Summer Vacation August 2008

Our vacation started on Monday morning. We got up around 7am and started packing, nothing like leaving it to the last minute. After squeezing everything into the van and making room for the kids to sit. Jamie, Steve and I got in and we were on the road by 11am which was about the time we had planned. We had a very nice trip down the highway to Drumheller. We arrived early enough in the afternoon to set up camp. The camp ground was nice, the kids really enjoyed the pool and park area. Mac loved being able to climb around the dunes and ravine behind our site with the other boys that were camping. We had a friend join us at our sight, the girls called him Fluffy the bunny.

Fluffy had lots of friends so we saw him and his buddies almost all the time, early in the morning you would find them trying to get into any food that hadn’t been put away. The kids had fun filling the air-mattresses up. Melissa wasn’t really impressed with things at this point but soon got into camping. While unpacking we realized that one of us needed to go into town for more ice and a few things that seem to have been forgotten at home. The biggest of which was the coffee press, morning without coffee would not be fun at all.

Jamie took the kids swimming at the pool while I drove back into town to find a grocery store and the Canadian Tire. Getting back to camp in time to start dinner of hot-dogs for everyone with potato chips instead of fries, which made the kids laugh but they ate them. Then back to the pool for a second time before going back to the camp site for our camp fire and marshmallow roast. Mac made several friends at the camp ground and Megan and Melissa had fun chasing the bunnies and running around pretty free. Bed time was a little hard getting 3 kids to quiet down from all the excitement was a challenge to the patience but we managed. Jamie and I found out the hard way that our air-mattress had a slow leak in it. Found out that the ground is pretty hard but it wasn’t too bad for me as I’m a little lighter then Jamie and so he pushed all the air under me. He tells me that it wasn’t too bad until about 3am....

Camping in the badlands was fun but very dusty. I’ve attached some picture taken from the playground area of the campground; it was almost all gravel dirt and sand with a little sparse grass. No one stayed clean that long.

The next morning we got up late and had breakfast then went into town to check things out. Of course no trip to Drumheller would have been complete with a climb up inside the Giant Dinosaur. I took quite a few pictures from inside the dinosaur’s mouth which sways in the wind.

Looking down from the mouth gave us an idea how high up in the air we actually were. Of course we had to take some pictures from the ground looking up too, plus, some pictures of the family sitting on the Dinosaur’s paw just for fun. The kids had fun and wanted to stay all day of course that was until we told them that we were going to McDonald’s for lunch. Then it was off to the Royal Tyrell Museum for the afternoon. Mac had to be there for 1pm for his Jr. Dinosaur Explorer Camp and Megan had her camp at 1:30pm. After the kids finished their camps we went through the museum and look at all the exhibits. The kids decided to hug one of the statues don’t they look angelic?

The camp ground was fun for the kids. Megan and Melissa made some friends at the park. Then before we left we had to make some soup for our meal and to feed the Dinosaurs.

The Next morning after a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs we left for Banff National park. Entering the mountains was so impressive. The kids didn’t seem to be that impressed until we were into Banff townsite itself. We camped at Tunel Mountain campground and were warned about bear sitings at the campground.

After a night of sleep we packed up camp and headed for Sulfur Mountain and the Gondola. We paid both our arms and legs but went up the mountain. Megan loved it and talked non-stop the whole way up. Melissa was not happy at all and screamed everytime the Gondola swayed at all. Once at the top we spent about an hour looking around then headed back to the line for the Gondola down the mountain. Melissa decided that she didn’t want to get back in, so it was fun to load up, the girl helping us in informed me that she deals with this kind of thing all the time. Crying all the way down while Megan excitely pointed out everything she could see. The gondola was really nice but I would love to try it without kids someday or maybe again when the kids are older and I don’t have to have a screaming pre-schooler on my lap.

Unfortunate after this we had to start back to Edmonton via Lake Louise and Rocky Mountain House we finally arrived back home around 9pm.