The Fuhr Five: Our American Thanksgiving, Canadian Style

For Thanksgiving week this year, we celebrated the American holiday by leaving the country. Aaron's parents are living in Canada right now, so we headed up north to spend the holiday with them.

It was the first time we had been to Calgary and we were happy to discover what a cool city it was.

We were able to spend a full week there, giving us time to get out and explore the city and surrounding mountains as well as time to relax with the family.

We spent a day in Banff and Lake Louise, playing in the snow and seeing the sights.

Ethan got a few lessons from Daddy and Uncle Curtis on snowball fights.

Which he then tried out on Grandpa.

We explored downtown, saw the view from Calgary tower and walked through the great parks in the city.

Kels, Ethan and Grandma Dolly didn't care about the height of Calgary Tower, so looking down 600 ft didn't bother them!

Kelsey doesn't have depth percpetion yet, so her amazement is understandable.

I'm not sure why E and G Baby loved standing on the glass so much, it was scary! :)

One evening we went to a hockey game with fantastic seats.

It was a great night for E, getting to watch the zamboni clean up and getting to meet the mascot!

I think Kels must have had a good time too because she did a great job staying up way past her bedtime, which is tough for her.

We spent lots of time during the week playing in the yard in the snow or sledding down nearby hill.

The first time we went to play in the snow, E looked up at us and said "skis?". We were so happy he remembered skiing in Alaska last spring, but sad we didn't have his skis with us.

It was Kels' first time sledding and she enjoyed it! Well, she enjoyed the actual sliding down the hill, she did not enjoy the waiting in the cold in between runs.

We discovered this trip that E still loves the winter and everything about it - snow, bundling up in hats and mittens, and cold wind in his face...

We also learned that Kels does not love the winter. She hates hat and mittens and was not a fan of cold wind in her face.

She doesn't even like having to wear socks in the house. She is my little Southern baby, for sure.

But E did make the cold a little better for her by showing her how tasty snow is.

And turns out, she loves to eat it as much as he does.

Aaron and I were happy that we were able to sneak in a day of hiking through a forest up to a mountain lake and playing outside as a family.

Days like that were our favorite in Alaska and it felt good to get a snow day in this winter, since winters in Houston are 75 degrees...

Kels even had fun out in the snow that day!

A bonus for all of us was stopping by a local brewery on the way home. The beer was great and E thought the hot chocolate was even better.

The rest of the week was spent snuggled up at the house, enjoying spending time with the family.

We spent lots of time putting puzzles together,

playing with cars,

walking up and down and up and down the stairs,

playing airplanes,

and just hanging out.

A special bonus of the trip was that Aaron and I got some much needed kid free time - Curtis and Aaron snuck away for a day to ski, Lorrie and I spent an evening at a concert, and Aaron, Curtis and I even got a night out at the pubs.

Somewhere in all that business we also sat down and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.

I kept telling E it was Thanksgiving, so a special day, which I don't think he understood. I eventually just told him being thankful is like being be happy.