Please note that we did receive hotel stays with IHG as a perk for sharing our Prairie Adventures with the readers of Mommy’s Weird. 

Our family road trips tend to be rush, rush, rush.

Just a “hurry and get to your destination and then enjoy your vacation.”

Rarely do we make the drive from Manitoba to British Columbia part of our vacation.

And this year I decided to change that….

We left my parents in Manitoba and traveled 3.5 hours to Regina, Saskatchewan.

First stop, the Legislative buildings in Wascana Park.

 

Yes, the dome was getting fixed, but it didn’t stop us from having a quick little tour of the buildings and then having a stroll around the park. I have great memories of Regina. My Dad has family there and my brother went to U of R, so things feel familiar and I really wanted to share those memories with my family.  To me, the Legislative Buildings in Regina are only second to British Columbia’s in Victoria.

In this photo I was telling her how Poppa used to swim in this lake when he was a kid….

 

We knew we wanted to wear the kids out before we headed to our Holiday Express & Suites: Regina. I specifically booked the south location because I wanted to book a room that had 2 rooms so I could sleep in the next morning.

Selfish, I know.

But, it was the same amount of IHG rewards points as any other room, so I would be an idiot to not get a few more hours of shut eye. I also dig that IHG Rewards Club gives you the freedom to do the things you love. Membership enables you to earn points EVERY time you stay at any of their 4,700 IHG hotels worldwide. You can redeem points for Reward Nights, flights, brand name merchandise and more.

Our next stop was Saskatchewan Science Centre…..

 

 

Sometimes I think I plan these sorts of things for Zed.

Its not like he had a bad childhood or something, he just didn’t do all the things that I got to do as a kid.  I was a spoiled brat, with parents who always had weekends and summers off. It’s moments like this, that I realize how fortunate I was to have parents in the professions they were in.

Shall we have a moment?

Are we good now?

Great.

Remember I told you that the kids had their own room…..

 

The next day we decided to take our time and head to Lethbridge, Alberta for our second night on the road. We started things off with the Free Hot Breakfast that Holiday Inn is known for….

Then we packed up and headed on our merry little way…

Sidenote: I feel like this is a cute little picture book of our lives. I hope you are digging it.

How cute is my husband?!

Total babe.

Any who…

 

 

We had a quick stop in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for our obligatory photo with the Moose.

My kids cannot be normal in photos……

 

We then had a “holy smokes this actually worked?!” meet up with some friends in Chaplin, Saskatchewan at their Nature Centre.  We have always meant to stop but as I said above, we usually just drive as fast as we can to get back home that our stops usually just involve washrooms and slurpees.

Not this time…

 

 

 

Of course we needed to stop and check out the World’s Largest Teepee in Medicine Hat, Alberta. FYI: They have a great play park for the kids at the Information Booth just before you head to the Teepee.

And from experience its also a good place to use the potty.

We knew we wanted to stay at a Holiday Inn in Lethbridge, Alberta, but we had a few to choose from. As soon as I told the kids that one of the Holiday Inn’s had a water park, our decision was made.

I mean seriously.

Look. At. This.

No really.

Look. At. It.

We were in the wave pool, water slides, tubes, hot tub and play structure for 3 hours.

Which was a bit too long because it rubbed my fancy toe nail polish off my toes.

Don’t worry. I won’t include photos of that.

But, I will show you photos of Henderson Lake.

You have to stop in here, its just a nice little in city lake that you can walk completely around on a paved trail. There are also people boating, tons of benches and great parks for the kids before you hit the Japanese Gardens.

 

We did a bit of shopping after where I sort of freaked out in Value Village when I found this….

 

I am a bit of a vintage pyrex nut, so you have no idea how awesome this was to find. I grabbed it, held on to it for dear life and screamed for my daughter to run and find a cart.

Just so you know, my 7 year old daughter does an amazing impression of this incident.

Shall I squeee?

SQUEEEEEEEEE!

After I came down from my high, who are we kidding I am pumping adrenaline just looking at this photo, we headed back to beautiful British Columbia with a stop first at Frank Slide.

 

Truly, it was such a nice change to drive home and stop whenever we wanted to stop.  It really is true, the journey is part of the destination.  I am so glad we took the time to stop and smell the alfalfa.

Thanks so much to IHG for everything they did to help us to end our trip on a high note. If you are interested here is part 1 of our trip. You can read more about our family travel here.