This past Saturday saw us head out to Banff National Park for Christmas In The Rockies. This festivity marks the end of WinterStart which is a festival in Banff and Lake Louise. The activities ran from 1pm - 4pm and we happened to get there early so we headed to Lake Louise to see if we could get some photos for our Christmas card there.
Penelope was hungry when we arrived so we hung out in Chateau Lake Louise while she ate and both kids got changed.
Penelope was not liking the cold bottle that was waiting for her. So while Greg went to warm it up, I snapped a few photos of her. This was the best one that turned out. I love the expression on her face!
Here is one of Finley looking pretty cute while she waited for Penelope to finish eating
A few photos of Finley + Penelope together. It is near impossible to get any photos of them together where they both are co-operating. These were my 2 favourites taken in the lobby of the hotel. The World Cup of Downhill skiing was hosting a event at Lake Louise and so it was full of dignitaries and athletes. Lindsay Vonn, who won the event, was staying there but we didn't get to see her.
This was Penelope getting all bundled up to go outside again. She looked so cute and I got a tonne of her like this that turned out really well. She certainly looks good in pink.
After a pretty much disastrous photo shoot at Lake Louise, we headed back into Banff for Christmas In the Rockies and more importantly to meet Santa Claus. There is no photo of the girls with Santa in this blog because I have no idea how to scan the photo into the computer so it will have to wait for another blog but Finley LOVED it.
The next stop after Santa was the Christmas Ornament Making station. Greg and Finley made the above ornament for our upstairs tree. I didn't get any photos of them doing it as it was complete chaos with absolute no order whatsoever but this was the best I could do! Finley had a blast and quite loves her work of art - as do we!
Next was the Gingerbread cookie station. Finley loved this station of course. She was less then impressed when it was time to go. I helped her with this and took photos as Greg was feeding Penelope.
Finley very much enjoyed the cookies as you can tell from her hands and face! There was also face painting, guys making things out of balloons and free popcorn but the lineups for these were 3x as long as Santa and not moving quickly at all. So we skipped them. Maybe next year when both kids are older we will attempt to stand in those lines.
In the above collage of photos, the first one is of the hay rides they were offering down Banff Ave. We passed on these as they were packed and what were we to do with our stroller? The second is of Greg and Finley walking down and Finley admiring everything that is Christmas. The last is a photo of a real life deer right by our vehicle. We were getting more clothing for the Santa Parade and we saw him. It was pretty cool and something you rarely see in the town of Banff anymore!
Greg and Finley waiting for the Santa Claus Parade of Lights to start. We got there at around 5 and the parade started at 530. I went into Evelyn's Coffee which was right at this spot where the above photo was taken and I had to wait nearly 30 minutes for my hot chocolate. Why are there only 2 people working on the night of the Santa parade when it was VERY CHILLY outside?
Banff Ave all lit up for Christmas and people getting ready for the parade. There were a TONNE of people there!
More lights on Banff Ave
The parade's FINALLY starting!
Greg looking excited and Finley looking tired and cold. All this changed when she saw all the lights and floats
Little kids dressed as gingerbread people singing Christmas carols
Girl Guides of Canada float
Another well done float
This guy gave Finley a high five which was awesome - except she wanted to now high five everyone and not everyone wanted to high five her
A huge inflatable Santa - Finley was beyond speechless
Another one that took Finley's breath away
Santa Claus was just after the firetruck and my camera died. I was not very happy that I missed Santa CLaus and that I wasted my battery on so many photos that did not turn out.
We loved Christmas In The Rockies and look forward to making this a Christmas Tradition in the Florizone household. We had a great time!
The parade ended around 6pm where we then went to the Elk + Oarsmen Restaurant + Pub. The place was crazy - thankfully we were smart enough to make reservations. The food was great and it was nice, cozy + warm on the inside!
We highly recommend you check it out one year - it's worth it!!
I think I may do that, Banff is so close yet Adrian and I have only made it out there once together I think, and maybe not even..... how sad is that. it would be nice to go with other people though too....
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