Canada has National Parks too

While I'm still putting pins in my U.S. National Parks map, I figured it would be fun to check out what they've got north of the border as well. Banff National Park in Alberta did not disappoint! It was basically an extension of the mountains we've seen in Glacier NP and extremely impressive in its own right. We visited the town of Banff and checked out the frozen over Lake Louise. Definitely a magical place!

Nothing like skating on ice above water that's 230 feet deep!

Just Adam doing Adam things.

Hiked up Johnston Canyon... a beautiful trail to some frozen waterfalls.

Nolan pondering great things... probably wondering what's for lunch.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and well worth the trip! Now that we're all passported hopefully there will be more Canadian adventures in the future!

Spring Break - Canadian Style

We try to go somewhere for spring break every year, and this year was no different. Usually, spring break vacation spots are warm and beachy, but that's not the way we decided to do it this time around. We headed north, through the snow, through the mountains to a little place called... Canada! We crossed the border near Eureka, MT and made our way into Alberta. First up, we hit the slopes to use our Indy Pass one last time at Castle Mountain, then we checked out Calgary and Edmonton, going as far north as we've ever been. Here are some of the highlights.

The views at Castle Mountain did not disappoint! It was like skiing in Glacier NP... very impressive, and only slightly scary from the top...

It wouldn't be one of our vacations if we didn't stop to see the world's biggest truck!

A chicken Big Mac?? What in the Canadian nonsense is this all a boot? Of course, we must have one.

And the poutine was fantastic, for the first couple of bites...

Found him... busting a move apparently.

Went to see some animals.

Tried out our skating legs inside the West Edmonton Mall...

And caught a Calgary Flames game from the cheap seats! At least we were safe from errant hockey pucks all the way at the top!

How far back down do we have to go to get popcorn??

A Wedding to Start the Year

Well, it's been a long, long time. I think because the start of the year included a wedding that we took a ton of photos for, I got caught up in other things and never got around to making a blog post. Then weeks went by, then months. Now it's been the longest we've ever gone without posting, since all the way back in 2008 when this all began. That doesn't mean we stopped taking pictures, because there were a ton to go through to try to catch up. But we'll start this off with the wedding... here's all the way back to January when my nephew Morgan got married and here are all the people who attended:

The bride and groom

Rowan and the old man

The wedding cake eaters

The assertive cousin

The food sampler

The lumpy one

The scholars

The not yet ready for primetime players

The mother annoyer and the mother he's annoying

The old people

The mother and the marine (now retired)

The kid who needed a haircut?

The ever-growing family (now with 20% more!)

The cousins

The siblings

The old people (outdoor version)

The grandparents (also great-grandparents)

The brothers and mother

The old people (now with 50% more!)

The younger grandparents

The one who found out that he could be next in line but is hoping it's Mason...