other ladies dishes and everything was delicious. I already can't wait to go back.

SATURDAY

Ange picked me up bright and early and we headed over to Sicome Lake in Fish Creek Park for the first race of the 5 Peaks Trail Race Series. It was my first trail race ever and I loved it! I'll recap the race later this week.

After the race, Ange dropped me at home and I had just enough time to shower and snuggle with Sully before his nap, before heading downtown to meet up for lunch at Craft Beer Market with some friends. It was the last day for the Burger Fest and since none of us wanted to miss out, we all ended up ordering the competition burger: The Backyard Burger. This thing was insane! We all kind of sat there for a few seconds unsure of how to attack eating such a big burger! It was delicious though, and while I'm usually not a fan or messy foods or chips on my burger, Hickory Sticks takes the burger experience to the next level.

{The Backyard Burger: Beef & Bacon Patty on a Velvet Fog Brioche bun, with Tomato and Chili Relish, Lettuce, Onion, Tomato, & Pickles, topped with an Apple-Dijon Aioli, Smoked Cheddar, & House Made Hickory Sticks}

After Craft, Becky and I headed back to my place where we just relaxed on the back deck with Jim and his friend. Eventually the boys got hungry so they ran out to the grocery store and came back with ingredients to make homemade burgers (more burgers!!). And after hearing us rave about our burgers, Jim also bought a bag of Hickory Sticks, haha.

We ended the evening playing a million rounds of my favourite game ever - Dutch Blitz.

SUNDAY

Sully bless his little heart, slept in until 10:30! Everyone was up by that point, and Jim fixed us up breakfast before Becky and I hit the road to a private Surf Set class at Illume Hot Yoga with the Blog Squad. Surf Set was by far the most fun workout I have ever tried! I will have my full recap up tomorrow. After the class, some of us walked over to Pour Beer Market for appies and drinks.

Once I was back home, I helped Jim finish installing the new ceiling fan in Sully's new bedroom, and then we took Sully out on his new bike. This was only his second time out and he's already Mister Independent. We don't dare offer to help him! He goes slow, but he's definitely got the hang of it already!

We wrapped up the evening with a light dinner, a bath for Sully, and then I crawled into bed just after 9 where I read before passing out.

I love weekends like this - full of good food, good friends and fun activities!


How was your weekend? 

Have you ever had Hickory Sticks on a burger? You need to! 


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