Our top 10 road trip music/playlist from Spotify

We wouldn't be able to survive our 6hrs road trip if we don't have these awesome music with us. Thanks to spotify premium. (Not sponsored). And I also, I am not affiliated to any of these on the list. :)


1. Rattle and Strum
They are silly songs but so much fun to sing with. Our favorite song from this album is the "I like to rhyme".

 2. The Greatest Showman soundtracks 
These songs came from the movie "Greatest Showman". Everybody loves "A million dreams".

 

3. Group Music- Everest Album
These are Christian children songs made by Lifetree Kids. Our favorite song from this collection is "My God is powerful!"

4. Group Music- Shipwrecked Album
This is from the Lifetree Kids too. Our favorite song here is "Million Reasons"

5. Group Music- friends with God
Also, these songs are from the Lifetree Kids. Honestly, we love all of their songs. Our favorite here is "Light of the World". 

6. The Donut Man-God's army
This is also a children Christian playlist. His songs are based from the stories from the Bible. They are fun and silly to listen to. Our favorite songs here are "Silly Joshua" and "The Victory Chant".

7. Sovereign Music-Listen Up Album
These are also children Christian songs. There songs came from the Parables of Jesus. Our favorite song is "Be ready!"

8. This is Chris Tomlin
Obviously, he is one of my favorite Christian singer. I can't choose only one song. :) My top 3 favorite songs from him are "Whom Shall I fear? (God of Angel Armies", "Nobody loves me like you" and "God of this city".

 

9. This is Don Moen
Well, I've grown up listening to His songs. His songs were classic. I can't choose only one song. My top 3 favorite songs are "Hallelujah to the Lamb", "Uncharted Territory" and "Thank you Lord".

 10. Lauren Daigle

Recently, we just listened non-stop to Lauren Daigle's songs. One of our favorite is "Look up child". 

Well, honestly there's more to this list. But these are the songs we played non-stop during our road trip from Calgary to Crowsnest to Waterton to Helena and back. 

Have you listened to these songs before? What's your favorite songs? Which playlists can you suggests to us too?

Our vacation in Helena, Montana

It's our first time here in Helena, Montana, USA. It was a 4.5 hrs from Waterton and about 6.5 hrs from Calgary. Going there we drove past the mountain sides, winding roads and a lot of constructions. One thing a driver must get ready when planning to drive to the US, is that distance/ speed is measured in miles compared here in Canada which is measured in kilometers.

St. Mary's visitor center

 It is important to take note of that, because after we passed the Canada/USA border, we saw a speed limit of 45. If it's 45kph, it would be slow, but 45mph is equivalent to 70kph.

In my opinion, Montana looks very similar to Alberta. It's flat field with mountainous area. Also, there's a lot of cattles around the place.

We stayed overnight in Super 8 hotel, a 2/3 star hotel but it doesn't matter to us, we wanted to find a cheap hotel with breakfast and wifi included.

We stayed there from Sept 23-25 (Mon-Wed), and we were able to check out some places. Here are some of the places we've checked out and the things we did.

1. Great northern carousel
This was a world class carousel with 37 hand-carved animals. It was sculpted by a renowned Disney artist. It was built in 2002. $2/ride and they sell ice cream and banana split. They have a small gift shop and a photobooth.

This is the first place that we visited when we arrived in Helena. It was a fun reward for Emma. She patiently sit on her car seat, sing songs with us and look outside the window.

2. Exploration works
We visited this on the 2nd day. It was like Telus Sparks but smaller. The entrance fee is $9/adult $5.50 for 3yrs and up children.
We loved it here too, because it has a lot of interactive displays. It's a fun way to learn about science and stuffs.

Showing the waterworks in Helena

Lego area

3. Montana State Capitol
We visited this on the 1st day. It's located in Helena. We were not able to go inside, because we arrived pass the closing time. But, still it's beautiful outside.

4. Cathedral of St helena
We just admired her beauty from the outside.

5. Holter gallery of arts
This is an art gallery that showcases local Helene artists. It's free to go inside, but you can give donations if you want.

6. The original governor's mansion
This is the 1st governor's house here in Montana. It was closed when we visited, so we just took pictures from the outside.

7. shopping- Target + Ross
Of course, one wouldn't go to the US if shopping is not included in the plan.
We bought some clothes from Ross dress for Less and some more items from Target. We used to have Target in Canada, but in 2015 they closed all of their stores their. So, I personally miss this store.

8. Haircut at Great Clips
Suprisingly, I had a cheap haircut here too. $15/haircut. It's very cheap compared to Canada. 

In sum, it was a short but a good vacation in Helena. It's a bit cheaper here compared to Calgary.

Overnight trip in Waterton

After the wedding that we attended, we went to visit Waterton. We stayed there for a night. We planned to go and visit different places there, unfortunately the weather doesn't permit us to do much.

It was very windy when we arrived there. We went to Prince of Wales hotel. It was located at the top of the hill, overviewing the lake and the town of Waterton. It was so windy there, so we only stayed for few minutes. Also, suprisingly, the hotel was closed too. Honestly, I didn't know when they closed it.

This is the view from Prince of Wales Hotel

View outside our hotel

 We just walked in their town proper, admired the tiny town. We also visited the Artisan fair that they had there. I bought myself a mountain silhouette necklace.

