7 animal adventure- perhaps a random name for a post (not strange for those of you who know us Dillons!) but if you were wondering about the animals- I guess you’d say we have a thing. It all started many moons ago, and while it doesn’t have much rhyme or reason, we have firmly established an animal name for each member of our family. Our wedding cake topper was actually a rabbit and a racoon as the bride and groom… now we have added a piglet (Maiwen), a bear (Jacinta), a lamb(Elijah), and a lion(Gabriel)- oh and Alex is our red panda (she looks just like one!) So when we were making reservations for our stay in Banff, we were asked to make a code name and Alex said it '7 animal adventure' so there you go :)
We stayed in Banff National Park for 2 days and the kids had a great time running around and stalking the squirrels...
Those poor squirrels didn't know what they were in for! I grew up with four brothers and when we would go camping in the river hills, their favourite passtime would be snaring gophers. When I described my brothers’gopher snaring exploits to Jaci, she listened with fascination to my every. word. She quickly fashioned a tiny birthday cake out of some play dough (as bait obviously ;) asked for a piece of rope and was absolutely determined to wait as quietly as she could until she caught her own squirrel! She actually had a lot of patience and waited there for at least a half an hour with baited anticipation. Knowing our little Jaci she was probably keeping herself entertained imagining all the things she would do with her very own pet squirrel and all the lovely dresses she would make for it…
That is the wonderful thing about camping- the children can entertain themselves so easily without the need of all the toys we are knee deep in at home. Despite this fact, we did give the children each a bit of pocket money to spend on a special toy. When John was a child, his parents would always give him some money to spend on their summer holidays and this was a big highlight for him. He remembers waiting to find just the right toy to buy... and he will never forget the summer he decided to put coin after coin into one of those machines at the fair. You know the ones, where there is a bar pushing all these coins closer to the edge and you'd swear all it will take is just ONE more to tip the whole lot of them over the edge into your jackpot. Well he spent his entire 20 pounds absolutely certain his next coin would tip it... and it did not. Cured him of gambling for life! So he wanted to let the kids have the same opportunity to buy things all by themselves... and I agreed because I thought it might be a good way to stop them from asking for EVERY. SINGLE. TOY. in EVERY. SINGLE. STORE. because once the money was gone- ok we're done! The kids enjoyed picking out their special toys, I won't say it entirely cured them of the 'Oh Mommy look at this!!! Can I get it PLEEEEASE?' but it helped. Elijah decided to buy a bow and arrow,
Maiwen picked a big elephant teddy and was determined she didn't mind spending her money all in one go, and Jaci spotted a little stuffed animal that she knew straight away 'it was the one'. We were walking down a street in Golden when Jaci stopped in front of a store window and excitedly called us back to look. It was a single little toy puppy sitting in the front window. I told her she could go inside by herself and ask how much it was. So I stood in the doorway watching as she proudly took her 10 dollar note and asked the lady through her excited grin 'How much is that little doggy in the window?' She carried it around everywhere for the rest of the trip :)
Those poor squirrels didn't know what they were in for! I grew up with four brothers and when we would go camping in the river hills, their favourite passtime would be snaring gophers. When I described my brothers’gopher snaring exploits to Jaci, she listened with fascination to my every. word. She quickly fashioned a tiny birthday cake out of some play dough (as bait obviously ;) asked for a piece of rope and was absolutely determined to wait as quietly as she could until she caught her own squirrel! She actually had a lot of patience and waited there for at least a half an hour with baited anticipation. Knowing our little Jaci she was probably keeping herself entertained imagining all the things she would do with her very own pet squirrel and all the lovely dresses she would make for it…
That is the wonderful thing about camping- the children can entertain themselves so easily without the need of all the toys we are knee deep in at home. Despite this fact, we did give the children each a bit of pocket money to spend on a special toy. When John was a child, his parents would always give him some money to spend on their summer holidays and this was a big highlight for him. He remembers waiting to find just the right toy to buy... and he will never forget the summer he decided to put coin after coin into one of those machines at the fair. You know the ones, where there is a bar pushing all these coins closer to the edge and you'd swear all it will take is just ONE more to tip the whole lot of them over the edge into your jackpot. Well he spent his entire 20 pounds absolutely certain his next coin would tip it... and it did not. Cured him of gambling for life! So he wanted to let the kids have the same opportunity to buy things all by themselves... and I agreed because I thought it might be a good way to stop them from asking for EVERY. SINGLE. TOY. in EVERY. SINGLE. STORE. because once the money was gone- ok we're done! The kids enjoyed picking out their special toys, I won't say it entirely cured them of the 'Oh Mommy look at this!!! Can I get it PLEEEEASE?' but it helped. Elijah decided to buy a bow and arrow,
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| The tounge for concentration |
After Banff we headed to Revelstoke, BC and stayed at the Noah's Ark Resort. What a lovely place! If you are ever traveling through BC and going to the Enchanted Forest we would recommend staying here. It is operated by a family and the owners were just so nice. They served complimentary popcorn every evening and there is a frozen yogurt shop at the top of the huge Ark- which would actually be worth a driving break even if you aren't staying to camp.
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| Maiwen walking up to our tent trailer- such a pretty spot |
To be continued...
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