Top Five for Family Fun

We’ve had a week full of fun antics and my girls and I will be sad to see them leave tomorrow. It’s amazing when I look back to think of all the great stuff we’ve done! Some of the highlights are uniquely Calgarian or Albertan, but other activities can be found in almost any community.

NUMBER FIVE: Go See a Movie

Our choice was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. This may have had something to do with our enjoyment of the experience, because we are all six of us serious Potterites. Plus we went with family friends who are also big fans, so the excitement pre- and post-movie was sky-high. In fact, we all came out of the theatre wishing we could walk right back in and see the movie again. We, however, had other plans.

NUMBER FOUR: Calgary Stampede Midway

Since my sister and her kids arrived just in time for the last day of the Calgary Stampede, we decided we’d hop on the C-Train and take the kids down to the midway. I had been to the Stampede several times when I first moved to Calgary, but I had never taken my kids (mostly because I really, really don’t like rodeos). But it is one of those things that you sort of have to do if you find yourself in Calgary during the first two weeks of July, so we saddled up and headed down, just to say we did. 

The kids were amazed by the size of the midway and enjoyed the (very expensive) rides, along with judicious samples of a tiny fraction of the weird and wild food the Stampede has to offer. I dragged everyone over to the Indian Village (which failed to impress) but we did get a gift of 36 unused midway tickets from a couple who were just leaving so our kids got to take a few more rides before we all headed home exhausted (the two older children fell asleep on the train ride home!)

NUMBER THREE: Backyard Trampoline

When my youngest was a toddler, my mother-in-law bought us a SpringFree trampoline from Costco. It was strangely serendipitous: we were saving for one ourselves, and had just cut out a $150 off coupon from the Costco magazine when she showed up for a visit with the same coupon in hand and an offer to buy it for us. Since the day it arrived, there hasn’t been a moment when I haven’t thanked her most heartily for that gift. It has been, hands-down, the best purchase ever made for our children. 

Even seven years later, our trampoline gets used every. single. day. I love it because it helps my kids get outdoors and be active, and they love it because it’s fun! They have done everything from bounce (for hours), flip, make up plays, make forts (underneath it, in winter), play games and even nap on it! And when I recently moved and cracked 2 of the cleats for it, the fantastic folks at SpringFree sent me replacement parts right away: for free! Can’t say enough good about the trampoline.

NUMBER TWO: Calaway Park

Well, it’s no Canada’s Wonderland, but Calaway Park has the distinction of being Western Canada’s largest outdoor amusement park. Even though we had been to the Stampede midway the day before, we figured the kids wouldn’t mind spending a second day on rides, and we were right. Calaway has the distinct benefit of being only a ten-minute drive from my home, and therefore we have season’s passes, which are excellent value. Because we are passholders, we had half-off coupons for our guests, so spending the day at Calaway ended up being a relatively inexpensive outing.

The Vortex (Calaway’s one big coaster) didn’t disappoint (as my youngest daughter braved it for the first time), and there were plenty of fun rides with short lines for everyone to enjoy. The one major disappointment was that the Mind Blaster, Calaway’s new, big ride was closed. AGAIN. We’ve been to Calaway Park close to a dozen times this summer, and this ride has been closed every. single. time. 

NUMBER ONE: West Edmonton Mall

Originally we were planning to head west to Banff for a few days with the kids, but when we checked out the weather forecast (cool and rainy) we realized we would be letting ourselves in for three days worth of cabin fever with four children. Not our idea of fun (nor is it anybody’s, I should think). So we decided to head to the capital of indoor fun: West Edmonton Mall. We spent two nights at the Fantasyland Hotel (conveniently located right in the mall itself), and included in our room rate were passes to Galaxyland where the kids rode rollercoasters and other rides for the third day in a row. 

By the end of our afternoon there, I think even the most hardy of them was feeling a bit nauseous! We had a nice dinner on the mall’s Bourbon Street (home to lots of places to eat and drink) with my bestie and then set the kids up in the room with a movie and finished the evening with grownup drinks in the hotel lounge.

But truly, the real highlight of our visit to WEM was our day at World Waterpark. Armed with passes to the park (included in our room rate) we settled in for a day of fun. And what a day it was! We decided to rent a poolside patio, and within seconds of arriving in our private, comfortable and centrally-located haven, we knew it was money well spent ($80 for the day, included table for four, two comfy loungers, six towels, four lockers and access to a private washroom). 

While the kids sampled the many mind-bending waterslides
and the raucous wavepool, we were able to relax on the loungers while keeping an eye on them as well. That’s not to say we didn’t take a turn on the slides ourselves. I sloshed down nearly every slide the park had to offer, and we both got noses full of water in the wavepool before we realized the kids were actually less afraid of the wild crush of bodies and innertubes than we were! We retreated to calmer shores (our patio was located conveniently next door to a hot tub) and just enjoyed the day. 

Because we had in/out privileges, we hit the food court for dinner, then trooped back to the patio where we met my friend and her daughter for a few more hours of fun. In the end, we closed the place down with the kids being chased out of the pool by staffers at 9:00 p.m.! It was a spectacular day, enjoyed by everyone. 

I hope that if you ever find yourself out in Wild Rose Country you get the chance to try out one or more of these fun family activities.