We all needed one. Joel had been working nearly 12 hour days for the last 3-4 weeks, I was at my wit's end with the kids I watch, and the boys were ready for a change of scenery. So off we went.

We started our trip in Balzac at the new "big" mall. We took a quick stroll around to stretch our legs, as did our boys. Look at Ben. The kid can't even walk, yet he's scaling things. Sheesh.

Either way, these two had fun in the play area.


Next stop was Calgary. I will always have a special place in my heart for that city, but there are things I do not miss about it. So I had to document the thing that tops that list.


The traffic. The fact that the Deerfoot was backed up about 3km for no apparent reason at 11:15am on a Saturday morning is something we just don't have here. And this photo doesn't nearly do it justice.

But, one thing we do kind of miss about Calgary is the institution known as Peters. We met up with Jonah's buddy, Avery, and her family for our annual lunch stop with them.




After lunch, we were off to their acreage. It's always nice to stay with their family. The kids get tuckered out from a day of fresh air! Big highlight for the boys was being able to feed the neigh-boring (ha ha) horse carrots and lettuce. Believe it or not, this is the closest that Jonah has ever come up to a horse - willingly.


After a relaxing weekend, we were off for part two of our trip. This is the weather that welcomed us to the mountains, and was a preview of the weather for our coming week. Awesome.


At least the boys were quiet for the trip.



The week was good, regardless of the weather. I got a break from the kitchen and we ate out at least once a day.


Benett was more than pleased to ingest more french fries that either Joel or I would like to admit. Check out daddy's face...it says it all.



We visited Aunty Jessica's beloved Banff Springs, where my children dined in class as one should at any Fairmont hotel. With Timbits.



We packed Daddy up like a mule and hit the main street.



The Christmas Store was visited, of course,



as was the Old Spaghetti Factory. I was quite pleased with how photogenic Benett was at lunch time, and Jonah was quite pleased with his ice cream.



Benett has been cutting out his morning nap and since it was basically non-existent for the week, we took advantage. After lunch that day, we headed to Sulphur Mountain. The boys had a photo op with the glacier truck and the end result is quite possibly one of my new favorite photos.


The gondola was operational, but we didn't get to see much. The cloud cover had lifted quite a bit since the morning, but not enough to let us get a view once we got 2/3 of the way up. Not to worry, mountain goats were in abundance and the boys were pleased to see them.






The remainder of our week was filled with more eating out, swimming, some hiking at the Cave and Basin, finding parks, and enjoying time as a family again.













By Friday, we were all done holidays.


Goodbye "holiday home" (as Jonah called it!).


Now, back to reality... and snow. Bleh!