Well folks, it's been the quintessential vacation day here in Banff. I made M & O's favorite breakfast this morning, french toast made from fluff bread and covered in corn syrup disguised as maple syrup. We headed to Banff to ride the gondola up a mountain. We had a really hard time explaining what we were going to do and what the gondola looked like to the kids so by the time we actually got to the gondola, Milo thought we were going to take our car up a mountain on a zipline. The image of a Toyota Matrix ziplining up a giant mountain must have been pretty exciting in that little 4-year-old brain. Despite the Matrix sitting idle in the parking lot, our trip up the mountain in the gondola did not disappoint. It was so cool and the kids were giddy. We hiked around, met a marmot and all got a little woozey from the altitude. Mark shared a memory from his childhood with Milo and Odelia about going to Pikes Peak in the middle of summer and being able to have a snowball fight. This, clearly, was high on their list of priorities once we got up the mountain. At one point I was several feet behind the kids and Mark on the wooden walkway and I look ahead only to see Mark laying flat on his stomach, reaching under the banister for some tiny slivers of snow for the kids (all the while tourists were just kindly stepping over him). We went on a small hike and were able to find some more snow and both kids got to throw it and sit in it. The little things..
We also went swimming at the condo today in the rain. Sounds miserable but it was pretty cool. The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the condo, napping and taking full advantage of the cable. Extreme Couponing on TLC left both Mark and I slack-jawed and mush-brained. Exactly what we were hoping for...
Tomorrow we are going on a raft tour. I'm not sure how we're going to break it to the Matrix that he can't come on this excursion either.
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| Odelia won cutest hairstyle today. Mommy did her hair and was the sole voter in the competition. |
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| Banff |
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| Banff |
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| Heading up the Gondola (so sorry, Matrix) |
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| On the way up the Gondola |
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| Banff |
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| Yup, Banff |
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| Banff |
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The Tetons
Just kidding, Banff |
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| I love how she is looking at him. |
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| Christmas card picture? |
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| Snow...in June. |
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| The Holdhusens give this meager pile of snow the attention it deserves. |
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| No, not a family hug. We all took an altitude break and dreamed of hot cocoa and coffee. |
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The marmot. I was trying to tell other tourists with children about it as they passed by on the walkway but I had no idea what the heck it was so I would just point and say,
"Look, it's an animal". I used my stellar research skills to identify it. |
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| This is looking back at the top of the gondola ride from where we walked (on the walkway). In the interest of full disclosure, I think everyone should know that Odelia was like a sandbag for most of it. At one point she actually said, "Mama, carry me like a baby". So there we hiked at 5,000 feet elevation craddling a giant 2-year-old. |
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| Banff |
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| Gondola |
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| Mountain picture |
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| Descending...silly face. |
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| Milo was supposed to make the silly face. I sort of feel like he left me hanging with his lack of silly face enthusiasm. |
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| Giant baby carrots from Canada. |
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| We all inspected the giant baby carrot from Canada. |
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