Cartier Family: Family Vacation to Canada

I keep telling everyone that only a Canadian would plan a trip to Canada in February! -24 degrees C (which is 11 degrees F), is not my idea of a winter getaway! Don't you plan to go to warmer destinations this time of year? The moment Dan found out that his hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, would be playing in Calgary in February, he was determined to go and that is just what we did!

This would be the first time for the girls to go to Canada. And although Anne had seen her cousins a few times on Skype (and while they were here for her blessing when she was one month old), she really hadn't met them.
Since we were going by car, we opted to spend the night about halfway in Helena, MT. I was so excited about the great price I got on the hotel...and later found out why. It wasn't the nicest of the choices but that is OK. Anne and I got to go swimming after we ate dinner (to wear her out) and we also watched a movie in our room on the portable DVD player our neighbor let us borrow (thank goodness...it was a lifesaver in the car)!

We were able to do many fun things while there. We took the kids swimming one day. Anne was so brave! Not only did she play in the kiddy pool with Emma, she also went down a few slides (a big one with me and a few smaller ones alone) and also had fun playing in the wave pool and jumping into the water.

Daddy and uncle Rick took the older kids ice skating one day while the moms stayed home with the little ones and chatted. She had so much fun trying out her new skates!

However, Daddy said she spent more time swinging than actually skating. She's still trying to get used to it.

But the most fun of all was just being able to play with her cousins (that she loving referred to as "girl" and "guy" since she was having a hard time remembering their names. She almost had it figured out by the time we left).

Dan and Rick were able to go to a few hockey games. They opted to not go to the actual game that Dan planned the trip around since it was on Sunday, but they were OK with it since it was outside and freezing cold!

And each night after putting the kids to sleep (quite an ordeal since there was a total of 7 kids in the house), the adults would play games, eat snacks and just have fun!

On our way home, we decided to stay in Dillon, MT so we'd be that much closer to home (we technically could have just driven straight home since Sophie was sleeping so much due to teething, but we already had the reservation). This hotel was much nicer (Dan and I had stayed there before, so we knew it would be). Anne was worn out from having so much fun and ended up a little sick. After taking it easy for a while and having dinner, she decided she was up for the pool with Dad.

They got it all to themselves and were having so much fun! It took us a while to talk Anne into getting out!
The next morning, we had a yummy breakfast buffet and then headed out...only to turn around after 10 miles of driving since Anne couldn't find Miss Kitty. Luckily we were still so close! We also learned why you do not leave soda cans in your car when the temperature outside is below freezing!