My loves....

Banff Christmas Market.....

So whose ready for Christmas? I surely wasn't feeling particularly festive until last weekend but theres nothing like a Christmas Market in a beautiful mountain town complete with a dusting of fresh snow to get a girl into the Yuletide spirit! 

The Banff Christmas market, held at the pretty Warner Stables, is a lovely way to kick off the season of peace and joy. The old barn is filled with lovely handmade gifts and twinkly lights and even a lady singing carols. Outside they set up fire pits with hay bale benches and offer sleigh rides across the snowy meadow. Even the little ponies were looking festive with their tail braids and red bows :) It really was a perfect way to spend a snowy November morning. 

* Nice rack lady!*

Even Santa uses hashtags now. 

It was a chilly day so after the market we headed to our favourite nourishment spot in Banff, the Wild Flour Cafe, for some warm soup and hot chocolate. 

Neil's SUP Adventure.......

Neil, Seb and I had first tried Stand up paddle boarding in Whistler and all loved it and were keen to do more. The same day that we took the kids canoeing Neil decided to take a more exciting route home from Banff so he rented himself a SUP for the day. He's done the route before by canoe from below Bow Falls to Canmore. He pumped up his board while I snapped a few photos around the falls and then I watched him paddle off into the wild!  It takes us about 15 minutes by car to get home along the highway but it took him nearly 4 hours to SUP  along the river through Canmore to the bridge just below our house. He told me he ran aground once or twice after taking the the wrong fork in the river and got some good go pro footage of a nice backwards flop into the cold water :)  He didn't see any wildlife and passed just one lone fisherman along the entire route. He arrived home a little chaffed and sore from paddling but happy to have completed his mini river voyage. 

The last day of Summer....

Last Sunday we popped into Banff to enjoy possibly our last warm and sunny weekend of the Summer.  Neil and the big kids rented a canoe and had a paddle on the 

Bow River while Silas and I enjoyed a riverside stroll. As it turned out the next day, September 8th, we had an unseasonably early mega dump of snow which I still cant quite get over by the way. Autumn isn't even supposed to be here yet let alone winter! The kids had a great time, its certainly something we'll do again and at least we really made the most of that last summer day!