Well we are back from our annual summer camping trip. A good time was had by all. This year was a little different for us as it was just our immediate family. Usually some of my siblings and other relatives join us. So I had plenty of food packed as my girls don't eat nearly as much as my brothers.
The first day of our trip we drove to Little Bow Provincial Park in Alberta. We spent the next day at the beach there. It was a nice beach area and the weather was hot. We spent the whole day at the beach as it was much to hot to do anything else.
Daddy throws Sky into the water.
Star and Sky play in the sand.
Daddy takes LK for a ride in our inflatable kayak.
LK has a snack on the beach.
The next day we headed off to Kananaskis Country where we were staying at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. One nice thing about travelling by yourselves is that you can stop where ever and whenever you want. We made a number of stops along the way, including a stop at a cool looking playground we saw with this climbing apparatus.
The first full day we were in Kananaskis it was cool and rainy (quite a contrast from the heat we had at Little Bow). We didn't do all that much. The girls and Dad had their bikes so they went for some bike rides. (This was an excellent place for bike riding as there are lot's of bike paths and many of them are paved.) We don't usually have room to bring bikes along on our camping trips so the girls were really excited to have them. We also attended a family event on being Bear Aware which the girls really enjoyed and at night they went to a talk given by someone from the Windriver Bear Institute. The next night they went to another interpretive program put on by the park which they really enjoyed. The programs put on by this park are excellent. Really entertaining and informative.
Being over seventh months pregnant and having a 17 month old I wasn't able to do quite as much as I would have liked but I still had a lot of fun and felt pretty good most of the time. LK wasn't much for sitting around the campfire but he did love to hike and explore.
LK hiking along a trail.
Daddy was there to carry him when he got tired.
LK loved throwing rocks in the water.
The next day at Kananaskis the weather was slightly warmer and not so rainy so we were able to do a number of different hikes. Including one that was over 5km and had an elevation gain of over 700 ft. I wasn't sure about hiking up that steep of a trail but I made it and it was worth the effort as we ended up in a beautiful alpine meadow with rocks and waterfalls.
On our hike.
The wildflowers were spectacular.
Star on our hike. What beautiful scenery!
Daddy and LK on the hike.
As you can see I was usually trailing the pack as I mostly got pictures of peoples backs.
The next morning we packed up camp as the forecast was for rain all day that day. We were lucky that it wasn't raining in the morning when we packed up but a lot of stuff was still wet from the rain we did have. We headed in to Calgary and got a hotel room with a small pool and water slide. (This is treat we usually allow ourselves after camping for a week in a tent.) We spent the afternoon at the Calgary Zoo. We saw lot's of animals. Of course it was raining which made it not quite as nice but there were a number of buildings to duck into and view the animals. Near the end of the day we just braved the rain and wandered outside. We ending up getting some great close up views of the bears and cougars. All the kids enjoyed the zoo, especially LK. We saw giraffes, hippos, lions, tigers, and more. How ever I think LK's favourites were the fish. He kept pointing out all the fish and saying "dsh" (fish) to anyone who would listen.
LK looking at the fish.
A giraffe at the zoo.
We drove home the next day. And that was our trip. Camping is great family time and the girls really love it. I wonder where we will go next year.
