On our first day exploring the Banff area, we decided to leave Alberta and head west into the British Columbia side of the Rocky Mountains. We ventured out for the day from our campsite at Johnston Canyon, and spent a great day hiking and discovering Yoho National Park. Continue reading “Banff Adventure Day 1: Yoho National Park”
This summer we have decided to take advantage of the Parks Canada Annual Pass and spend some time exploring our National Parks. With Canada’s 150th Birthday Celebration coming up next year, Annual Passes bought this year are valid for TWO YEARS. The year long pass is a great deal as it was, but we were excited when this announcement was made. And for even more savings, we were able to buy our pass $10 cheaper with our AMA membership. My husband ended up making a quick trip to AMA the morning before we left for Banff to ensure we bought a July 2016 pass. This now gives us park access until the end of July 2018 – almost 3 full summer’s worth! Continue reading “Our Banff Adventure: Johnston Canyon Campground Review”
Camping with kids can be a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun for those who come prepared. With a little planning and effort ahead of time you can ensure new and exciting experiences for the whole family, and maybe even a bit of downtime for mom and dad.
We now have one summer of camping under our belts and I wanted to share some of the many ways I have come up with to keep the kids happy and entertained when we are out camping. Continue reading “Happy Little Campers”
I feel like I am already way behind in getting this year’s Summer Bucket list completed! Last year my son’s preschool ended in May so we had a whole extra month to take in all the fun without school getting in the way. We also bought our camping trailer last summer and my husband is itching to get out as much as possible, so this opens up a whole new list of things to do and explore this summer! We will be buying a National Parks pass and are looking forward to exploring Banff, Jasper and Waterton, as well as enjoying some of favorites in and around Edmonton. Continue reading “2016 Summer Bucket List”
Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park has been on my husband’s camping bucket list for the last several years, so when we finally got a camping trailer we decided to take a week long trip this past August to explore the area.
Continue reading “Campground Review: Marten River Campground”
I admit I am not the best at getting my kids outside during the winter months. Once the snow hits and the temperatures plummet below zero, I am more then happy to pay admission to the nearest indoor playground and happily sip my coffee in the warmth as the kids play.
This past Saturday the temperatures hovered close enough to the zero mark that we decided to embrace the cold and check out the Edmonton Ice Castle. This spectacular frozen display is a man-built maze of icy castle walls built up in Hawrelak Park in the Edmonton River Valley. Continue reading “Exploring Edmonton’s Ice Castle”
Last July we got a new (to us) trailer and made many wonderful memories camping in the last half of the summer and into the fall. As the snow has begun to melt, we are all longing for the warmer weather and the chance to get the trailer back out of storage so we can go on some new adventures. Continue reading “13 Lessons Learned Camping with Kids and Dogs”
It looks like we will be summer vacationing this year after all. 🙂
It has been a couple years now since we have been camping and both my husband and I seem to be missing it more then we expected. My husband has some holiday time to use up and is in need of a break from work, so at the beginning of July he suggested we take a road trip and rent a camping trailer to do some camping along the way. While I didn’t hate the idea, I was not completely sold on the thought of a) spending extended periods of time in a vehicle with my young children and b) spending that kind of money to rent a trailer. We were hoping to plan a fairly inexpensive holiday by camping, but a lot of the trailer rentals we came across cost just as much as a night in a hotel would.
I ended up saying no to the idea, but that apparently didn’t stop my husband from looking and considering other options. I suggested we maybe look at something inexpensive like a tent trailer and that somehow snowballed into us planning a trip across Saskatchewan at the end of the month to purchase a travel trailer. Looking back at my initial concerns, I am still not quite sure how that all worked out; there is still the long road trip with young kids and this option is costing us a whole heck of a lot more money!
Either way, I will admit that I am pretty excited. This is something we have been wanting for a couple years and by buying it now we will have it to enjoy taking the kids camping while they are still young. We did do some tenting when my son was still really young and really enjoyed it, but the tent was already starting to get pretty cramped with 2 adults, 2 dogs and a baby.
We were blessed to have friends lend us their trailer to attempt a camping trip with both kids when my daughter was 1 and we both really liked it and agreed it was the better way to camp now that we had a family.
Back in 2012 we attended the RV show in the hopes of someday buying a trailer, and ended up finding one we really loved the layout of – The Gulf Stream Visa 23CSK. When my husband came across the used 2013 model that we are buying, it was hard not to say no knowing how much we loved this trailer and how few are available on the resale market. We are limited to towing with our SUV and this trailer manages stay lightweight while packing in all the features we wanted.
