Friends, Snow Dogs and Fun!

Last week our friends from Dubuque, the Arlings, came to Edmonton for a visit! It was so so good to see familiar faces and spend 6 days with them! They flew in on Wednesday afternoon. Max couldn't wait to see the boys so he packed up his backpack after the afternoon recess so all he had to do was grab his coat, bag and run out the door! He came sprinting to the car and was pretty pumped to see Henry waiting for him. The kids picked up right where they left off almost 2 years ago when we moved here.

Thursday was Max's birthday so the kids went to school for the morning and I picked them up at lunch. We spent the morning at the Italian grocery store and driving around the city a little bit. In the afternoon we went swimming and skating at Millennium Place in Sherwood Park and that night Max requested Peter's famous pizza for his birthday celebration! Chris and I took Max and Mya to their conferences while Peter and Kate made us pizza back at home.



Friday morning we got up bright and early, had donuts for Harrison's birthday and then hit the road to Banff! It was super foggy the first 2 hours of the trip and I was so bummed because I wanted them to be able to see the mountains. Then, at exactly the time you can see the mountains, the skies opened up and it was a gorgeous, sunny day in Southern Alberta!

We drove to Canmore, had a quick lunch and then headed to our first adventure. Peter and Kate treated us to a Dog Sledding adventure! It was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever done. The guides were amazing, the dogs were amazing, the weather was amazing, the views were amazing...just everything. The kids all go to "drive" the dog sleds, knew all the names of the dogs on their line, and got to feed them all treats at the end. My kids were so sad to leave...they wanted to take the dogs with them! Very very cool thing and we're so thankful that we got to do it!




We spent Friday night at our condo enjoying the view and cooking dinner together. Saturday morning we got up and hit the ski hill..Sunshine Village in Banff. It was again a cloudy day, but around 3:30, the skies opened up and it was gorgeous! The kids all had a fantastic day skiing. With the temperatures we've been having, I wasn't sure there would be enough snow, but it was great.



Sunday we did some shopping, ate lunch and drove home. The drive home is so long from Banff. On the way there at least you can see the mountains for the last hour and a half, but the way home is sooooo boring! We just unpacked, the Arlings packed back up and went to bed! They left Monday back to Dubuque. It was an awesome week!