Double the Fun

Over the weekend I had two nieces born! Both healthy and both moms doing pretty good. First came baby Summer and then baby Claire. When Ryan had to go down to Lethbridge for the day I took advantage of the free ride and went down with him so I could meet these cute little girls! I had totally forgotten how small they come to us!

I was lucky enough to be asked to take a couple pictures of Claire while I was there. Let me tell you, even just being a couple days old she was moving around and showing off her strength. I think she's pretty dang cute.

Sled Hills in Banff

We thought that we would try something different for church today by attending in Banff and then finding a sledding hill to play on for the afternoon. This was my first time in Banff other then driving by on the highway. I figured that as a current Calgarian I should probably see what Banff was all about! We got there for church and when it was finished we stealthily changed our clothes in the van and went to explore.
This weekend happened to be the "Take It To The Street" ball hockey tournament and so it was quite the happening place. The street was adapted to hold multiple hockey games at one time and we just walked down the road watching all these different games. It was pretty cool.
They also had a bunch of other things set up and I have no idea if they were just for the weekend or if they are a more permanent sight since like I mentioned, it's my first time. We stood and watch a couple people try to pick their way up a huge ice wall. Those are quite the pokey shoes they wear!

After walking through the town a little bit we decided that it was time to find us a sledding hill. We went into the tourism building and got some advice on where to go so we headed out behind the Banff Fairmont Hotel. There we found a hill and at the bottom was a frozen over lake that had some people playing ice hockey with the beautiful hotel in the backdrop. It was really pretty and it didn't take long for the kids to get climbing up the hill for a taste of how fast we could go.
I was a little worried because I don't do so well in the cold but thankfully when we were in the sun it was the perfect temperature. Warm enough that we are toes weren't getting cold but cool enough that the continual hike up the hill wasn't making me sweaty. Can't ask for better.

After a few runs the kids started to get a little more brave, looking for spots that would allow them to go faster or provide them with a little air. They had a blast.

We had some dinner before driving back to Calgary. It was so great to have a change of scenery for the day and to check something off the list of must do's. Really, Banff isn't that far away. We'll have to go back.