Travelling: The Saskatoon To Edmonton Edition

One of the things which is really not so much fun is having all four of us sleeping in one hotel room. The kids don't settle well and Dave and I don't sleep well. However, seeing the kids all sprawled out in the mornings is pretty cute! I'd rather be less annoyed and get a little more sleep though :)

We saw the really big buffalo in Jamestown, North Dakota and then we had a really long day of driving to get to Mom and Dad's.

We didn't do much our first few days at Mom and Dad's. Rachel and Mom baked buns and Sam played lots of different games with everyone.

And we had a gathering with some of my aunts and uncles and cousins from my dad's side of the family. Above are Sam and Rachel with two of their second cousins and below is me with two of my cousins.

Last Friday we headed off for a short weekend trip to Edmonton. This is where we lived for the first years of our marriage while Dave was getting his PhD. Both Sam and Rachel were born there and we hadn't been back since we moved, which was over four years ago.

First though, we saw the world's biggest Ukrainian Easter Egg in Vegreville.

A highlight for me was getting to spend most of a day with my New Mom's friends. This group of kids has grown a bit since we all had our first (and second and third and fourth!) kids. This group of women is so special to me and I wish a couple of women who had to miss out also could have joined us.

And after finding out our supper plans for that night had fallen through, four of the five of us were able to spontaneously have a mom's night out at The Melting Pot. I love these women so much and miss them a lot.

We stopped by the house where we spent the first years of our lives together.

And we got to spend a lot of time with my cousins and their kids. Sam and Rachel loved these slightly older second cousins a ton and can't wait to see them again.

And then we were back in Saskatchewan for a few more days. There really is no other place like it. I love this view sooooo much.

Read about Days 11 through 13 here and here.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog

We got home today. It was a very smooth trip because Miss Rachel did not sleep much last night so she slept most of the way home. We left Saskatoon at 9:23 and drove straight to Lloydminster. We ate at McDonald's and Rachel nursed and hung out and kicked on the bench. Sam ate four chicken nuggets and played in the PlayPlace.

We left Lloyd and Rachel fell back to sleep and Sam fell asleep and we drove straight through to home. With the time change we arrived at 2:11pm. Yay! It was such a great trip since both kids were either asleep or very cooperative.

We've since (mostly) unpacked and are going to have grilled cheese and tomato soup for supper. Then it's bath time for both kiddos and early bed for everyone. Tomorrow is Save-On Tuesday so I will be up early to get there for 7am. It's early but the store is empty and I can usually be home shortly after 7:30 so it's well worth it. This month we will have to think about foods to buy to make into food for Rachel such as baby cereal, apples, sweet potatoes, prunes and dried legumes. Yay!

Since I don't have any pictures from today I am posting pictures from yesterday when we did this e-mail from Productive Parenting. It was a lot of fun and it's great that Oma had such good scarves to work with! Until tomorrow...

Mannville

On the Yellowhead Highway between Saskatoon and Edmonton there are lots of signs pointing to places of interest, scenic outlooks, and other things that may entice one off of the highway and into adventure. In the past four years we have done all of them except for the Historic Telephone Museum in Mannville, Alberta. On our way home from Saskatoon we decided to stop there. Sadly the museum was closed which was rather disappointing. So we took some pictures of the outside and ate some lunch and got some diapers changed.

Closed :(

Sam did not want to take off his bib while we were in Mannville!

Rachel enjoyed some non-car seat time and LOVED watching the leaves on the tree.

I enjoyed not having to drive and getting a bite to eat in the sun!

And thus, with hopes of seeing the museum dashed, we left Mannville.

Mini Golf!

Dave has been wanting to go to Pike Lake since we pass the signs for it every time we come here and Mom and Dad do live off the Pike Lake Highway. So today we went and all of Dave's expectations were met! We ended up driving around a little bit too but didn't get pictures of that part. It was also Sam's first time playing mini-golf and he was super-cute about it! I think he loved it too :) Ironically, there are no pictures of Dave because he was the photographer!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today, we stopped by the train museum beside the highway leading from Saskatoon to Rob and Ellen's. We have driven by it many times, and weren't quite sure what to make of it -- at first glance, it looked like it might be just a collection of old train cars that one could go and look at. However, when we actually took the time to check it out, we were very pleasantly surprised.

First, we were met by a friendly museum guide, who took us on a trip down the rails on a "jigger", or small rail car used to make repairs.

Everyone had a good time riding the jigger.

Once we got to the end of the line, we were able to look around an old railway station that had been restored.

But first, Sam had to take a seat on a nearby passenger car

On our way into the train station, Natasha noticed this helpful sign

Sam, Dave and Natasha taking turns as conductors.

The baggage room in the train station

Some lilies outside the train station

Once we left the train station, it was time to check out the many, many trains that were ready and waiting to be explored.

Sam checking out the power plant car

The dining portion of another car

A Saskatoon Transit trolley car

There was also plenty of opportunity to just wander around, and check out the sights...

Checking out the tracks

Operating the switches, levers, and signals

Having a chat on and old-fashioned telephone

A view south towards Rob and Ellen's, Pike Lake, and beyond

Sam driving yet another train.
Dave liked the picture on the right because of its striking similarity to a certain Tragically Hip album.

One last view down the tracks, towards all the sights we had just seen.

All in all, we had a great time, and were very glad that we stopped by!