My friend Jess and I collaborated on our daughters Christmas presents this year and bought them tickets to a close-ish Shawn Mendes concert. To say they were excited was an understatement, my living room was full of screaming and excited crying when they opened their boxes Christmas morning haha
5.5 loooong months of waiting later, we finally hit the road for a 5 hour drive full of giggling, eating and napping. The five of us were more than relieved when we finally pulled up to West Edmonton Mall’s Fantasyland Hotel. Jess had booked 2 different theme rooms (one for each night) and we kept it a secret from the girls because they wanted to be surprised. We checked in and headed to our room, the girls were excited to see we would be sleeping in an “igloo” for the night!


Next stop was the water park! We had a fun filled afternoon of wave pooling, water sliding and zip lining.


We climbed about a billion stairs and worked up a good appetite, so we decided it was time to leave and get some supper. This is where things got weird haha on our way to our hotel, we had passed a “Hooters” restaurant just down the road. The girls were mind blown to find out it’s an actual restaurant and not a made up for the movie “Blended”. So obviously, this is where they decided they wanted to eat. They even made up chants and cheers about it. Seriously, they’re weird haha I have to say though, I was pleasantly surprised by the food, it was DELICIOUS! The girls were a little thrown off by the waitresses outfits though, I don’t think they expected them to actually be true to what the movie portrayed haha they had a great time doing their chant for our waitress and they referred to her and the others as “Hooteys”. I was dying of laughter just listening to them.

Couldn’t resist a picture with their favourite “Hootey”
After dinner we hit the mall’s arcade “The Rec Room”. We loaded up wristbands for $30 each and it got us HOURS of unlimited gaming, which lead to points and tons of meaningless toys and trinkets they could pick with their points. By the time we were done, it was almost midnight and we were exhausted. We headed back to our “igloo” for some sleep.
The next day was finally concert day! The girls were finally going to be in the same building as the love of their lives haha But first, a shopping spree! They all had spent the past months saving and all had good chunks of their own money to spend on whatever they wanted.

They were raring to go!
I think we hit almost every store in that gigantic mall, including Sarah Jessica Parker’s new shoe store that had just opened the day before, and we, unfortunately, missed her at the mall! We bought ourselves some great new summer clothes, ate mall snacks, and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the multiple escalators….again, they’re weird.
We were pretty shopped out by supper time so we hit the “Old Spaghetti Factory” for some dinner. I wish we had one close to home, I’d eat there every single day haha After dinner we headed up to our room to change into our concert clothes and find out what our second theme room was. The girls were pretty happy to see a Polynesian themed hallway when we got off the elevator and even happier to see the room


And then we were off to the event they had been waiting for!

How cute are these shirts Jess made for the girls!?
This was Robyn’s first ever concert and I was super excited to be the one taking her and having that experience with her. I knew the girls were going to have the time of their lives.

Once we were through security and to the floor we were supposed to be on, we sent the girls to our seats and Jess and I waited in the merchandise line to get the girls t-shirts. We were a little late for the opening act but we made it for Shawn Mendes, and that was all I cared about. Watching those girls reactions when he came on stage was THE BEST!! They screamed, jumped out of their seats and of course, Reegan cried haha I spent the first part of the show just watching Reegan, Robyn and Paislee because they were so hilarious. To say they had the time of their lives would be an understatement.

Back at the hotel, Jess and I were exhausted but the girls decided they needed a late night jacuzzie haha I don’t know where they find the energy. Finally it was bedtime and I slept like a rock.
Monday morning we packed up, did a little more shopping, and then hit the road for our long drive home. The only thing that kept the girls from complaining too much was that it was Monday and they were missing school haha
I had the absolute best weekend with my girls and our friends! I live for getting out of our little corner of the world, fun adventures, and new life experiences. Being able to give the same opportunities to my kids is one of the greatest feelings, thanks for the top notch weekend girls!
C