Thanksgiving in Jasper

We've been thinking about making a trip to Jasper (the closest mountains to Edmonton) and decided that Thanksgiving Weekend might be a nice time to finally go.  One of Wade's coworkers recommended the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and when we started to look into it they had several activities planned for the weekend so it seemed like it would be a fun place to stay.  It was a beautiful place and we had a great time.

Saturday we picked pumpkins from the "pumpkin patch", carved pumpkins, did a scavenger hunt, and checked out the town of Jasper and ate dinner there. 

Sunday we rented a pedal boat and went out on the lake for a little bit (Ethan complained and didn't seem to enjoy it at all but 5 minutes afterwards he said "That was a fun boat ride"), Craftsgiving, took a guided wildlife walk (and saw some Elk), and ate a Thanksgiving Buffet dinner (Ethan really enjoyed the live band and danced in his chair the entire meal). 

Monday we checked out and then went to do a little exploring before heading home.  Ethan had two requests to start out the day...throw snowballs and pee on a mountain (he remembered doing this in South Dakota).  We took the Jasper Tramway up Whistlers Mountain and had a snowball fight at the top.  Next, we drove up to Maligne Lake and came across some big horned sheep along the way.  Ethan got to fulfill his second request and he also discovered the fun of throwing rocks into the slightly frozen lake. 

More Muttart Photos

Here's a few photos of the last two feature exhibits at the conservatory.  Ethan really enjoys running around in the pyramids and its an easy little activity for us to do.  I didn't like these as much as some of the previous ones but we still enjoyed seeing them.  I'm looking forward to seeing their Christmas exhibit. 

The first exhibit was a Sword in the Stone theme.

This was a beautiful arrangement the was around a tree in the park next to the Muttart.  The colors reminded me of my wedding flowers.

The second exhibit that we saw with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Charlie was a Fortune Teller exhibit.

Grandma Carol & Grandpa Charlie Visit

The first week of October, we had more visitors - this time my parents.  It was an enjoyable week even though the weather didn't cooperate.  Monday was pretty cool so we walked the West Edmonton Mall and went to the sea lion show which we've watched from the hall several times but never attended.  Another day was rainy, so we went to the Muttart Conservatory so Ethan could show Grandma Carol all the flowers.  The weather did clear off by the end of the week so we showed them one of Ethan's favorite places, Jurassic Forest.  On Saturday, we showed them our favorite farmer's market, rode the High Level Bridge (who knew it would have been so hard to get the 3 of them to look at the camera at the same time), and also went to a place we hadn't been to yet the Alberta Legistlature Building.  It was an amazing building even though the top is under renovations (and has been the entire year).

 

Twin Brooks

This summer, we have really enjoyed our neighborhood, Twin Brooks.  The neighbohood is full of sidewalks, walking trails, and a pond perfect for Ethan to ride his bike or for us just to go for a walk.  There is also a playground, although it is a little further walk so we don't walk there as often.