Swimming at Servus Place

Servus Place with Finger Smudge

I went to the gym at Servus Place on Sunday morning and went back in the afternoon and brought the kids.  This way I only had to pay for admission once, as Servus uses the daily bracelet method of verifying your admission.  Admission for me was $10, and the kids was $4.50 each, so $19 for the three of us to access all of the facilities.

We had been told that kids are allowed on the track on Sundays between 1 and 3 so we went up there first and the kids enjoyed running around for a couple of laps.  There weren't a lot of other kids on the track though, and none as young as mine (4 and 6) so it was a little awkward feeling.

Running on the Track

View From the Track, 3 Fields Below

After running we had snacks in the leather chairs by the restaurants (they have Starbucks, Booster Juice, and Skybox Grill is somewhere else) before swimming.  We also watched a little bit of an indoor soccer game that was going on, it was pretty impressive how many events were being held at Servus place, soccer games, hockey games, fitness classes, etc.

Watching Soccer at Servus Place

The swimming pool was nice, the highlight was the river ride, but it was much slower than Terwillegar or Millenium Place.  The funny thing was it was fairly shallow in the River Ride itself, good for little kids, but to get there you had to go through the deep end, bad for little kids (though I guess there were direct stairs too).  They also had two waterslides (1 more than Terwillegar, 2 more than Millenium).  The pool area also has two large hot tubs, a steam room, and a sauna.  The biggest weakness is lap swimming, they only have one lane and it is crammed right in with everything else.

Servus Place Pool

Resources

• official site
• waterslide pov (pretty cool)

Family Swim Time at Millenium Place

Over the holidays we went to Millennium Place for a swim.  The kids love it because of the large warm pool and the water attractions, and because they can play in the playground after.  At $20 for single visit family admission, it is quite a bit cheaper than Terwillegar, but still a little pricey.  There is a folksy rural theme used throughout the building which is somewhat entertaining.

Features include:

• wave pool
• separate lap pool
• river ride
• large kids area with splashing bucket
• huge inflatable train or something for older kids to climb on in the deep pool
• steam room and sauna

Outside of the pool, Millennium Place also has:

• kids playground
• restaurants (Extreme Pita and a burger place)
• teen rooms (with foosball, no less!)
• hockey rinks
• various other kids activities
• full gym and running track
• public skating rink
• Running Room

Front of Millennium Place

Pool Area

Sign Explaining the Theme

Another Pool Picture

Eating Area with the Gym Above

Resources

• Strathcona County Page
• Running Room page

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