Edmonton (Days 6, 7 and 8) - March 4, 5 and 6

 I know this is really late, but have to finish the blog before I can blog about the next trip :).

We had a great few days in Edmonton.  Our AirBnB was great.

March 4, 2026

Today we went to West Edmonton Mall.  We went to LL Bean, where Lola really wanted to get a new sweater, and L ended up getting a new backpack. We explored the lego store, ate lunch in the food court where AA and Lola had greek, while the others had Chick-fil-a and of course a hot dog for A from New york fries. 

E and J got an extra burger for free, so they were pretty excited.

We then headed to the waterpark.  We rented an area where we could put our stuff and had a place to hang out.  AA was not as excited to particpate at the waterpark as his arm was pretty sore, so he took it easy.  E also wasn't much for heights, but we had a good time.

We spent all day, enjoying the wave pool and waterslides. 

Once back at our place, AA did a little work, kids watched some TV and Lola made supper.  Spagetti, meatballs and salad.  Adults enjoyed the hot tub, while the kids decided they wanted to watch a movie instead.  A kept sneaking into the kitchen to eat something....... we caught her, it turned out she was eating tomatoes.

The adults watched K Pop Demon Hunters, while the kids slept.

March 5

Today we went to the Telus World of Science Edmonton.

They had a special exhibit with Jurassic World full of lego, developed by Brickman.

It was super cool.  We got to build tiles to put on the wall, we built dinasour tracks, we built cars and raced.  It was so neat!

Then we went and explored the rest of the museum.  We did the health zone where we had so much fun testing our balance and flexibility.

Next up we went to the science garage, where AA took a phone call.  He missed this portion, but it was a lot of interactive activities.  This area was very busy as there was as school there.

The next room was the Artic, we know quite a bit of about the artic so it wasn't that exciting, but would be neat if you didn't know.

We went over the bridge to the other side were we explored the space exhibit.  AA and E tried to land the rocket, and L patiently waited for a school group to give her a chance to shoot rockets to try and get them through the targets.  

The last place was bugs and books, not sure great, but we looked through.

After the museum we headed to Aloha Hawaiian Grill where we enjoyed our poke bowls. We went there last time, and it was a fan favourite.  L and A also have expanded their pallet and enjoyed the poke too.

After lunch we wondered around the mall, checking out the different shops and watching the seas lions.

A asked to come back to the house with us, she fell asleep in the truck on the 30 minute ride.

Adam worked, then we barbequed steak for supper, with roasted potatoes and carrots.  We tried to eat all the things we bought as we were heading home tomorrow.

Last dip in the hot tub, "we" (not Lola) tried the weird desserts purchased at the mall and then the adults watched the very first episode of ER then went to bed.

March 6 - Home time.

It was an early morning, we were out of the house by 6:07 am to take the long drive to the Edmonton airport (over 45 minutes).  The other left around the same time, on their journey back to Manitoba (hoping to drive all in one day).

We made it returned our pick up truck and headed to the lounge were AA enjoyed his egg salad sandwich.  We made it on the plane and had a seat between us. Back to Winnipeg by 12:45pm where we took an uber home. 

Unfortunately after our  trip AA went to the dr when to find out he has a fully torn his supraspinatus.  He did months of physio and exercises, lots of imaging and not sure he will be snowboarding ever again.  But we will see.

Our trip was so much fun, and hopefully we can go with them somewhere soon!

Jasper - Day 5 (March 3, 2026)

 We decided that Lola, E and A were doing skiing for a half day, so AA generously agreed to drive us to the hill in the morning, and of course L asked if she could come for the ride too!  They headed back to pack up and check out of our hotel.  Everyone had their ski gear, so we headed straight onto the chair lift after being dropped off. A was pretty excited to have another day on the slopes!

AA's arm is starting to bruise.

