the oz, the leth-bians and me!

Ohhhh...the wonder of holidays....

I've been trying to think of how to write down how fun our holidays were, but it's hard to describe. We didn't do a lot of a-typical 'fun' things (roller coasters, atv tours etc). But hanging out with family and playing Things is waaay more fun that any roller coaster.

We began our journey in Regina, where, to my surprise, i met an old jr. high friend of mine. We didn't recognize each other at first, but seriously...how many people are named Zonya?? Turned out we did go to Empire together. It was cool to see her, even if it was just in the lobby of the hotel. Later, at supper, Rob had his first Houston's Pizza experience...and he is a changed man...

Only thing better is Rodo's pizza....

The next morning we ventured on to Lethbridge, but not before checking out the sights at the Wal-mart in Regina. I believe Rob's txt msg to my sister was 'how do you know we're in saskatchewan? big mullets, and every woman is a 42 long!' (email me if you want the 42 explanation!). Then on to a quick tour of moose jaw (drive by the old house, timmies on main, snow hut, peacock, crescent park, wakamow etc). Didn't really stop...except for timmies...

Lethbridge was awesome! Got to see Ashley's new bling, hang out with the oh-so-cool adam, and spend some quality time with great family. Even though they're technically Rob's family, they feel like my own. Good talks, good food, good games....
*Adam was fine with us being there Friday night, but when Rob came down for breakfast Saturday morning, Adam took one look at him and started crying! Guess he didn't expect him at the breakfast table! He was fine with it by the time we left though! hahaha!

On Tuesday we took off by ourselves to Banff....beautiful Banff. And we were met with construction. They have torn up Banff Avenue and it's down to one lane each directon. Apparently they're doing some major sewer work along with adding more trees and sidewalks to the avenue. So it made navigating a little interesting. Thankfully our hotel was a block from Banff ave so we basically parked the car for the next few days and walked everywhere (except the fairmont and the cave and basin). If you go there, definetly go to the St. James Gate. It came highly recommended by the fabulous Forbes family, and didn't disappoint!

While watching the news Wednesday night there were weather warnings....warnings of a possible 10-15 cm of snow by morning...in Banff. Thankfully we didnt get that much, but we did wake up to 2 cm of wintery wonderland.

still having it snow in banff on your holidays is still waaaay better than being at work!

After doing our fare share of walking and taking pictures we headed to Calgary to shop! Now that we have a house, we figured we'd actually buy something from Ikea...and man did we ever! Got cabinet handles, lights, towel bars...you name it we got it. When we went to the mall I DIDN'T BUY ANY CLOTHES! Even at H&M!

Weather turned out to be nice on the Friday so we decided to head to the zoo. It was my idea so we made a deal. First we'll go to some place Rob wants to go then we'll go to my choice. Well, lets just say his choice was pretty spectacular. We went to an exotic car dealership that he'd found in a magazine. We pulled up and there's 2 ferrari's out front. We got out of the car and what do I see??? an Astin Martin Vanquish!!!!! It was beautiful. The showroom inside was full of lambo's and ferrari's. They even had an F430 and an Enzo! No we didn't buy a car, but rob did get an early birthday present...a Ferrari fleece. So nice.

Then off to the zoo. Lions and tigers and bears...wait...no bears....hippos...and alligators. Well worth the $16 admission...

Then out to dinner with fran...AND HER MAN! Yes our little farmer Frances has a man...or man/child as rob jokingly put it (he's younger than her). We let her pick the restaurant...Rob said we're not letting her pick next time. Rob's a burger guy....not a burger in sight on the menu. But if you're in Calgary and want to go to a really nice restaurant try Murrieta's on 1st SW. The seafood risotto was yummy. It was nice to catch up with my Frannie and meet her mannie...never thought she'd be able to find someone as sarcastic as her, but she has. And yes Fran, he has my approval... ;)

Then back home Saturday morning. Nothing like a 12.5 hr drive to wear you out. But it was good. Relaxing. And I'm sooo happy we went. thanks to everyone who showed us such great hospitality and friendship on our 10 days out there! sorry we couldnt meet up with all of you. Definetly next time!