From Moraine Lake, we rode the bus to Lake Louise, which was very gorgeous, but dare I say I liked Moraine better? Lake Louise definitely had a more touristy feel and the girls were getting tired from our big day. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time there!

Hiking from Lake Moraine to Consolation Lakes was I think my favorite hike of the trip. This was what I wanted! I felt deep, complete happiness spending time in the woods with some of my family. The hike was so great. A very doable amount of elevation gain, a great distance. The forest smelled amazing! And the huge boulders at the lake shore were so striking. This is what I wanted. This was it. It was perfect. I highly recommend doing this hike if you visit Moraine Lake.

I just had to do Moraine Lake while we were in Banff. We decided to use the bus system and there's just something so wonderful about available public transit. We liked riding the bus and I was happy to do it! Moraine Lake is gorgeous. That blue is so vibrant and unreal. We liked hiking around the rockpile snapping photos and people watching, but I was glad I looked into doing a hike in the area.

When we went to Calgary, I decided to do a little mini vacation and spend some time in Banff. Moving forward, this is going to be a must! We left E and Maeve with Conor's sister, Liz (THANK YOU!) and spent 2 nights with Holly, Greta and Ira. On our first day, we hiked Tunnel Mountain and enjoyed sweeping views of Banff. The Canadian Rockies are ridiculously beautiful!

Our third annual Coulee City, Banks Lake trip! We love this summer trip! It's so low key and basic. I hope to return in a cooler season to do some family hikes. But at this phase and season, our days were swimming and napping the babies. The first day we arrived, the area was pretty smokey but by the next morning the smoke had cleared. E loved crawling through the water. The day use beach at Steamboat Rock State Park is so awesome because it's shallow for a long ways and the sand is so soft!

Our second day we played in the water in the morning, ate lunch and napped the babies, and then played again in the late afternoon before eating dinner in Electric City. A couple of important things we forgot were the baby carrier for Ira, sand toys, and E's floatie. We packed a paddle board but never took it out because the effort that required was beyond us.

Our last day was overcast, chilly with some rain. The kids still got in the water and so did I. Then we had our lunch by the playground and returned home. Vacations/trips with five (FIVE!) children are no joke, but I think they're worth it.

Here are our past vacations at Banks Lake. There's something super special about repeating a vacation with E.