Thanksgiving Weekend in Banff

Had a fantastic Friday heading to Banff. The weather and traffic were great coming up here, we have a great chalet and although they are doing construction/renovations at our site, the place is great. We played a few card games, yahtzee, had a great dinner of fried cheese and mushrooms, and went for a great walk.

...a bed of nails.

Had a fantastic day at the Telus World of Science with Sue, George, Nancy, Robb, Gabor and Aniko. Thanks for the lovely gift Gabor! Spent a lot of time at the WOWtown working at the brick mine and sending the bricks flying down the ramp, building piglet's homes complete with swimming pools, buying groceries at the grocers, playing in the water, built a dam, taking shadow photos, climbing the spider's web, hanging out in the Sparrow's nest, Gabor riding the ant and then the rest of the exibits where we got to ride bikes, lift ourselves with pulleys, race cars, play with an interactive screen bouncing planets around, see ourselves with a heat sensor camera (no pics), play with all the science gadgets, saw a live bee colony, watched Nancy work in space, pressed our faces into pegs, made electricity and shocked ourselves, played a mind relaxation game against each other (I won against Sue and Robb won against Nancy), coloring, and lied on a bed of nails. Would have tried the g-force bicycle and the tornado machine had they been working. Had a fantastic time!!! Finished the day watching Amazing Race at Sue and George's with a Brazilian dinner (recipes and pictures on the New Recipes Tried blog).

Medieval Castle in Calgary?

Updates of my summer will be coming soon. But in the meantime, as we (Sue and I) were driving around at lunch Sue spotted this house with fake facade, we figure they must be getting ready for a party or maybe Halloween? We will keep checking it out, as it is close to work. Somebody has put a lot of work into this.

Family Vacation - Day Eleven

Today is the last day of our vacation, it was such a great time vacationing with the whole family. After packing up, spending some last moments at the pool and after a few tense moments with trying to get the motorhome down and out of the driveway (very narrow, very steep, lots of trees). Dad got halfway down the exit side and there was a huge tree overhanging the road, he decided instead of scratching up the motorhome, to reverse it back up the road and go out the enter side. All done successfully and with about 6" clearance on either side of the motorhome, kudos to Dad, I would have had a hard time backing up a car, never mind a motorhome. Since we had about 4 hours before having to go to airport, we met up with Mom and Dad at the campsite they were going to stay at for the weekend (they are staying in the States for another 2 weeks still), we hung out, had a great lunch and then headed off to the Ontario airport. Our flights were good (Ontario Airport to San Francisco to Calgary), I can't believe how well-behaved both kids are, our flight from San Francisco had one child who literally screeched a good quarter of the way home. We arrived in Calgary just before midnight - a great vacation and fantastic memories - I really enjoyed this vacation.

Family Vacation - Day Ten

More Disneyland. Nancy, Robb, Gabor, Aniko and I headed back to Disneyland today, and although I forgot to plug my camera battery in the night before, I was still able to take a few pictures and videos throughout the day. As we were walking down Main Street, it dawned on us that today was Disneyland's Anniversary (the 53th), it was neat as we reflected that we had been there 3 years before on its 50th anniversary. It turned out to be the hottest day that we had been at the park, so we took it easy and made sure to cool down by going in and checking out the stores along the way too. We did manage to check out Toontown, visiting Minnie's house, Mickey's house and Goofy's place and Gabor even took to the wheel of the tram. On our way to Critter Country we stopped into The Golden Horseshoe (to cool down) and stayed and enjoyed the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show, we all really enjoyed the comedy/music show. At Critter Country, we rode the Winnie-the-Pooh ride and while Aniko was feeding, Gabor and I checked out the sites, we knocked on Brer Rabbit's door (he wasn't in - he must have been hanging out in Splash Mountain), we saw Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger too, and bounced around. After Nancy, Robb and Gabor went to see the Haunted Mansion, while Aniko and I shopped around New Orleans and listened to the band. We were able to catch the Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Stone Tiger show and were amazed with the actor that played Indy, a great similarity to Harrison Ford. We then slowly headed over to Disney California, where we caught the last of the Pixar Parade, ate dinner and headed back home to start to pack.











Billy Hill and the Hillbillies (check out where their hands are).

Family Vacation - Day Nine

Spent the morning hanging out by the pool, and then Mom, Dad and I headed off to Disneyland, we were able to hit Pirates of the Caribbean again, did the Haunted Mansion ride, Mom and I received bead necklaces from the band playing in New Orleans Square and we rode on the Mark Twain Riverboat before meeting up with Nancy, Robb, Gabor and Aniko (who showed up after the kid's naps). We had Dole Pineapple Whips and then headed over to Tomorrowland to visit Innoventions where they were showcasing the all-new Dream Home, the home of tomorrow. After which we stopped for some popcorn - Gabor wanted to carry the popcorn bucket (with lid) and promptly decided it would make a great portable chair (too cute!). We all went on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We then headed to Disney California to watch the Electrical Parade, where Gabor gave and received a kiss from Cinderella and a head rub from one Snow White dwarf. Dad and I went for a walk after to take some park night shots as well and then we finished off the day by walking through Downtown Disney before heading back to our Estate.

Portion of Disney's Electrical Parade.


Gabor receiving a head rub from a Snow White dwarf.