Planes, Shuttle and Automobiles

(Trav with Nora up at his dad's place on Bear Mtn, Invermere)

Well, taking a vacation has taken on a whole new meaning with Nora. It was quite the trip for 5 days to Banff and Invermere and now I'm ready to just relax at home for a bit and really enjoy that I'm on mat leave and didn't have to go back to work!

Before I get into all the nitty gritty details, the basic summary is that Nora did extremely well in all the transportation methods that we took (flight to Calgary, shuttle from Calgary to Banff, car ride from Banff to Invermere and then flight home from Cranbrook) but just had a very very very hard time adjusting to where she needed to sleep for the night. She got a little freaked out that she wasn't in her crib and it wasn't enough that mom and dad were near her, she got up every couple hours each night... so toward the end of the trip, we were a little bagged and tired to say the least and just couldn't wait to get home to familiar surroundings.

(I even tried to play with Nora in her tent so she would feel safe)

After stressing how Nora would do on the plane and shuttle, it turns out I didn't have to worry about her at all. She was great! The air pressure didn't seem to bug her, she was playful on the plane and pretty much slept while in the car / shuttles. The one thing that you don't anticipate is having your luggage not show up on the carousel! Unfortunately, one of our bags went missing so we had to travel to Banff without knowing whether or not the luggage with our clothes for the wedding and Nora's sleep tent would arrive or not. But luckily, they did eventually find the bag and had it delivered to us at 2am!

Some highlights from our trip:
Andrea & Gustav's wedding - it was such a beautiful setting in Banff with the Rockies in the background and just so pretty everywhere. It was fun hanging out with Trav's family and especially introducing everyone to Nora. Plus it gave us some hands-free time while they held Nora. Gustav is originally from South Africa so it was neat to talk and chit chat to some of his family and friends who made the 'trek' out to Banff... so much fun to hear the good ol' accent again!
Hanging out in Invermere - it was nice to tie in a visit to Invermere since Banff is only 1.5 hours away. We got to see all the reno's that Barry had been doing over the past year and the house is looking great! It's always so peaceful being up there in the mountains without anyone in sight. Just too bad that little Miss Nora didn't sleep well.

Nora got to hang out with nature... she stood on the grass for a bit...then sat and felt it... not quite sure whether she liked it or not. We'll have to see how it plays out when next we take her to the park... maybe she'll lift her leg up off the grass like her friend, Maddy! :)

And then she got to hang out with these horses that graze in the fields nearby... she didn't seem to care that they were there... she was quite fixated on the camera instead. And now we're home where things are back to normal. We'll have to try and test Nora in her sleep tent again sometime soon just so she's familiar with it for the next trip. But otherwise, it was good to hang out with the family and in such a beautiful part of Canada too.