At last!! We made it to my Mom and Dad's apartment in Winnipeg! 3 days, 24 hours, close to a billion miles, I think, but we made it!
This is right when we parked the car in front of the their apartment.
Of course, their apartment building was easy to find because my mom was pacing out front - probably for a few hours. How fun to see her!! That's an understatement. She had dinner all ready for us - with all of our Grandma favorites. She had Canadian shirts for all the kids and chocolate Canadian coins.
In their apartment - my mom's picked up some Canadian pride
We chatted and chatted, and got a tour of her apartment building. Not ever being around apartments - this kind of blew my kids' minds. You get to ride in an elevator every day! You have a trash chute! You have underground parking! Minds blown. By the end of the week they had covered every square inch of that building, and walked around like they owned the place. They mildly stood out, since the minimum age to live there is 55, but that didn't stop them.
Logan taking my mom's "bag lady" cart around for a spin
in the parking garage. How else would you get your groceries up
to your apartment? Things I have never though of.
Our first night they took us to Assiniboine Park - which is a huge city park, bigger than Central Park.
Reunited! Totally worth the drive.
After the park we headed to my parent's mission office. We got to see everyone's desks, the big transfer board, the President's office, where they do all their skyping, and lots of miscellaneous coats, shoes, suits, etc.
The kids loved being in the office - and playing office! Bailey would call Emily,
while Tyler was faxing something.
I don't know why it looks like there is something in my mom's hair - there really wasn't!
It's a camera problem, not a hair problem. Sorry mom.
Now this is where the story gets weird - Derek was supposed to be on a business trip, right when we had planned to be in Winnipeg. Of all places his meeting could be, it was in Toronto. So, bright and early the first morning we were in Winnipeg, he flew to Toronto. This left me and the kids in Winnipeg with my parents for a whole week! We missed Derek, but we got to spend a way longer time in Winnipeg than we'd planned, since now he wasn't taking this time off.
Monday morning our first stop was the Dollar Store - we needed bug spray. I will say this, Winnipeg has it's share of mosquitos. It's share, and then some of everyone else's share too. There's a mosquito problem in that city. So off we go to the Dollar Store - just to get some bug spray. But, here's the thing - my kids forgot they had ever seen a Dollar Store in their lives and they kind of freaked out - they started grabbing stuff like crazy! We ended up spending $40 that trip, and didn't get any bug spray.
We left looking like the Dollar Store had thrown up on us.
After our wildly successful Dollar Store trip we headed to The Forks - the "it" place to be in Winnipeg. It's called The Forks because it's where 2 rivers - The Red and The Assiniboine rivers come together. Our first stop was an observation point so we had a great view of the city.
We at lunch at the awesome Forks Marketplace.
Next we got ready to board a boat tour that took us on both of the main rivers in Winnipeg.
Waiting to board
This picture makes me laugh because it sums up both my boys to a T -
if Logan doesn't want to smile, or anything else for that matter,
he's not going to. And Tyler's always there trying to be so helpful.
On the boat!
Tuesday was rainy and cold, so we decided it was the perfect day to go to the Children's Museum. My kids LOVED this place - we stayed for most of the day - and they could have stayed longer.
Tuesday night I took all of my family's laundry over to my mom's apartment. I thought when we were there for lunch or dinner, I'd throw in a load. Wednesday morning I came back to her apartment to find this:
A full week's worth of my family's laundry - DONE. In one night.
She must have been up all night switching and folding laundry.
Wednesday we headed to a Mennonite Community Visitor's Place - think Nauvoo for Mennonites. It was all preserved from years and years ago. We learned lots about Mennonites - that's because we pretty much started at knowing nothing about Mennonites.
On the way back to Winnipeg we found a little deliciousness called Tim Horton's. These are literally on every corner. My hotel was 3 miles from my mom's apartment, and there were 3 Tim Horton's between the 2 of us. They're famous for their donuts - and we agree, famous they should be. We consumed many a donut that week!
Thank you Tim Horton's!
Thursday morning we went to Birds Hill Lake. It was this great man made lake. It started out chilly, but by the afternoon it was lots warmer and the kids had a great time playing in the sand and water. Next, we explored the Winnipeg Forest. This thing is amazing - it's right in the middle of this giant city, but you feel like you're in the middle of the forest. It's 700 acres big. There's wildlife, trails, and quiet.
Friday we headed back to Assiniboine Park and went to the Nature's Children's Park. This was the best park. Ever. It had the most fun playground.
After the park we headed to the train that takes you all through Assiniboine Park.
Almost every afternoon we headed back to the hotel and logged some major pool hours.
Friday night Derek flew back to Winnipeg. We decided to celebrate Tyler's birthday a few days early to celebrate with my mom and dad. Tyler picked an Italian restaurant at The Forks for his birthday dinner.
Of course Grandma was on top of making sure Tyler had a birthday cake.
Happy early birthday teenager!
Saturday we headed to the Lake of the Woods. Wow is all I can say.
Ontario - 2nd Province
This lake is 1700 square miles big and has over 14,000 islands. 14,000. That kind of big is mind blowing. We went on a boat ride, the MS Kenora, and toured a tiny piece of this amazing lake.
On board the MS Kenora
After we got back to Winnipeg Saturday afternoon, we had to say goodbye. We were going to get a few hours down the road Saturday night. Was it hard to say goodbye!! We had such a great week, got spoiled like crazy, and got to spend days and days with my parents.
Thanks for the best week ever mom and dad!
We loaded up the family van, 4 kids, and a bunch of treats - and headed back on the road.
These kids - ready for another 24 hour drive home!