For a half day we did pretty good, getting in 8 runs in about 2 hours of ski time.  We never waited to get on the chair lift, and had an amazing time.  AA picked us up and we headed down the the mountain to meet up with the others for our picnic lunch.  
We headed back to the sixths bridge site we had been previously see the picnic tables along the water.  It was a little colder than we all anticipated, but we survived eating our lunches, then we headed in our own cars to Edmonton.  The drive was much easier than the drive to Jasper, we even saw some mountain goats on the highway.

We made it to our Airbnb in Edmonton, where we had a hot tub and so many bedrooms.  L toured around trying to convince us the basement bedroom was the best place for us. It was pretty funny.  She wanted to the upstairs bedroom so badly, she wanted to make sure she sold the basement rooms for us.

We ordered supper from Fox Burger, and then headed into the hot tub to ease our sore muscles from skiing.

(sorry this is posted so late....)

Lola

Jasper - Day 4

 The kids were excited for another day on the hill.  So was E.  J and AA decided to stay at the hotel to get some work done instead of hanging out in the day chalet all day.

Everyone was up and having breakfast by 8.  Lunches were made and everyone piled into E's truck to make the 30 mins drive up to the hill.  E dropped Lola, A and L off at the chalet then parked the truck and skied down to help get everyone ready.  L was doing another full day of snowboard school - she was the only kid again so had her own 1-on-1 lesson for the same price as a group.

L getting ready for her lessons

AA and J went to a coffee shop in town to let the hotel cleaning staff refresh the room.  An Americano and Latte were consumed while each worked. 

At 11, AA and J thought the rooms would be ready and went back to the hotel.  The cleaner was still in the room so they decided to drive around town and see some of the homes being rebuilt.  15 mins later, they returned to the room to find out that they needed another 15 mins to finish up.  So, they took a longer drive to the Jasper Park Lodge and wandered around there a little bit before finally being able to get back into the room.

The ski and snowboard bunnies and ski hare had a great day on the hill, making the most of the emptiness and getting in a lot of runs (12!).  L had another fun day of snowboarding lessons and is starting to get the hang of her edges to maintain control going down the hill.

Not very busy today

L learning how to use her edges

At 3:30, everyone was back at the room for a bit of a rest, a snack and showers.  A and L wanted to play some games with Lola and AA.  After a couple games of Sushi Go and Sequence, it was time for A to do some school work while L and Lola coloured and AA read his book.

At 5:30, everyone was getting hungry so J called the restaurant (Mad Grizzly) to see if we could get in before our 6:30 reservation.  "That would be better" they said, so we arrive d at 5:50, just in time for the end of happy hour.

Supper was delicious!  E had the paella, L had grilled cheese, Lola had duck, J had braised beef, A had steak and AA had thai chili ribs. 

Duck

Paela

A with her 10oz steak. It was finished.

Thai chili ribs

Braised beef

After supper, we went back to the Jasper sign, in front of the Town/Park office but were disappointed to see the lights were off.  AA traced the extension cord back to the office, unplugged it, reset the GFI outlet but it quickly tripped again when the cord was plugged in.  Instead, we took pictures in the illuminated arches.

Back at the hotel, we started packing up bags in advance of tomorrow's departure and enjoyed some GF cake that Lola bought, not realizing it had butter in it.  Luckily, the butter was only used in the icing so Lola could still have some (it was delicious).  Then we played a couple rounds of Phase 10 before the kids went to bed.  L was upset that she couldn't find her panda bear and everyone searched through the two rooms to no avail.  E went to the front office and asked if there was anything in the lost and found.  Lo and behold, there was the panda bear that was likely scooped up this morning with the sheets and bedding that were taken to the laundry.  L was very happy and should now be able to get a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow the hill crew are going to go for a couple hours of skiing and snowboarding the morning while AA, J and L stay back at the room and finish packing up for checkout at 11:30.  Hopefully the weather to drive back to Edmonton tomorrow will be better than the drive out.

AA