Before we knew John, Allison and kids were coming to town, my mom asked for pics of at least 8/10 grandkids. These kiddos had so much fun together! One day, my sister Kim and I went out to lunch with just Ira. Holly and Greta watched Maeve and Kim's kids (E was napping), and it was so nice to just be with my sister.
We went all in on Heritage Park and bought seasons passes and visited 3x! My kids were in it for the rides, candy and cousins. But really, it's a fun spot to go to with kids. Every trip looked a little different with some common themes (looking at you bakery and candy store!). Also, gotta say that doing outings is so much easier with big kid cousins! Getting out the door with my large crew is no joke and feels so much more doable when I know there will be some helping hands once we get where we're going. Looking forward to hopefully a couple more visits this year.
Ok, so this wasn't in Banff, this hike is in Kanaskis Country. We met Conor's sisters and their kids to do this. This was our first time seeing the Larsens (!!!!), minus Cora, on our trip and it was SO MUCH FUN to have so many of the cousins together bonding so hard. Family is the best! This hike was great, Liz knows how to pick them. It had it all; majestic mountain, wildflowers, frigid lake, huge boulders. I mean, what more could you want?? Conor got into Chester Lake with Seger and Evan, what a hunk. I just want to go back and backpack through the Rockies. Added that to my bucket list for sure! There's so much to explore and I want to do it all!
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.
