Swimming at Terwillegar Recreation Center

Terwillegar Rec Centre

Over the Christmas Holidays the kids and I tried to go swimming at as many pools as possible.  The Edmonton area is home to a lot of new fun pools, one of the closest to us is the city run Terwillegar Community Rec Centre.  This is a very good facility, although a little pricey ($23 for 2 kids and an adult).  In addition to a pool it also has full workout facilities, a large indoor track, gymnasiums, a great playground for kids under 10 (best for under 7 probably) and many multi purpose rooms.  And a second cup and DQ/Orange Julius to boot.  The kids love it, and like all of the new city facilities it is bright with well used natural lighting.

The pool features:

• river ride - pretty fast current, keeps the kids entertained for hours
• wave pool - also lots of fun
• baby pool - the kids are getting too old to go here, but it is a nice shallow warm pool with lots of toys
• water slide - kids can't go on when there are two kids and only one adult, but it is pretty fun too
• steam room - can't go to with the kids but it is nice
• hot tub - fairly large, you can watch people diving from it which the kids like
• large pool - there is a 50 m lane swim which can  be (and usually is) broken up into several smaller pools, there is also a very high diving board and several smaller ones

View Larger Map

Resources

• official site
• Edmonton journal photo gallery
• YouTube tour

Festival of Trees

We went to the Festival of Trees the weekend before last, it was a lot of fun for the kids.  It was held at the Shaw Conference Center which is fun for the kids to see in itself.

Shaw Conference Center
View Larger Map

There were a lot of little booths and games for the kids to do activities/crafts at, and live dancing displays, along with TONS of Ginger Bread Houses and elaborately decorated Christmas Trees.  The kids favourite stations were:

• meeting Santa - there was a big line but this one was free, which was nice
• making a miniature Christmas tree - they couldn't put on all of the ornaments themselves, but they loved making a craft
• decorating a gingerbread man - there weren't a ton of toppings but the kids loved putting on the icing and m & m's and chowing down

Resources

• Festival Website
• Flickr Stream

On the Way Down to the Festival

Trees

Miniature Craft Tree the Kids Made

Gingerbread Man

Green Tree

Red Tree

More Trees

Tobogganing By Ormsby School

Took the kids tobogganing/sledding at the hill by Ormsby School today.  It isn't a huge hill (about 15 seconds sledding top to bottom), but has a large square plateau shaped area with four sides that can be used for sledding.  It is not too busy, but is used enough that there are some good well tread runs for the kids to sled down.  There is good parking at the school, and the hill is just north of the school.

Walking to the Hill

View From the Top of the Hill

Resources

• City Recommended Hills
• Other Options

A Visit to the Calgary Zoo

This weekend we went on a family mini vacation to Calgary and Banff.  Saturday we made the usual trip to the Calgary Zoo and as always it was lots of fun.  It was a pretty pricey entry at $71 for our whole family, but definitely delivers value for money.

The new attraction at the zoo is the Penguin exhibit, right at the entrance of the zoo.  It is pretty impressive, there are penguins outside the exhibit playing you can see close up.  After lining up you can walk through a chilled habitat with several types of penguins playing.  The most impressive aspect of the exhibit is how close you can get to the penguins, literally almost touching distance.  I took one video of the penguins diving into the water, pretty cool.

The rest of the usual areas of the zoo are also still great, the Dinosaur area which contains realistic Dinosaur statues, the Canadian Wilderness with Canadian animals, and areas for Africa, South America, and Asia.  The Gorilla habitat was very cool as was seeing how huge the hippos were close up.

Hippo Under Water

T Rex in the Dinosaur Area

Gorilla Habitat

Resources

• web site

Birthday Party at GalaxyLand

On the weekend we went to a birthday party at West Edmonton Mall in Galaxyland.  The family rented a party room (Cosmo’s Party Launch Pad) to have cake, open presents, and eat a meal.  The kids were also able to go play in the Toddler Play Area, which we thought was called Todderland, but seems to be just "The Play Area."  In the birthday brochure they reference it as Galaxy Kids Playpark.  This area is great for younger kids with several ball pits, climbing structures, a mountain that leads up to long slides and other attractions.  It is good too, as with only one way in and out there is an easy spot for parents to watch without fear of losing their children.

