Saskatoon, Sk to Salmon Arm, B.C. - May 13, 14

We woke up this Wednesday morning to huge winds and cool weather. Good day to be in the van from, in the end, 8:30am -6pm. Atticus was happy to watch DVDs and Dillon had a morning nap before we stopped at our first rest stop (which, I'm pretty sure, the boys - especially Dillon - thought didn't come any too soon) in Fisk.

Fisk, Sk. is the home of my cousin, Carla, and her family. Their youngest son is named, Silas, so when I told Atticus that we were going to see Silas and their front door opened and Silas wasn't a big dog bounding out the door he showed a bit of disappointment. However, Silas and his big brother, Roman, had bunk beds so it evened out. 

We stopped for lunch in some unknown (to me) hick town. The only place Atti could play was the gravel parking lot, but since he loves picking up any and every rock as though they were the only ones left on the planet he had a pretty good time filling his pockets. 

Our next stop was Drumheller, AB. Normally you can walk up stairs and look out this big dinosaur's mouth, but it wasn't open so we had to settle for kicking the ball around and eating ice cream.

Since Atticus is still potty training, and I didn't want to just throw all his hard work out the window, I got him this fantastic travel potty. I wasn't sure if he'd be willing to use it or not, but as it turned out he had quite a bit of travel potty success. 

It. Was. A. Long. Day. But we finally made it to Calgary, AB. And as a reward we arranged for my aunt and uncle to have a dog for Atticus to chase relentlessly around the house (ok, they may have had this dog already). For some reason Atti decided that all dogs on this trip would be referred to as "Dog" regardless of actual name, so "Dog" (Halley) did her best to keep Atticus on the move and uncramp his van legs (so the adults could watch "American Idol").

Atti and Dill we're pretty intrigued with the aquarium. So much so that Atticus kept asking me (and cupping his hands) to, "Hold him?" I learned later on in the trip that Atticus wants to hold anything with breath. Anything.

Momma Bear's bed, Baby Bear's bed, and Baby Baby Bear's bed. But of course we all ended up in the same one by morning...

Stopped in Lake Louise for lunch. It was nice to get into the mountains. Real mountains, big snowy mountains. We found ourselves again in a parking lot of sorts, but as long as rocks...

and sticks are involved we're good.

Revelstoke, B.C.; the creme de la creme of rest stops. This was a great playground and since there was a highway on one side Atticus could watch the semi's (and announce each one) and a train track on the other side that enabled him to watch the trains go by. And it's always nice when there's a Tim Horton's nearby.

The Enchanted Forest is just outside Revelstoke. It's a children's fairy tale land and it's probably one of the most fun things Atticus got to do. It has all kinds of cute little houses to crawl into, fairy tale characters arranged in their story setting, and tree houses. We had the place to ourselves so Grandpa was free to just run to his little heart's content. And Atticus too. 

This is from 'The 3 Little Pigs' - the stick house.

'Old Mother Hubbard' ( I have a picture of Atticus and his Grandpa in it)

Super cute digger.

This treehouse isn't as tall as the next one, but it's made out of cedar, smells really nice, and has so many different levels and rooms and lookouts, and is made so well. I'd love to have one of these in my backyard for the kids (and adults when the kids aren't using it). When we buy a house here Vincent will have quite a project on his hands (especially if it doesn't come with trees).

I think this was the 3 Bear's house.

I believe this is the tallest treehouse in the world (that may not be correct, but I think I heard Mom say that). And if you could build something like this in our backyard (that we have yet to get) Vin I would be very impressed!

They have also recently built a Sky Trek Adventure Park for kids (5+) and adults. It wasn't open when we were there but the lady said it has all kinds of obstacles in the trees and takes 30 minutes to get thru. There are 3 different adult levels, but even the kid's one looks like a good time. Vin would love this place so we'll have to make a point of going back when we can try out the Sky Trek part. And as an added bonus dogs are allowed in the park, although probably not on the Sky Trek Adventure Park area...

We got to Salmon Arm, B.C. (ya, I don't know about that name either) after only another hour of travel, but even still Atticus kept asking if he could get out and play. We checked into our hotel and headed out for supper and a walk along the pier.

When we got back to the hotel Atticus was so tired from his marathon run up and down the pier that he climbed into bed on his own and fell asleep. His brother was another story.