We got up at 8:30am today, showered and had a quick call with family then set off for Edmonton!

I drove the first half, then we pulled into a side road and Jacob drove the last half, so he could take over on the busy city areas. The drive was good - it took about 3hours and it wasn't the best scenery but it was still interesting in places. We passed a huge bison park which had huge wooden ranch style swing gates at the entrance which were cool. We also saw some love making cows and a family of mother duck and four little baby ducks crossing the road at the WRONG time! Luckily the lane next to us was clear so Jacob could dodge the little risk takers. There were some unsual names signposted for camps and lakes on the way, such as 'Camp he ho ha' and 'Chickakoo lake'. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit any to see whether they lived up to their unusual names.

We got to West Edmonton Mall around 1:30pm. It's such a huge shopping mall! It holds world record for having the largest indoor amusement park (yes - there are rollercoasters, candyfloss stands, merry-go-rounds, dodgems etc inside!) It also has the worlds largest indoor lake which looks pretty as it's full of glistening coins people have thrown in. There's a huge pirate ship in the water too, which you can hire for weddings and events. They also have sea lion and stingray shows every day in the mall! We watched the sealion do tricks today, which included burping into a microphone, diving off a high rock and kissing a little boy. Sounds a bit weird, I know. The mall also has the worlds largest indoor wave pool - yes, they also have a waterpark inside! As you're walking along, browsing the shops, you can look through the huge glass window to the waterpark. It's such a crazy place. There's also an icerink in the mall where we saw skaters practicing on the ice whilst shopping for some clothes (we treated ourselves to a few new tops today). There was also a pet store which I couldn't resist going to! They had little puppies in the windows for sale - they were adorable!! There were two little fluffy ones in a pen too making cute little noises and running around. Unfortunately the kittens weren't out - would have loved to have seen them!

After browsing the stores, we went to the British Food Import Shop, where we were served by a Scottish lady. It's a nice little shop - sells a lot of things from UK that you can't get over here, such as Yorkshire tea, chocolate bars, gifts, drinks and savoury foods! We got galaxy, aniseed sweets, milkybar and some scottish tablet from there which we are looking forward to trying. When we paid the Scot told us how some people have found it hard to make Scottish tablet over here because of the altitude. It either sets too hard or too soft. I never really thought about it before. Next, we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch. I had lunch-sized lasagne, and Jacob had spaghetti with a chicken breast that covered half of his plate! For dessert, we went to Marble Slab Creamery which is the BEST icecream parlour I have ever been to. They have amazing flavours of icecream, including birthday cake, blueberry, cinnamon bun, cotton candy, red velvet, praline.. and the list goes on. You select your icecream then you have an abundance of toppings that you can have rolled into the icecream, such as fruit, sweets, chocolate, nuts and biscuits. I had my favourite; amaretto with fresh raspberries rolled into it. It was b-ee-eautiful. Jacob had birthday cake icecream with cookie dough and oreo cookies rolled into it.

After our long day exploring the mall, we headed to our hotel in Fort Edmonton Park, which is where I am now, using the internet to write this blog! We're staying at the Selkirk hotel which is 1930's style. It's very interesting - the decor is pretty cool and we were served in the cafe by a server in 1930s waitress' attire. Fort Edmonton Park is the strangest place I have been to. It's like a deserted movie set. It's a parkland with historical buildings, dating from 1846 to 1929. There are costumed interpreters that set the scene and you can catch a steam train, street car or horse-drawn cart to explore the park. There are buldings including bakeries, drug stores, cafes, bookshops, post offices etc and there's the Capitol Theatre which plays films for the public. Because we arrived at about 7:30pm, everything was closed so we will look around tomorrow and will be able to go inside the shops and see more of the park when it's all open.

That's all for now - it's gone past midnight so better get some sleep, ready for a busy day tomorrow.