View From the Mountain in the Kids Play Park

Entrance to the Kids Play Park

Kids Play Park

Party Pads - 3 Room You Can Rent for Parties

Resources

• West Edmonton Mall Party Booking Brochure
• Flickr Galaxyland pictures

Edmonton Corn Maze

Our route through the maze (on last years satellite image).

View Corn Maze 9/16/2012 2:49pm in a larger map

On Saturday we took the kids with Nana and Papa to the Edmonton Corn Maze, on the very west end of Edmonton.  It was busy, totally packed to the point you had to drive around and wait for someone to leave just to get parking.  The maze is big enough to make it challenging, but not too tough that we got majorly lost.  Including a large break in the middle for snacks it took us an hour and 38 minutes to make our way through the maze with a total walking distance of 3.07 KM.  The corn is very tall, maybe 8 feet at most places and the kids loved running through the maze.  There are other attractions at the maze too, a hay bale mountain, a petting zoo, a small race track, and a corn cob train, but the most popular seemed to be a giant jumping pillow.  Admission was a little pricy at $10 an adult and $8 for kids older than 5.

Where Getting Lost Means Finding Fun

Start of the Maze

View of the Maze From the Bridge in the Middle of the Maze

Resources

• official web site
• facebook page
• Prairie Gardens has a maze too

Family Hike: Wedgewood Ravine Beavers Are... Gone?!?!

We went on a family hike to see the beavers at the bottom of Wedgewood Ravine today.  Wedgewood Ravine is sandwiched between the Hawkstone area and Cameron Heights.  An old closed road runs through it down to a beaver dam and lodge, and there is a hiking trail running along the creek towards the river too, though that is less ideal for kids.  Usually we hike back up the North side and stop at the playground on the way back to where we park.  This is always a good hike because the kids are guaranteed to see a beaver dam and lodge, and one time we even saw a beaver swimming around, and eventually heard his warning slap...  However, it looks like the city (I am guessing?) has destroyed the dam and drained the beaver pond. Hopefully they come back again next year?

View of the Ravine on the Hike Down

The Destroyed Dam

The Empty Pond and Lodge

Bridge On the Cameron Heights Side

Jurassic Forest

Lisa and the kids went to Jurassic Forest near Gibbons (about 45 minutes north of Edmonton) the other day.    We've gone here a couple of times before and it is always a good time, though for me about one visit a year is enough.

The park features very nice wooden walk ways through a forested area with 23 different kinds of animatronic dinosaurs.  They are realistic enough that our kids thought they were real when they were very young.  The park doesn't feel cheap at all, they have done a very nice job building a quality attraction where everything is new and fresh.  There is also a large sand playground (with buried dinosaur bones like Wolf Willow Playground) the children love to play in and places to buy souvenirs and food.  Daily admission for a family is under $40, making it somewhat pricy but I think definitely worth it.

Resources

• official web site
• Facebook
• Jurassic Forest dinosaur information blog
• blog of someone who worked on building Jurassic Forest
• another blog review of Jurassic Forest with a ton of pictures

The Kids Take this Warning Very Seriously

Animatronic Triceratops

Fighting Dinosaurs

The Big Guy

Playground Fun

Nice Walk Ways

Kites Over Callingwood Edmonton Kite Festival!

While stopping by the Callingwood branch of the library today we noticed at least 50 kites in the air over a nearby field.  It could only be...  Kites over Callingwood!  We walked around and checked out the kites, very impressive, lots of booths and activities for kids and of course a ton of kites flying!  And the free admission was nice too, of course.  This was the 20th year anniversary of the event.  It was a little chilly, but the wind probably helped the kites.