I am very excited to go pick up our trailer and finally get to see it in person. I have been spending way too much time on Pinterest these past couple weeks looking at trailer hacks and all the neat little storage solutions people have come up with in their limited space. I can’t wait to get my hands on ours and start personalizing it for our needs – and, of course, sharing all my hacks here!
It will be so nice to get away and just spend some quality time with my little family – furry members included. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well and hopefully I will have some good pictures to share with you in a couple weeks after we return from our inaugural trip!
Our trip to Disneyland in February was the first time for all of us so I wanted to find an extra special way to tell the kids we were going. To do this, I came up with a small treasure hunt throughout the house including a few fun new surprises along the way.
At 4 and 2 years old, I understand it is hard kids to grasp the concept of time so I waited until the week before our trip to let the kids know exactly when and where we were going. I figured only 7 days of “When are we going?” was best on both them and us. I had considered waiting until last minute, but the week gave me time to get things packed and ready without having to hide suitcases or answer questions from my 4 year old.
Our 10 day trip was basically divided into 3 parts – Disneyland, Legoland and then a few days with my husband’s parents in Palm Desert. My son loves treasure maps, so I decided to design a simple map for him with each of the destinations as small picture pieces to glue on. I wanted it to be fun and interactive while giving a visual image of the trip that he could look at and easily follow.
To prepare for the treasure hunt, I had my husband take the kids out of the house to a movie (Big Hero 6) Saturday morning. I set up 4 different treasure spots throughout the house – one with the initial instructions and one for each of the three locations we would be visiting on our trip.
When the kids got home, they were surprised with the new Little People airplane and their figures ready to go on a plane ride. Well,at least one of the kids was – the movie tired my 2 year old out so she ended up napping on the couch while her brother got to enjoy all the treasure hunt fun!
A small sign with the plane explained:
Their first clue read:
After first checking out Nova’s favorite sleeping spot on the main floor, Camden then headed upstairs to Keira’s bedroom where he knows she often naps. Here he quickly found their maps, along with our Grandma and Grandpa Little People figures and a small globe.
He was excited to get their maps and glue their pieces on before reading the next clue.
I had Legoland spelled out in Lego blocks overtop Camden’s bed. We had already spilled the beans to Camden about the Legoland trip so I knew finding this clue might not be all that exciting for him. I found the “Everything is Awesome” shirt at Target and decided to include it in a small box for him to build the hype.
After getting the LEGOLAND piece glued on, we read out the last clue:
We headed downstairs and in our (yet to be finished) basement playhouse Camden found this:
He seemed very excited about the new Fisher Price Little People Day at Disney set and the Mickey cupcakes, but it took some prompting before he clued in that we were going to Disneyland. In his mind Disneyland was all Mickey Mouse and Princesses so his reaction wasn’t exactly as I had hoped. Luckily we had the Disneyland planning DVD to watch so he could see some of the other fun “boy” stuff Disneyland has to offer.
I took video of him discovering the surprise, but I mistakenly deleted off our camera during our trip so I don’t have many pictures to share. I was upset about deleting the video at the time I did it, but since his reaction wasn’t that great I am not completely heartbroken over it.
After Camden checked out the new toys, we all sat down to enjoy the mickey cupcakes and watch the Disneyland planning DVD. Even though I have had it for several months, I resisted watching it until then so we could all get excited together. Keira eventually woke up and Camden was very excited to show her the new toys and explain the map to her.
I won’t lie that, after all my planning, I was a bit disappointed over my daughter sleeping through the fun and my son’s less then excited reaction to the Disneyland news. It was something I had kind of expected and knew to prepare for with kids so young, but I was a bit bummed nonetheless.
And to drive the point home that you REALLY can’t plan for everything with kids, we ended up with a trip to emergency room that same evening. Our excitement filled day was capped off by my poor little guy falling off a bar stool and breaking his arm. He ended up going in for surgery the next morning, just 6 days before the trip, and we were left questioning whether we could even go on the trip. Lucky for us, the surgeon cleared him to go and the broken arm really didn’t limit Camden from being able to enjoy almost all the rides and activities at the parks.
Even though everything did not work out as planned, I still had a lot of fun planning our treasure hunt surprise and I know if I do something similar next time there will be a lot more excitement as the kids have now been and know the magic of Disney. I just hope next trip announcement doesn’t involve any broken bones!
Today I am sharing a simple DIY printable I designed to count down to our Disneyland trip next month.
To make this countdown, all you need is an empty 4X6″ photo frame with a glass or plastic insert, a printed copy of my attached printable, scissors and a dry erase marker. (I found my dry erase marker as part of a cute Frozen themed set from Dollar Tree.)
dolledupdesign.net 