Our Day at "The" Mall

I didn't think that we would spend the whole day at the mall in Edmonton. Honestly, how long do I usually hang around at the mall at home? Not much! Well today we went to the mall and walked for the first 50 minutes for exercise. What a fool I was for suggesting that dumb idea. After that I wanted to pick up a couple of things and by the time I had found a couple of stores and had done a little shopping I was about ready to drop. If you walk all the way around factoria mall, all the little hallways included, it is half a mile long. This mall has to be at least 20 times that, or more. Dan and I came back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours before we went back for dinner.

It was pretty fun though. Today we had lunch in one of the two food courts, I had Indian food and Dan had Taco Time. And for dinner we ate at Jungle Jims. Not as good as the food we ate yesterday, but it was okay.

Here is some West Emonton Mall Trivia:

It is the world's largest shopping and amusement complex, encompassing 483,000 square meters (5.3 million square feet)--that's equivalent to 115 football fields.

West Edmonton Mall has:

Over 800 stores--including a large Lululemon store with a fantastic new manager
Over 100 resturants and places to eat
58 entrances
21 movie screens, including an imax theatre
325,000 light bulbs
Five postal codes
The world's largest parking lot (parking for 20,000 vehicles)
the world's largest indoor amusement park
the world's largest water park, covering five acres and containing 2.7 million gallons of water
The world's largest indoor lake (400 feet long)
The world's tallest indoor bungee jump

West Edmonton Mall Includes:

A 400 room hotel and conference center
A Medical Center
A Dental Center
A Post Office
An 18-hole miniture golf course
A Sealand attraction with live performing seals
Theme Streets; i.e. Bourbon Street with 12 major resturants, Chinatown including a Far East market, Europa Boulevard resembling an old European city, and two Main Streets
An NHL-sized ice rink, where the Edmonton Oilers (a professional hockey team) practice
A Casino
A bowling alley
Scooter Rentals for those who don't want to walk

West Edmonton Mall:

Cost over $1 billion to construct
Employs 23,500 people
Uses the same amont of electric power as a city of 50,000
Attracts 22 million people a year (over 60,000 per day)

All of the above is under one roof. Wow!
Now maybe the need for a nap halfway through the day makes more sense.

The weather was interesting today. In the morning it was very sunny and warm, later on in the day a storm system blew in and brought a couple of funnel clouds on the other side of Edmonton. Yikes! Tornadoes in Canada, Who Knew?

Tomorrow, after going to the Edmonton Temple, we will be driving into the south of Alberta where there has been a ton of rain and problems with flooding. I don't know how close we will be to the flooding. I think it is in the next town over, but the weather is supposed to be rain for the next few days. We will see how it goes.

Not alot of action to report for today(except for alot of walking, but we will be on the road again tomorrow and will let you all know how it goes.

Miss you all,
Dan and Nic

Sunday Flies By

We have had a very hectic Sunday. Because I wouldn't let Dan set an alarm for this morning---we overslept. Yes, for all you doubters out there, Dan slept until 8:45 this morning and woke in a panic and a rush. We had to be checked out, packed, dressed and ready for church by 9:30. Even though I said it would be a piece of cake, there was continued rushing and panicing mode. We made it in plenty of time, we were at least 9 minutes early for the meeting and beat everyone but the missionaries and the Branch Presidents family there.

The meeting was fun, there were only 36 people there in total, including 5 visitors,2 missionaries, and the babies. The branch had only one young man who was absent, 3 young women, and about 8 in the primary. In RS. there were 3 visitors and only 4 other ladies there, including the teacher and president. It was quite an experience to paarticipate in such a small group.

The missionaries were fun also, one was from Kaysville, Utah, and the other one was from Ogden. The one from Ogden is going home on Wednesday and was one of the speakers in Sacrament meeting. He did a good job. Dan said this same missionary gave both the opening and the closing prayer in priesthood meeting (because he was going home). Very funny to visit with them.

After church we changed clothes in the church bathroom and hit the road again. We headed towards Edmonton, Alberta. We thought it would take about 4 hours, but we made it in just over 2 1/2. We found our hotel and walked across the street to the big mall for dinner. All the shops were closed, (I wasn't going to go shopping on Sunday!) but we were starved so we had dinner in a place called Moxie's.

After dinner we walked the mall briskly to find lulu and check out the lay of the land for tomorrow, and after about 50 minutes we had only covered about 2/3 of it. There is alot to see. And we will have the whole day tomorrow to check it out.

After the mall we took a practice drive to the Alberta Temple. I am glad we did cause it isn't very far away, but it could be a little tricky with regular business traffic on the streets. We stopped and took pictures because the weather was beautiful and you can't take for granted that Tues. will be nice.

Since we got back we have just relaxed and watched a little TV. Dan is reading one of the several books he needs to read for business. But as a treat for Fathers Day I bought him a copy of "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest". He is very excited to start reading it when he has more business reading done. I don't know if I mentioned the fact that I downloaded the book to my I pod on Wed. evening after we got to Langley, and had finished the book Fri. morning before we left the hotel. It was very good! I loved the characters, and the suspense.

Well that is it for today.
Love you, miss you!
Nic and Dan

Saturday News

This morning we got up in our beautiful B&B at the base of Mt. Robson and bid farewell to the sight of the great mountain. The information booklet said that the mountain is clear of clouds only 11 or 12 days a year. We were fortunate enough to have two of them.

We drove through Jasper National Forest and stopped in the town of Jasper. It was so cute. All a big tourist trap, but beautiful. After Jasper we went to see Lake Maligne. It is so beautiful and a very scenic drive up the canyon. There is a spot you could stop and see where the river was on it's way to making a mini Grand Canyon. It was so deep, and narrow, and curvy. I know the pictures won't do it justice.

