Birthday Trip To Banff, Canada

So I know I have a TON of catching up to do on pictures from Florida last year and from Thanksgiving, Christmas and now we are living in Canada, wouldn't you know!? So pictures on my phone, camera and old laptop and work laptop, I have some I have right here from our birthday trip to Banff last week. I thought I'd share quickly.

So we stayed in Canmore (if you'd like to look at a map) which is 15 minutes south of Banff village in Alberta Canada. This area is one of the most photographed in the world! The Canadian Rockies are spectacular and something I've wanted to do my whole life and now we live an hour from it! At least until the end of the summer! :o)

We went dogsledding on a lake that was frozen 3 feet deep, and it's at the end of March! We went to Lake Louise and walked on it and hiked all the way around it as well. We visited the village of Banff and attempted to go to the Upper Hot Springs but found it wasn't worth it as it was a small, crowded, boring regular looking pool and it totally took all the romantic ideas of a wild hot springs out of it for us, so we didn't go. We also went to the top of the Calgary tower, which isn't the tallest lookout point, especially compared to the Eifel Tower, but it was decent. And it was a cloudy/snowy day so you couldn't even see the Rockies in the distance which are a short 45 minutes away! Oh well. Here are some shots from the trip. I have others from our cell phones but I'll get to those in another post.

 See the goat hiding in the middle of the cliff in the above picture??

 Can you see the goats had climbed to the top of the cliff on our way back? (Above pic)

 This is the Banff Springs Hotel nestled into the mountain side. The Upper Hot Springs are just above that.

 

First Cow Day

As tradition, the Bachmann Family always dresses up in rediculous costumes to get free food. I know it sounds a little "cheap" but we like to think of it as being frugal and fun! We missed last years because Jack was just out of the hospital, so this year was his first chance!

Notice I put the cow nose through his pacifier! It worked perfectly! Our nephews were "super cows" or "bulls" that were black with white spots and a mask for Adam!

Dipping French Fries

Looks like he LOVES it!! Katchup on french fries is an American staple, now Jack has officially joined the club!

Airplane Trips

Everyone asks us "How is Jack on the plane?" "I could never travel with a baby!" "Doesn't he scream the whole time?" "I can't believe he sits still even!" "It would be too much to pack and lug around with all his baby stuff, I can't believe you're willing do it so much!"

Well folks, it's really not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. However, I believe 98% of traveling with a baby is the parents attitude/personality. AJ and I are very go with the flow people and big planners, if that makes sense. I'm a very resourceful mom and I know what Jack needs everyday so I pack accordingly and we make do with the big baby items we can make do without. Such as a high chair, I sit Jack up on 2 phone books and tie him to the chair with a long sheet around his waist. A pack n' play, all hotels have them so we just use theirs with a "coverplay" and the hotel sheets. Stroller, we take the jogging one so I can run with him and it's more sturdy to not be damaged in the airplane. Toys and books I take are limited but multifunctional. I pack cups, different types of balls, some baby einstien movies, some interactive small toy that makes noise and 3 or 4 books. That's about it! We got to indoor playgrounds with LOTS of toys and the church nursery has toys and we have a friend down here we have play dates with that shares their toys. So Jack gets a chance to play with lots of different things each day.

Our airplane rides are pretty easy. The pressure changes don't bother him at all. He sleeps for about 1-1.5 hours of the 2.5hr flight and then he wakes up and enjoys a little snack on the pull down trays and then enjoys seeing all the things out the window as we get ready to land. Piece of cake! It's all the Lord's doing, I have to admit! I might be a pretty patient and calm mother but only because of God's grace! Jack may be a good napper with a pleasent disposition, but only because God created him that way! We are so blessed to have this opportunity to travel and see other places on this earth and we are not about to become picky or petty about things to prevent us from enjoying every moment! It's a great experience for Jack to see other birds, have a longer swim season and run around some of the best playgrounds I've ever seen in the world... not that I've seen them all, but I've seen many in different states and these are the best by far! We've even met an amazing couple down here with a boy who is 6 weeks yonger than Jack that we can fellowship with and the boys can socialize! It's been an amazing ride! The biggest blessing of all is that we get to see AJ every night of the week, that is priceless!

Here are some more pictures from all the fun we're having!

Glasses?

AJ and I were home in Maryland one week so we quick got some eye appointments in to get new contacts. Jack enjoyed wondering around the store and we killed some time having him trying on some kid glasses! He might have giggled more than we did at the sight!

Silly Jack

I was worried that my smiley baby would not smile as much as he got older and into more things. But thankfully, I was wrong. Our boy smiles just as much but it happens 10000x faster so catching it on camera is a lot harder than it used to be. Here are some of Jack's smilely and silly moments!

 

In a hot pool (my brother carried big cups of hot  water from the kitchen sick...HA) with cousin Charlotte!

 A slinky around his waist lasted a good 45 minutes before he actually stepped out of it!

 "No don't touch Daddy's cup, Jack..." On our way to the pool in his much loved wagon!

 Loving sweet potato at Boston Market so much that he's actually trying to lick it off his mouth, but I don't think his tounge can reach his eyebrow!

 If you've ever met our son, you know he LOVES "ball, ball, balls!" Aunt Melissa has a personal ball bucket that he just adored!!

 One of the few things Jack can say is "bub-bub-bubble" So that's what our son gets, a bubble bath!