Our Family Day Weekend

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday was Family Day here in Alberta...what exactly is Family Day?? Here you go (thanks to Wikipedia):

It is celebrated on the third Monday in February each year, thereby coinciding with the US holiday Presidents Day. The holiday was first celebrated in 1990. Alberta was the only province in Canada to have a statutory holiday in February, until it was proposed in Saskatchewan beginning in 2007.

The holiday was proclaimed by Lieutenant Governor Helen Hunley, on the advice of her premier, Don Getty, in response to a drug scandal involving the premier's son, Dale Getty, who had been arrested for possession of cocaine and was revealed to have cocaine addiction. Premier Getty was embarrassed by the revelation, and admitted publicly that he had neglected his family, saying that it was also important for all Albertans to take more care with their families.

Getty came in for considerable criticism at the time. Many people felt he had abused his position to compensate for his feelings of guilt with respect to his own family. Also, many employers felt that an additional statutory holiday was an unnecessary fiscal burden. In response to the criticism, the holiday of Heritage Day was downgraded to a civic holiday, meaning employers are not required to observe this day. Under Alberta law, the employer may choose to observe Heritage Day as a general holiday, under which rules applying to general holiday pay will be used.

So, now that you know what the holiday is all about, here is how we spent our Family Day Weekend.

Saturday, we did some shopping, and Hannah got to ride in the shopping cart by herself! She was so excited. Too bad she wanted to grab EVERYTHING we put in the cart!!! We're going to have to work on her grocery store manners.

Sunday, we ate our breakfast (Ella cleaned up Hannah's mess off the floor), and we talked to Craig's parents over the camera phone. In the afternoon, we went to the playground (aka Tot Lot), and had fun on the swings and slide. In between eveything, there was a curling tounament on all weekend, so we watched a fair amount of that too.

Monday, we went over to the Chinook Centre Mall to get Hannah a new car seat, and then we took off on a road trip. Here are some of the photos we took...Enjoy!!!

~ The Canadian Rockies ~

Just west of Calgary is the beginning of the Canadian Rockies. Driving through on the way to Lake Louise and Banff was breathtaking! The mountains make Mt. Washington seem like an ant hill!!! I do miss the White Mountains, but these are in a league of their own. While driving through, I even saw a big horned sheep!!!! Too bad I couldn't snap a picture of him fast enough...oh well.

~ Lake Louise~

I must say that this is one of the most amazing places I have ever been!!! The mountains were beautiful!! They say that when the snow melts, the water in the lake is a green-blue color from all of the minerals. I can't wait to go back to see! Hannah was a trooper through all of our photos...she loves the cold and the snow, and only fussed when it was time to get back in the car.

~ Downtown Banff ~

We stopped in Banff for a little while on our way home. I was dying for a cup of coffee, and Hannah needed a bottle, so we were off to Starbucks! While there, Craig pointed out that the Taxis have ski racks...what will they think of next???

Well, that was our weekend. I hope you all had a great Family Day/ President's Day!!!

Have a great week, and please be sure to leave some comments for us!!!!

Take care

~ Sharon ~