At the end of the road was the lake. It took about an hour to get there but it was so worth it. The mountains around the lake
were just gorgeous. And along a couple of ridges they were lined up in a row and looked almost like a serrated knife. They were so pointy and sharp. We stopped along the way and took plenty of pictures, did a little hiking, and had a little something to eat. So we managed to enjoy many different things today. Not necessarily smelling roses, but there was something in the mountains that smelled so good---we just couldn't track down what it was. Maybe next time we smell it.

We did run into a little rain today, and the mountains smelled so good! All fresh and green. The smell of the wet grass and pine and roads is so good. But as it rains and you are walking along, if it is raining hard enough for puddles to start forming and water to be dripping off the trees--that same amount of water is dropping on the top of your head. If the trees are dripping, so is the water running off eyebrows, ears and necks. It was so cold for a few minutes and we were soaked through. Walking fast doesn't help avoid any wetness. And we were having fun any way.

We are spending the night in Hinton, and it is a small little town. I will just put it like this, the travel book recomended a truck stop for dinner, or the diner in the Holiday Inn. That says it all.

The days are about 17 hours long and even though it is 10:30 here it is still light outside. It looks like a late sunset, with the clouds all pink, and light still coming around the mountains. I really like it this light. So sad that in just 2 days the days start to get shorter already.

Well that is it for today. Love you and miss you all.
ma and pa

Friday news

Today was our longest travel day so far, at 420 miles and it will be the longest drive for the trip. We had a great day for traveling. It was beautifully sunny in the morning, we had a little rain going through the mountains. But when we got down to the B&B at the base of Mt. Robsen (13000 feet tall),it was downright balmy at 72•F and we were able to sit on the balcony and on a bench by the river without freezing for quite a while. The scenry has been gorgeous. We are at the base of the highest mtn. In the Canadian Rockies.

While we were driving today I had pulled off the side of the road to let following cars pass me, and Dan said "well I almost had a chance to get out and smell the roses". What cheek he has!

We have been having a great time and will update again tomorrow.

Love you all
nic and dan

Day Two

Today we left Langley and drove into downtown Vancouver so Dan could go to a seminar given by Dan Sullivan, from the Strategic Coach. The drive took almost an hour, twice as long as we thought, because of traffic and construction. The normal things that happen when you decrease three lanes of traffic into one. And on top of that we were driving into the very downtown section of Vancouver that was nuts with traffic and one way roads. And shoppers, tourists, and pedestrians galore. ACK!

The seminar was in a nice hotel and while Dan was there I read, walked around, shopped, and stopped and had lunch at this great Thai place across the street. I had Drunken Spicy Noodles, and it was very good.

After the seminar was over we left the downtown area and drove to Fort Langley. It used to be a real fort and is now a tourist attraction. We stopped in the town area and it was a great little area for tourist walking. Alot of galleries, antique shops, places to eat, bookstores, and even a fabric shop. We did some strolling and shopping,(ok, we both strolled, Dan read a book while I shopped). I found a couple of crocheted lace tablecloths I think will look nice at home when.

We came back to the hotel and Dan watched a game on TV. and worked a little and I kept reading The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest. I am more than halfway done already, it is really good.

Than we had a late dinner next door at a little place called Tim Hortons. They are all over the place and are alot like Starbucks, with sandwiches and doughnuts and soup available also.

Dan is already asleep and snoring, so I am going to say good night for today.
Tomorow will bring another chapter.
Love you all,
Ma and Pa

Canada, oh Canada

Hello my dears and friends,
Today was the first day of our trip and so far we have had a great time. Dan and I managed to leave only an hour later than we planned to and still arrived almost two hours earlier than we needed to. We are going to have to get better at stopping to smell the roses on this trip.

We started out with a little rain, but after a couple of hours it cleared up. Not quite to sunshine, except for about ten minutes, but to decent driving weather.

It was fun watching the navigator as we got closer to the border. Once we made it through, and it only took about 15 minutes, the map simply stopped. No roads, names, or anything. Very weird.

Also we are staying in an area of Langley that is quite commercial. Like a hotel right in the middle of downtown industrial/commercial south Seattle. There are tons of shope and resteraunts to choose from.

We had a 6:30 apt. at the temple and it is only about 10 minutes away from the hotel. It is a beautiful, little Temple and we really enjoyed seeing it. It also has a beautiful font for baptisms. The Asst. Matron was on hand to show us through and was very kind and informative.

After the session was over we stopped at Red Robin to eat dinner. A little different menu than we are used to, but pretty much the same. No tortilla soup though. I had French Onion. Dan had a hamburger.

We are back in our room and planning to leave pretty early tomorrow for your dads seminar in Vancouver.

So, more news tomorrow. We love you and wish every one a Good Night!

A Little Catching Up To Do

I have heard the phrase "it's been a loooooong time since you have updated anything on your blog" so I will start catching up with the current news.
Of course starting at Christmas, where I left off.
Trying to be creative with the picture this year we decided to do an "ugly sweater" picture. The funny story about that is that Dan was so excited and said "Oh I have just the sweater for that picture", and out of his dresser came the sweater he is wearing. Not so funny when he realised I gave him that sweater just a couple of Christmas's ago. I wish I could have captured his expression at that moment.
After the picture we went for the traditional dinner to Red Robin and enjoyed the funny looks and coments we got on the outfits.
Christmas day was Amazing Fun! We had a lazy breakfast and took the morning to open presents. It was fun to have Aaron back home with us. And we are grateful for all the cheer and fun we have together. Wishing more of you were here so we could share the day with everyone.