A Vacation Before a Vacation

Have I mentioned that this winter has been long? And hard? And cold? (OH SO COLD!) And that it's been the worst winter yet?!?! 

*sigh* 

We had two days of around 0 degrees (32 degrees Fahrenheit) temps this week and it was glorious! But now we're heading back into the deep freeze again... with no indication of when we can return to the land of the living!

Anyhow... all that to say... we are going on holidays at the beginning of March (woohoo!!!!) but felt like we needed something to help us make it through February! So... our best friends and us headed to the big city for some IKEA shopping (enter me and the girls saying "YAY!!!!!" and Jon saying "UGH!!!") and a quick stay at a hotel with a fantastic pool and play area!

           ** PLEASE NOTE**

The vast majority of these pictures have NOT been edited and the lighting was HORRIBLE due to so many light sources... so take them for what they are... pictures of US in our raw form with not a bit of help! :)

One mention of a pool and our girls are bouncing with excitement! So the fact that this hotel had a pool ...

... AND a super cool play area...

... AND a theme room with bunk beds in a "ship"... which I sadly didn't get a picture of...

... AND a kids eat free deal (okay, maybe THEY don't care, but us parents sure do!) and it was a HIT!

Larren started out in the kiddy pool...

... but bravely worked her way up to going down the water slide all by herself! (Though she drank a fair amount of pool water on that one!)

Oh Alia and those beloved goggles... that "really do help her swim better!" :)

Sydney got word about the superpowers in swim goggles and decided to give them a try too! :)

Caidrie... she just opted for the kiddy pool most of the time. 

She's not a super big fan of the water... I guess she takes after her mama!

We ate supper (and breakfast!) at the hotel because of the kids eat free deal... and it was quite yummy! Plus it was handy to not have to warm up the vehicle and leave when it was -40 degrees out!

The play centre.... wow, this place was CRAZY! There were four levels... and foam balls galore...

 ... and a ball basket that dropped balls from the very top every so often... 

... and vacuumized (?) air guns... 

... and a big twisty slide from the top level...

... it goes without saying that the kids (and the dads/papa) had a GRAND ole' time!

While the guys were up shooting each other with foam balls...  the girls would run down and get more balls for them!! Caidrie was like a little trained ant... getting balls was her MAIN mission... and she took her job quite seriously! Up and down and in and out and gathering and climbing and scurrying and giving... all at surprisingly quick speed! She was SWEATING when we called it quits!

Though if there was a free gun, she didn't mind taking a little detour! :)

At check out time we sent the guys outside with all our stuff while the ladies and the littles went to hang out at the play area. When they came back in was when the real "battles" started!

Oh, and don't worry... Nana Betty did a fine job keeping this little pumpkin away from any cross fire! :)

There was Papa Ron and Alia on one gun...

... Larren and Jon on another...

... and Uncle Brad (with the occasional little helper!) on the third!

I'm not sure who won, but the fun lasted for quite sometime before everyone came trudging out all red faced and warm! :)

The two little ones did pretty well in the big play area, considering how large and crazy it was, but it was SO nice for them to head to the small play area when they wanted to! They had two slides and a couple of things to climb on... just right for two silly giggly girls!

All in all... it was just what the Dr. ordered! 

Though next time we'll have to remember that when bedtime comes... we need to allow an extra two hours to get those little eyes closed! Something about sleeping in bunk beds with built in portholes just makes sleeping a thing of the past! Jon won't confirm it ;) but I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before any of the kids did! Vacations are for relaxing, right?!?! :)

Next stop : CALGARY!! With a little side trip for Jon and I to Banff for my birthday! We are all SO excited to visit with family and I'm a tad :) excited to be sneaking away with just my love!! Fancy restaurants and spas (okay, maybe not plural!) here we come!