Hey there we are still alive!

Well I had this grand idea that every day I would post about the past few days but it's not going that way. By the time we get back from our daily adventures I am exhausted. I will just give a few brief details of our latest adventures. The day we went to the Calgary Tower we got stuck in a hail storm, fun times. Luckily Calgary has this skyway called +15 which is a walkway system throughout the city from building to building. You can stay inside all warm and toasty and still walk around the city.
Last Tuesday we left the big city and headed for the mountains in Canmore, AB. We heard from a few people that Canmore is a really nice mountain town and not as touristy as Banff. Fine with us we usually take the off roads and don't follow the usual touristy stuff. We checked into our mountain getaway Stone Ridge Mountain Resort. Since it was raining we headed to the grocery store and went to rent movies. The next day we woke up surrounded by huge mountains soaring into the clouds. It was beautiful!!! We headed to Banff to take the gondola up 7,486 feet into the beautiful blue sky. This was an amazing highlight of our trip. For as long as I live I will never forget the view from the top. As if the day couldn't get any better....... Ashley and I took a mountain tour on horseback through the mountains. and along the Bow River. If you haven't seen the pictures you can check them out here: Calgary Pics
We had been promising the kids for days that we would take them to the park. The night before we put them to bed Preston said to me "mommy, we go to park tomorrow?" I told Aaron before we do anything else in the morning we are finding a playground so the kids can swing and slide. Don't get me wrong they have been running around and burning off lots of energy but you know when they are tired and you will say anything to get them to get in to stroller. Get in the stroller and we will go to the park is one of them...... who knew Preston would remember days later. In fact I was a little scared to be gone from home for so long thinking their sleep would be so messed up. That is so not the case though. We have been doing so many things that they fall asleep in the stroller after lunch almost every day. Anyway I digress. After the park we went to Lake Louise. This was the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. The water was so turquoise and clear. I can't even describe the beauty of the mountains with the snow and the lake below.

Aaron and I had been wanting to go on a hike into Johnston Canyon but knew with the kids it would be difficult. Luckily by the time we arrived to the trail (we were just going to drive by) Preston and Lily were sleeping and Ashley wasn't feeling in a walking mood. She took a nap as well while Aaron and I hiked through the canyon next to water falls and steep cliffs.


I will cut this post short since it's quite long. Believe me I have lots more to share with you we have been having so much fun.
I will post more tomorrow or when the adventures slow down.

Calgary pictures

Instead of uploading the pictures one by one I added them to Flickr which is a ton easier.

Calgary 2010

Calgary Stampede

Saturday we went to the Calgary Stampede. This happened to also be mine and Aaron's 6th anniversary. We didn't have anything planned, just dinner that night. We took the train into the stampede grounds, Preston loved this part. The first place we stopped was the midway, Ashley had high hopes that we would be riding EVERYTHING! I am sorry but any ride that is assembled overnight by who knows who, no thank you. She and Aaron rode a few things then we headed to see Thomas and Friends. The kids were not impressed by the foam like Thomas figure on stage and the Sir Topem Hat dancing around. We decided to go to where the smell led us. Carnival food! Aaron and I ate beef that looked like it had been cooking for days, it was so good and juicy. Ashley played it safe with a corn dog. We also ate jalapeno cheese sticks. I was really impressed by the Stampede. There were lots of horses, cows and other animals. It was alot like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. We left exhausted but knew we had to get our energy back up for our anniversary dinner. We got to the room, got ready and headed to a huge tent set up in downtown for the stampede. It was called Wild Horse Saloon and it was wild. Aaron and I surely were out of place with our wedding bands shining like beacons in the night. This place was for the young and single. We drank a few then headed to Caesar's Steak House. Now this was our kind of place......... classy, great steak and great atmosphere. This is probably the best steak I have ever had, and I have been to Ruth's Chris. Seriously I don't know what it is with the beef here but it's good.

Sunday
We didn't have anything planned we decided to just lay low and take the kids to see Toy Story 3. The nearest theater was in the Eau Claire district. Which is a really nice side of downtown. We left a few hours early just because you never know what our family will stumble upon. We just so happen to stumble upon the Turkish Festival. The food smelled so good that we couldn't wait for them to start serving. We all had some Shawarma, Doner Kebab, and Baklava.
The kids did great for their first movie theater experience. Preston said a few times "I wanna get outta here" but we told him we couldn't leave until the movie was over. We loved the movie but it was kind of questionable with some of the toys being rude, hitting and saying mean things. After the movie we looked at our map to see if there was anything else in the area we wanted to do before walking back to the hotel. There was a little island across the river called Prince's Island Park. I loved all the gardens and flowers. The weather is so mild here that there are a ton of flowers and gardens overflowing with greenery. Things that are shriveling up and dying in Houston are thriving and loving the weather here. Prince's Island just has a few nature trails and access to the Bow river, which was freezing cold. We walked back to the hotel through China Town and Aaron promised we would go back to China Town on Monday to eat real Chinese food............................... which we did.

Calgary

We have only been here 4 days but I feel like it's already been 2 weeks. We have doe so much and walked so far. Seriously this city has alot to offer. We got in Thur and headed to our hotel in downtown. We unpacked and hit the town. Since the sun doesn't set until about 10 pm we had lots of day light left to burn. We went to Stephen Ave., which is a trendy part of downtown. We checked out a few things at Betsey Johnson, all of which were way out of our price range. We ate dinner at Milestones Grill before heading back to our hotel. Can I just tell you that going out to a nice restaurant and ordering a cheeseburger is not an insult in Alberta. Their beef is awesome.

Friday morning we had a date with the Calgary Stampede parade. I have not been to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo parade so I can't compare. It was really neat and reminded me alot of Texas. We stayed for about an hour and a half but left before it ended because it was loooooong. They had horses, cowboys, all the usual rodeo type floats and animals. We took a ton of pictures but have yet to go through them all. We spent the afternoon walking around downtown, grocery shopping (so we didn't have to eat every meal out) and napping at the hotel. We ate dinner at a place I found called District that specializes in gourmet Poutine. Poutine is french fries with gravy and cheese curds, something we all loved to eat while living in Newfoundland. District has lots of topping you can add to your gourmet Poutine. I didn't get too outrageous and only added mushrooms and onions. The kids have had so much fun. We really needed this family time. With Aaron working in Calgary and me holding down the fort in Houston this trip has been wonderful!

I will leave you hanging with the rest of the trip....... stay tuned for the Stampede post. We head to the Canadian Rockies to see Lake Louise and Banff tomorrow.

Slime Time

While we were at the farm for the Fourth of July uncle Chris let the kids make slime. It was so cool. You can seriously tell he is an engineer. The kids thought it was so cool and fun. Check out these pics.

Happy 4th of July-Pics

We had a fun filled weekend in small town, TX at the farm where my grandparents live. Picture a small town, parade with the local high school cheerleaders and boy scout troop along with turkey legs and vendors booth. That is Centerville. We hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th. I know we did. We love going every year to the festival in the small town my grandparents live in. They even had turtle races and a dog show this year. Wow we are moving into the big time now, haha.

Look at these cuties in their outfits Aunt Staci embroidered. My mom made the girls dresses. I am so proud of our talents.

Doing a craft

My mom's booth. She let me put some stuff for sale but I didn't sell anything :(

Cute little horse

Parade time!

Let's not forget this piece of candy!

All American poster kids. :)

Lily loves any animal she sees.

Love everything this statue symbolizes.