Kites Over Callingwood

Spray Park is Empty Due to Cold Weather

Panorama Shot Showing the Kites

Resources

• Kite Festival list
• Callingwood Lymburn community league page (organizers)

You Pick Fun at Happy Acres U Pick

Big Sign at the Entrance

This weekend we wanted to find a U Pick  in or near Edmonton to pick some fresh vegetables.  With a little research, these were the first websites we found:

• Google's #1, Edmonton Countryside/Happy Acres (actual site)
• big list of U-picks
• Dunvegan Gardens
• Riverbend Gardens

We went with the first one as it seemed to specialize in u pick whereas the other two seemed to be more farms that had some U Pick features.  Happy Acres is just south of Spruce Grove about 20 minutes west of Edmonton, so a pretty quick drive for us.

The route and where to park is well marked once you get close.  When you arrive at Happy Acres,  there is a sign telling you to check into the office.  When you go in they give you a map of the farm and a price list showing which fruits and vegetables are ready to be picked and at what price.

Map of the Farm

Inside there are buckets for berries and outside there are wagons you can take around to load up as well.  Most other people there seemed to have brought their own bags too, but we just took one bucket with us.  The raspberries were pretty much all gone so we went for a small summer squash, a large zucchini, and some small carrots.  The total price was $9, probably more expensive than the grocery store, but a lot more fun for the kids to "pick" up.  Happy Acres also featured a lot of other attractions for kids, a playground, and ice cream shop, and lots of animals in cages and wandering around.  Everyone had a great time.

Wagons

Goat on a Chair

Fruits and Vegetables Were Well Marked

There Were Lots of Benches and Chairs for the Kids to Rest In

The Kids Were Very Impressed To See How Cauliflower and Brocolli Is Grown

Ice Cream Was $2.50 for  Kids Cone ($3.50 for an Adult cone)

Family Hike at Mactaggart Sanctuary

View Family Hike 11903-13063 23 Ave NW in a larger map

We went for a hike at Mactaggart Sanctuary today, a natural area on the south side of Edmonton (just off 23rd).  I had run here before and had seen a lot of cool beaver dams and interesting vistas.  However, once we got going the mosquitos were crazy in the forest (there are a ton of twisting trails through the ravine) and we had to go up and walk along the forest edge where the bugs were not as bad.  In the end the kids tired out fairly quickly and took turns riding on my shoulders but it was still a fun time.  Some more details:

• we parked here
• there are asphalt paths almost entirely surrounding MacTaggart Sanctuary, here are some details about the Twin Brooks side on the east

The history of the Sanctuary

Is this one of the Twin Brooks?

Thick Forest Everywhere!

This is the Farthest South We Got

After we Ran Away From the Mosquitos, We walked Along This Path

Heritage Days 2012

We went to Heritage Days on holiday Monday, and as always it was lots of fun.  In my opinion, this is the best festival Edmonton has to offer, the entire park is filled with pavilions and food tents, with dance and music demonstrations everywhere.

We parked at Laurier Park in the zoo parking lot and walked over the footbridge to Hawrelak Park.  The good thing about parking here is there is always lots of parking spots available.  The bad thing is it is about a mile from parking lot to the bridge.  On such a hot day, followed by walking around the festival for the rest of the day, it was a little long for the kids.  If it was any cooler I think it would have been perfect, though.   There was also public transit park and ride from lots of locations in Edmonton that delivered you right into the middle of the festival and bike parking for those who biked in.

The price of food seems to be going up at Heritage Days, Taiwan was charging 7 tickets (between $6 and $7) for bubble tea, which seemed excessive.  We bought $38 worth of tickets for our family of 5 and it seemed sufficient, for several drinks and meals and snacks and a Chocolate Covered Banana from Peru for the kids.

Dancing

Viking Ship

Footbridge to Hawrelak Park

Bike Parking

Ready to Go

Some of the Tents