But, the most fun and memorable thing we made here was to try the 4-wheel bicycle. There was only 1 driver who controlled the bike, but 2 persons can pedal. Also, there's a basket in front where you can put 2 children. It was $30/hr or $20/half hour. We rented it for an hour. Oh boy! We thought we could do it! The actual biking/pedaling time would be like 40 minutes. We stopped alot of times to rest. It was tiring but sure fun!

To sum up, our trip to Waterton was short but fun. But, if you're first time to visit here, it's best to visit during the 1st/2nd week of September because it's not too cold yet. And the place is not too crowded too.

A weekend vacation in Crowsnest Pass

Last weekend, a good friend of ours got married in a beautiful Springbreak flower farm. It is located in Crowsnest, Alberta. My husband and I decided to be there a day earlier so we check out the small towns going there.

Our first stop over was in Nanton, Alberta. We visited the Museum of Miniatures. The entrance fee is $9/adult and free for children. It's a little museum but had a really interesting displays inside. The owner of the museum gave us a brief introduction about the place. He said, it took them 7years to build that place. They used different materials like clay for the food displays, human hairs for the grass and some figurines too. We stayed there for an hour or less.

After Nanton, we continued our road trip, then drop by to check the famous Lundbreck falls. It was drizzling when we arrived there, but the view was still beautiful. There's a viewing deck where you can take pictures, you can also walk at the bottom of the falls if you would like. 

We also checked the Frank Slide interpretation site. It was a rockslide that buried part of the mining town of Frank, Alberta at 4:10 a.m. on April 29, 1903.

After that, we checked-in in our hotel, Kanata Inn hotel. It was a lovely and very "Canadian" hotel. Fun fact: Kanata is an indeginous Canadian word which means "village". It is the origin name of Canada.

We stayed in Crowsnest until Sunday morning before we continued our road trip to Waterton and Montana

Us at Lundbreck Falls

Us during the wedding

A day in Calgary Farmyard

We went to visit the famous Calgary Farmyard, previously known as the Calgary Corn Maze last saturday, Aug 24. It's located in Rockyview area, almost outside Calgary. 

 We've been here about 2 or 3 years ago. Emma was still very young to fully enjoy all of its amenities. But last saturday, she had so much fun exploring the place.

The entrance fee is $18/person (3years and up). Hours of admission: 11am-4.30pm. Although the last 2 weekend of August was their Sunfest, so they opened at 10am.

Here are the top activities we love there. This is not sponsored and in random order:

My top 5
1. Free pony rides
Emma experienced to ride on the ponies. They provide helmets for safety precautions. They also have 3 ponies to ride with. Last saturday, we're fortunate that there is no long line.

2. Express train ride
I think this is our favorite ever since. It's a mini train where we just sit down on like a bench and we just passed through the corn fields. The ride is less than 5 minutes.

Train ride :)

3. Huge playground
This is Emma's favorite ever. She enjoyed climbing up and down the rope, sliding on the mini slides and just running around it.

4. Big bouncy place
This is a big place where we enjoyed jumping. It just becomes too hot if the weather is hot too.

 5. Mini golf

We also had fun playing here. 

My husband's top 3:
1.sunflower fields
Suprisingly enough, he said he likes this. It's the added atttraction this year.

2. Express train ride

3.basketball court
This is very obvious because he likes to play basketball.

Emma's top 3:
1.playground
2. Slides- she likes to go on slides, big and small

3. Petting zoo
- there was some bunnies, goats, llama, ponies, hen and some kitties.

Overall, it was a great day at the farm. We had so much fun! There's also a lot of activities to do for all ages! 

My top 3 favorite parks in Calgary

Summer is almost done. Few more weeks and we will be expecting snow again. While we can enjoy the warm weather, my family always make it a point that we go outdoors.

This year, we opted to go to different parks around Calgary. I would like to share my top 3 favorite. The lists is in random order.


1. Prairie winds park
This park is the closest to us. Its located in NE. We always go here for church picnics. Last year, they renovated the place and there is a huge waterpark for kids of different ages to enjoy.

The park also have 2 playgrounds, a tennis court and a basketball court. It also have a hill and during winter, they make it as a tobogganing place. 

2. St. Patrick's park
We just discovered it this year. It's located in downtown. We went there few weeks ago. We parked in the East village and walked through the bridge. It is an island, so there's a place where people can dip on the cold Bow river water. There's a lot of picnic tables, a playground for big kids, and a nice walking trail. 

Emma is not scared of walking in this bridge

3. Bowness Park
It's located in NW, i think it's also one of the most popular during summer. It has a lot of space for picnics. They offered boat for rents, had a fun train ride that goes around the park and it has an outdoor pool for the children to enjoy.

We went here in 2017 but not during sunmer time, so we haven't really enjoyed all of those things. We went here again few weeks ago, the parking is so full, we have to park in the overflow parking. While we were there, we walked in the trail that is going to Bowmont park, and Emma waddled for few minutes in the Bow River. 

It was fun! Emma loves swimming in the water. She really enjoys dipping her legs to the cool water.

There's still a lot of parks here in Calgary that needs to be discovered. We will try to visit some new places again next year.

 

Best summer so far!