Stampede....take two

I have a friend who had a baby a week after I did who I meet up with once a week.  Its been the perfect arrangement since we pushed ourselves to get out with newborns, worked through teething and sleep issues together, tried out new places with the kids, etc.  This week, we definitely pushed ourselves and decided to make our weekly outing a trip to the Stampede.

The day started beautifully with lots of sun.  We met early in the morning and even got some awesome reasonably priced parking close to the entrance.  Unfortunately, the reason why we got such amazing parking was that we got there at 9:30 and then found out as we got in line that the grounds don't open until 11:00 on days that aren't Family Day.  Whoops!  Anyway, after standing in line in the sun for a bit, we finally made it into the grounds and started the day.

We did a ton of things and my feet were aching by the end of the day.  We saw all the livestock and went to the animal discovery centre where the kids loved the baby chicks.  Afterwards we ate lunch and other tasty treats and the kids got their picture taken in Stampede gear for free.  Near the lunch area there was a kids play area with face painting, games, a clown show, and bouncy castles which was all free.  The kids were a bit young for those things but it was nice to see that there were things to do for small kids for future trips.  Since we were about an hour ahead of the crowd due to our early start, the place was nearly empty so we tried putting the kids in the bouncy castle.  They didn't bounce at all and just held on tight and looked around but I think from the huge smiles on their faces that they had a good time.

We didn't try any of the shows this year even though I'm a die hard Superdogs fan.  We would have had to leave the strollers in a parking area that didn't look all that secure and the crowds were insane to get in.  We weren't sure that the kids would sit through a show that long anyway so decided to save it for another time.

The only real hassles from the day were the heat, the crowds (it's been raining all week and this is the first nice day so people were out in full force), and the lack of changing areas for the babies.  I ended up changing Isla in the stroller because of the lines for the bathrooms.  We did end up finding some more change areas in the art display area later on in the day but by then we didn't need them.  In the end, we were tired and hot but the day was a success and I'm sure we'll be going back again next year.

Location: Calgary Stampede Grounds
Cost:  $14 admission (you can save $3 with 4 Dentyne Ice packages, which we did), kids under 7 are free
Gear for Isla: Stroller (we have our Bumbleride Indie which was awesome), Carrier (we have a BabyHawk) for naps, Hat, Sunscreen, Water in a sippy cup, stuff for lunch, a bottle of water for me, lots of Cheerios, a blanket to put over the stroller to block the sun a bit, and a camera to capture those first moments.