We have a 7 year old, a 4 year old, and a 1 year old, and this is what they find fun in Edmonton on the weekends. We try to do something interesting every weekend.
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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:
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)
