The "Closest" Greatest Place on Earth!!

This past weekend all the Puzey's headed up to the great white north to celebrate a milestone birthday for Myrna.  This is the third time we have done this on this particular weekend in November!  And as always it was so much fun!

Ready to go!! This is how we left the farm!

The trip started Thursday morning, we loaded up the van, picked up Grandma and made our first stop in Champion to pick up Emry's Science review, and then onto Vulcan to get a lightbulb for our burnt out signal light.  Finally on our way for real, Calum had to pee!!  So we pulled over on the side of the road!  We made one more stop in High River for lunch and then off again!  The drive up was typical with three kids, quiet spurts between screams of fighting!  But we made it alive and still excited!  We first went to the hotel to unload the van and change into nicer clothes for dinner out at The Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate Myrna's birthday!  All 19 of us were there, it was loud and fun!

Having fun at The Old Spaghetti Factory!

Thankfully the kids were tired out enough from the ride up that they fell fast asleep in no time!  In the morning we got up and had a nice continental breakfast and then on our way to the Water park!  We got there when it opened and left when it closed!  9 hours of super exhilarating fun!!  The boys couldn't go on many slides but they didn't seem to mind!  We hung out at the kids park, it had three slides, lots of things that shot water and things to climb!  The boys loved it!  There was also a smaller pool with mini slides, the water was shallow but warm enough to just sit in and watch the boys have fun!  Calum and Liam played Batman and Robin quite a bit, the water was poison!  Armin had fun going down these little slides with Jonas!  I hardly saw Emry since she was either riding slides with Leah and Cora or playing in the waves with them!  We finally convinced her to do the zip line with us, it went right over the entire length of the wave pool and past the beach area!  Calum was heavy enough to do it too!  I had to be brave since we were going with our kids, but holey moley....it was scary!  Once I was strapped onto the cable I started to really panic, my heart was beating fast and hard, but as soon as Emry looked at me I changed my face to a look of calm!  Totally not feeling that on the inside!  The guide let each of us go and off we went, it was so much fun! I'm so glad we did it!  The kids really liked it too and were all smiles when we came to a stop!  A new extreme slide had a loop in it, Jared finally was convinced to go on it and after he said it should be illegal, though he did go on it again!  The thrill was exciting!  You had to stand in a canister and then the count down...3,  2, 1...WHOOSH!  The door below opens and down you go!  No thanks!!

Zip Line!

Jason, Ashton and Bowen on the Zip line! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X8AYCL9hdxY

For a cute video that Jared Hague put together click on this link!

That night we ate at the mall food court and then back to the hotel, with very tired kids!  Another easy night of getting everyone to bed!

Totally tuckered out!

The next morning started the same as the one before!  This time we planned on going to Galaxy Land!  Friday, when we walked past Galaxy Land, Armin saw the Merry-go-Round and put both arms in the air and said "that's totally awesome!"  Emry wanted to try out this new thing at the mall called "Ropes Quest", you were harnessed in and attached to a rope that was locked into a track.  There were three levels of different types of bridges.  Jared and Emry did it together and had lots of fun, although she was a little afraid of going higher than the first level she still had a great time!  After they were finished we all headed to Galaxy Land, where our super solid, tough guy was terrified!!  We had to force him on every ride, and the only ones we forced him on were ones that toddlers could ride all by themselves!!  Armin on the other hand loved the rides and wanted to go on every single one!!  One more extreme ride that he was able to go one was the Ocean Motion Ship!  Jared wouldn't even go on it with him, so Grandma took him!  Well, Armin hated it!! When the ship would go up and we could see his face it was a look of sheer panic!!  But he still came off with a huge smile on his face!  Emry did the Space Shot twice!!!  Just seeing her on it the first time made my heart beat hard and fast!  It shoots you up 130 feet super fast and then free falls back down!  She loved it!  Jared did the Mind Bender Roller Coaster with Dave, Rachel and Jared H.  Again we closed out the place!  We decided to eat at Boston Pizza in the mall which was a bit of a wait, but worth it for the yummy food!  One downfall, our coats were taken when someone decided that the cart we rented was left abandoned and not just parked outside the restaurant because we were eating there!!  I'm sure they took it because they needed it, not realizing all our winter coats were inside the basket!  Luckily when they returned the cart they also took our coats to Lost and Found, which we went to the next morning on our way home!

This is how Calum felt about Galaxy Land!

This is how Armin felt about Galaxy Land!! 

That night also brought Armin to his ultimate demise!! Another bump to his head!  While we were waiting for Jared to come back from looking at all the exits for our coats Armin was running back and forth in front of the seats we were sitting on!  As usual he wasn't looking and he ran smack into a metal garbage canister.  The hit flattened him and when I picked him up he had a huge goose egg on his forehead!  Poor guy!

 After breakfast we packed up and headed home!  We made a stop at The Bass Pro Shop to stretch our legs and let the kids look at all the wildlife!  It seems we only get there on our way home from up north since it is totally on the wrong side of Calgary for us!!  Santa was there and it happened to be the day for free photos with him!  Armin was excited until he got closer, and Calum wouldn't go at all!  So Emry sat on Santa's knee, I sat on a stool in front of him with Armin on my lap and Jared stood beside Santa with Calum in his arms!!  It actually turned out to be a cute family photo!!  One more stop for something to eat, Five Guys Burgers and Fries!!  A nice end to a great birthday celebration for a wonderful woman!!