Extended Vacations Rock! Part 5-the final one I promise!

The last leg of our Canadian vacation took us to Calgary, which included the Calgary Stampede. I was so excited for this part of our trip and unfortunately it ended up being my least favorite. There were a couple contributing factors to this. In the car on the way to Calgary, I couldn't find the paperwork I'd printed for our hotel in Calgary (we were staying 2 nights in Calgary) and couldn't remember which one it was, so I called the one I thought it was and they said I didn't have a reservation, so I called their main number thinking perhaps it was that hotel chain just a different location. They said I did not have a reservation but I was sure it was that hotel chain. So after a bit of stress (where are we going to stay, it's going to cost us a fortune, little to no availability because of the stampede) and trying to figure out what to do, I finally found the reservation confirmation #. So what was their deal? Lying to me like that, telling I don't have a reservation when in fact I DO have a reservation. It's kind of too bad we did too, the hotel was terrible, loud neighbors banging doors and yelling til 3am. The beds were awful. The "free" breakfasts were gross...etc. etc. blah, blah, blah. Sort of sad to end our Canadian vacation on a bit of a sour note.

The morning of the Stampede, we got up early and took the train from our hotel to downtown Calgary for the parade. The parade was good, we perched the kids on one of those metal newspaper stand/dispenser things so they had a great view. We saw William Shatner up close and personal, and lots of horses and cowboys (like the real deal), the coolest was seeing all the natives in their headdresses and costumes and their painted ponies. Beautiful! We left the parade before it ended hoping to beat some of the crowd to the fairgrounds where the Stampede was happening. We got on a train going the wrong way. Oopsy! Realized our mistake got off, and waited and waited and waited for another train. Of course this is when Abby decides she needs to go potty. Hunted around for a bathroom no luck. Finally a train comes we get back to where the parade was and by then the parade had ended for some people. So the trains were packed once again. We hunted for an open potty and everything was closed because of the parade, the port o potties had lines a mile long. Finally we found a potty in a small coffee house that was open and had a  a long line too. We were about the 4th person back in line and Abby couldn't hold it anymore and just went. Ugh! She was so embarrassed and I was so frustrated. Poor kid. So we got her cleaned up as best we could while in line and then had to find an open store with kids clothes to get her some new stuff. We walked to the nearest department store they were the only store in that chain that had no kids clothes. WHAT?! So we had to walk down to another department store, luckily we found some new clothes there! We literally walked from one end of downtown to the other. Fighting crowds, and poor Abby walking in her wet socks, skirt, undies, and cowgirl boots. She was happy though, thank goodness! I thought it was TERRIBLE! Then after I got Abby changed and cleaned up her boots, we got lost from Alex and Ethan in the department store. I thought we were meeting at the escalators Alex thought we were meeting at the elevators. Then we had to walk all the way back to where we left my Dad, sitting at an outdoor cafe table. On the other side of downtown! We make our way back to the train station and people are every where, trains are packed full. By this time the parade was totally over for everyone and we were all trying to get to the same place. We found a bus, that said Stampede on it and hopped on, and after a few stops and packing tons of people in, we finally made it to the fairgrounds! What a mess!

Once we finally made it to the fairgrounds we hit the rodeo. And had a good time. I sat next to a couple from Germany, his English was pretty good but he didn't understand the rodeo AT ALL. So I was trying to explain stuff and why this and why that and what's next. Nice guy with a million questions. And he said if you're from Texas why aren't you wearing a cowboy hat. Hahaha! Apparently Texas has a reputation to uphold and I wasn't doing my part. I did have my cowgirl boots though and he seemed satisfied with that. After the rodeo we let the kids ride some carnival rides and then hit the train (the right direction this time) back to our hotel. We were all pretty pooped after a long day.

 Real RCMP's...

 William Shatner

These little guys were right in downtown Calgary. Funny.

Waiting for a train...

 Ethan fell asleep on Alex's lap on the bus on the way to the Stampede.

 Poutine!

 Ethan thought that truck was so cool, he took all those pictures. :)

 Rodeo time!

Abby is not impressed.

 Still not impressed...

 And done!

 Beautiful downtown Calgary in the background.

See ya Stampede!

Next morning we hit the road to head back to Utah, we stopped overnight in Butte.

 So long Canada! We love you and hope to see you again some day!

Here we are at the border crossing, we gave Alex the 3rd degree before we got there, so he could get all the questions right when grilled by the border agent. Haha! Just kidding, the guy was very friendly and nice and even joked around with us. What?! Generally those guys are pretty stuffy and don't have a sense of humor about anything.

 Ahhh, Montana and Idaho...So pretty!

What an amazing trip to Canada (even if Calgary wasn't my favorite) it was busy but filled with lots of fun and great memories!

Back at Grammies..
We had a family reunion of sorts, my grandpa (we called him Bampa) had one brother we got together with that brother's kids and grandkids. So fun! My family is the greatest! We had a delicious dinner and then  hit the park for some glow in the dark baseball. So much fun!

Above picture with the flash, below picture without the flash.

The whole gang back on the bleachers after dark..

Hitting the pool..

Just cuz she's cute...

Slip n slide sillyness.

We got to head up to Heber to see my cousin Dave as Ali Hakim, in Oklahoma. It was a great! They did a great job and such a beautiful night too! Abby is hard to impress.

We also went up to Park City, it was (expensive and) fun!

Riding the chair lift to do the Alpine Slide

So pretty!

This was the Alpine Coaster, this was a total blast! I loved it! Unfortunately I was behind my Mom and she kept slowing down, so I had to slow down too. :(

My feet look pretty tan, eh?

Ethan climbed the rock wall (I think they said it was 20 feet) and tried the bungee trampoline thing.

My mom's neighbors are just the best, they set up a movie night right in the front yard. So fun!

Abby and Addi are BFFs! Addi has this adorable jeep they had so much fun riding around in it and driving it.

The super cool neighbors also had this cool "car wash" for the kids to ride through on their bikes etc.

We hit this neighborhood "lake", it had a sandy area to sit at and build sand castles. Fun, fun!

Abby and Addi are holding hands, they seriously just love each other! It's so cute! They are counting down the days until they can see each other again. And Ethan is holding Ryder, Addi's little brother.

The BFF's and their matching outfits.. :)

We all went to get ice cream!

So fun to have such great friends right next door!

What a great extended vacation we had! We are pretty spoiled to have such an amazing vacation! I highly recommend everyone taking extra long, 4-5 week vacations. They pretty much ROCK!