Edmonton, Alberta

West Edmonton Mall is a definite need-to-see at least once in your lifetime place!  We have made several trips to West Ed Mall and always have a fantastic time!

For my son's, Pacey, 7th birthday rather than having a 'friend party' we opted on a trip to Edmonton for an Oilers game and of course to take in the mall.

We get to Edmonton were we surprised him and had his uncle fly in from Kelowna and had a few other friends join us for supper.  My husband's favourite restaurant is the Japanese Village in Edmonton so that is where we all met.  To see Pacey's face when his uncle walked around the corner and came and sat down with us was absolutely priceless.  

Japanese Village is an exciting place to dine as they put on an exceptional show while cooking your meals right in front of you.  It's a bit expensive, but a great experience.

As we were finishing up our supper a bunch of very good looking girls started filing in and they were all wearing Oilers jerseys with 69 on their backs.  The guys had their eye-candy fulfillment.  When the birthday cake was brought out all the girls joined in singing and a few of them came over and gave Pacey a hug and he got a picture with them.  He was so embarrassed, but all the men were fully loving it.  

When we exited the restaurant a limo was just pulling up in front and a few girls came out behind us and asked Pacey if he would like to go for a ride with them around the block in the limo.  Before the chauffeur even had the door to the limo fully opened the men were jumping in without even asking if they could tag along.  So the boys all went for a ride with around downtown Edmonton in a limo with some sexy showgirls.  A 7th birthday never to be forgotten!!

The next day we hit up the mall to go to GalaxyLand, the world's largest indoor amusement park.  With dozens of rides for all ages and a triple loop roller coaster, the fun never ends.  I think we must have did every ride two or three times until we were all exhausted and still had to have energy for the big game that night.  

From the mall we were off to the Oilers vs. Detroit game.  If you or your kid loves watching NHL games, I must say that it is a rush to be at a live game - expensive, but another one of those things that if you are a fan you need to go to at least one live game to feel the thrill and excitement!  Although for me, I would rather watch it on tv as I like having the commentators explain to me what is going, but I a have truly enjoyed the live games we have gone to, just find that they are costly.

Now, whenever we go to Edmonton we always have to have a full day to spend at the mall World WaterPark.  This is by far one of my most favourite places to go ever!  It is like a tropical paradise, being the world's largest indoor wave pool with the tallest indoor permanent bungee tower (which I still have not got up the courage to try, but I will one day) and some many unique and crazy fun waterslides.  I could spend a week at that place and never get bored!

We usually do a round of mini-golf at the Putt 'n' Glow, it's a funky glow-in-the-dark mini-golf course.

The mall also has a lot of other great attractions like the indoor Ice Palace, bumper boats, Deep Sea Derby, and a great IMAX theatre which is always a good time and let's not forgetting about the shopping and eating on Bourbon Street.

When I was a kid we stayed in the FantasyLand Hotel right in the mall and they have the coolest theme rooms.  We had bought the coolest game while there, it was called West Edmonton Mall and it was a knock off of Monopoly but the board was the mall, it's crzazy how much the mall has changed over the years looking back at the game board and going to the mall now.

TeXaS

In 2007 my husband, Ryan was working on the rigs in Texas, just south of Dallas so for Father's Day my son, Pacey and I planned a surprise trip down there to visit him for a few days to surprise him for Father's Day.  The night before we were flying I ended up telling him so that I could get directions to where exactly he was and which hotel he was staying at.  He was shocked!

This was a trip of a lifetime.  We flew down to Dallas and rented a convertible car with GPS.  I was so nervous and had major butterflies about driving in Dallas.  Without the GPS we wouldn't have been able to make it out of the airport let alone out of Dallas, the driving was insanely intense.  Driving through 10 lanes of one-way traffic was nerve-wrecking.  Even with the GPS a did take one wrong turn, I think we were driving in 'the hood' it was scary, but got turned around and took a bit to find a way back onto the main road but got there safe and sound eventually.

While Ryan was working during the day Pacey and I would set out on adventures with our top down and go where ever the wind took us!

An a couple of hours of touring around the middle of no where we finally found the Dinosaur Valley State Park we were looking for - it was nothing great and I would not recommend going to see.  It was no near comparison to what Drumheller in Alberta has to offer.

A must see was the amazing Wildlife Adventure.  It's a massive drive-thru zoo where you drive your own vehicle through a beautifully scenic valley with exotic animals coming up to your vehicle.  We had giraffes, zebras and deer sticking their heads right in the car through the windows and licking us.  There were rhino's, jaguars and so many other species.  We even got to see two giraffes getting the deed done - wowsers I've never seen something so big and large enter something so small and it was so continuous and only a few meters from us.  Once at the top of hill it is the mid-point of the drive-thru zoo with a gift shop and snack bar with an incredible view of the entire valley of animals.

One exciting day spent at Six Flags Over Texas with so many rides we didn't know where to began.  We got to meet Bugs Bunny (one of my childhood favs), Daffy Duck, Batman and many other awesome cartoon characters.

As I am a hardcore scrapbooker and I like to always get at least one postcard everywhere we go and then just take hundred of pictures as well, we went into every single gift shop to try to find a postcard.  By the end of the day we had been in every gift shop and not one had postcards, as I am talking with the cashier Pacey asks me if he can get this giant colourful looney tunes lollipop and I said sure and kind of shooed him off while I was having the cashier call around to find out where I could get a postcard.  After finding out that they don't have postcards anywhere I was in a frenzy and grabbed Pacey's hand and stormed out and we were ready to leave the park.

Now the entrance to the park had security and the scanners and right after we get through security Pacey asks me to open his lollipop and I realized I did no pay for it (it was a $12 sucker), I panicked and told him to walk fast to the car.  To this day he still reminds me of how I stole a giant lollipop.  And we all know the saying "Don't Mess with Texas" - well I messed with Texas and got away with it!