Monday, June 22, 2009

Road Trip Days 1 & 2: Good-bye BC, Hello Alberta!

My camera is quickly filling up with pictures from our road trip and our vacation is only half done! I figured I would get started with putting some pictures on the blog before it became an overwhelming task...

Just over a week ago we packed up the van and left Abbotsford for our road trip to Manitoba. We expected to make a lot of stops for going potty and feeding Silas, and we did. But we had a pretty smooth system going after awhile: while I fed Silas in the van, Erik would take the kids to the bathroom and find somewhere to run around for 15 minutes. We made them go pee at every stop and we really restricted their liquids which helped!

Stopping at a park in Revelstoke:


Silas is young enough still that he slept for a lot of the trip and he really only had a few meltdowns (usually when he was hungry or trying to settle down to sleep). We had expected the worst and we were very pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything went! I was especially worried about Keziah, but she did really well - though she discovered quite quickly that we would stop the van any time she said, "I has ta go pee re-wee bad!" She didn't fool us for long though!

Meeting some horses at Roger's Pass:


Our traveling days were all very warm - in fact we have had hot days this entire week so far. Thank goodness for A/C in the van!!

We spotted this bear somewhere around Lake Louise - by the time I got my camera out he was heading back into the trees, but I still had to post this as proof!


We spent the first night in Canmore. I got a really great deal booking through expedia.ca and we ended up with a big 2 bedroom chalet. And we got to enjoy the hot tub over-looking the mountains. Even though we see mountains every day in BC, they are just so BIG in Canmore! Beautiful.




Day 2 started a little rough when I pinched 3 of Keziah's fingers in the bathroom door (ouch!) but thankfully it wasn't as bad as her screams indicated and we packed up to head to Cochrane to see some friends for brunch.


We got to spend a couple of hours with Craig & Janelle and their 2 kids (and another due anytime!) We hadn't seen them since our camping trip to Radium last year and it was good for us and the kids to re-connect even if it was brief!


Keziah kept shoving her fingers up her nose while we were trying to take pictures, so we decided to just go with it and tell all the kids to pick their noses!


Then it was back in the car... Slurpees, DVDs and Scooby-Doo!


Mirror view...


Erik actually drove the ENTIRE way. This worked out best for both of us - I was the snack-provider, DVD-operater and baby-calmer while Erik just kept us going!

Beautiful Alberta skies.


Silas sure spent a lot of time in his car seat but didn't seem to mind too much. This was our last stop on Day 2 in Medicine Hat (SOOO hot there!)


Next stop: Herbert, Saskatchewan!!

6 comments:

Trev and Rebekah said...

Jamie, you are looking really great!

It's great that you can hang out with friends and family and reconnect again.

patti said...

so glad your trip is going well. too bad you aren't closer to winkler...it'd be fun for our families to connect!

Bonnie said...

I'm so impressed to hear how well the kids travelled! That is fantastic! Glad to hear the first lag of the trip went well... looking forward to hearing/seeing more :)

Anonymous said...

silas has grown a lot, don't you think?!

good to hear that your trip is so smoothly....

and i really should come to canada one day! it's beautiful!

have a good week!

leslie

kelly ens said...

sounds like things are going really well! so awesome!!! :)
i hope the kids keep traveling well :)

Wenona said...

You guys are so brave for making such a trek with 3 kiddos - but God is gracious and provided a great trip for you. I'm so glad you are enjoying Manitoba - and thanks for bringing the heat with you as well!