Mountain climbers

It's been a busy fall -- too busy at moments and not nearly as Burgundy-village-ish as we would like. The serious lack of posting is all the proof you need to see just how little free time there is at the end of any day.

But we tried to slow it all down yesterday by driving to Waterton Lakes National Park, some gorgeous mountains just 80 minutes from our door. It was a big day -- it marked the first time all three kids did a "real" (nearly six km) hike on their own steam. No more baby carriers or backpacks or even occasional piggy back rides for us. All three kids hiked up (and up and up, to a place called Lower Bertha Falls) and down (and down and down) on their own. Pretty awesome!

Proving they are indeed related to my dad (who never leaves home without plenty of snacks), the biggest motivation seemed to be the fun treats I had brought along (oooh, at the next big break in the trail, we can have cheesy crackers! trail mix with chocolate chips! apples and cheese!). Jack could have kept going to the upper part of the trail (another five km roundtrip, I think) but not wanting to push our luck, we stopped for a big snack break at the falls, watched Jack nearly fall in while walking on a wet log, watched Kaia actually fall in while John tried to make sure Jack didn't fall in, and tried to talk Katie into leaving some of the sticks and rocks she had collected on the way up (we were not entirely successful on this last effort).

We ran into two groups were knew on the way up -- two colleagues from the university, and one of my closest friends and co-workers and her husband, who were having a rare and lovely weekend away while their kids were home with visiting grandparents. We thought briefly of inviting them to join us for dinner later on... but figured that might not be the kind of dining experience they were after.

Kaia LOVED the outing, of course, although was a bit tricky at times. Early on, as we were making our way up, we encountered some horses coming down at a place where the trail was narrow and cut into a sheer part of the mountain.

John kind of had to pin her to the side of the mountain while they nervously made their way past us (all of us pretty sure she would spook the horses and send them down, down, down the mountain). Thankfully, they made it past with no problems other than a bit of stress.

In case you didn't know, Kaia isn't exactly great when encountering other animals of any kind, especially when she is on a leash. Well, on the way down, we saw some hikers with a dog coming up. I did the same thing John did (pinned her against the side of the hill) and we hoped they would pass quickly.

Nope. They decided to stop RIGHT THERE and enjoy the view, lingering as Kaia wriggled and writhed under me and tried to turn around so she could tell the other dog this was HER mountain. Seriously? I was thinking. You just stopped there on a narrow trail with a clearly neurotic dog right there, and just enjoy the view? You couldn't have gone forward to let us pass, and then come back?

Ah, people. Sometimes they just don't make sense.

But she -- and the kids -- and John and I -- all had a great time. The colors were amazing, the mountains spectacular, the waterfalls lovely...and while the notoriously wild winds of Waterton were, in fact, wild in certain places, it was a pretty great fall day all in all. (In case you needed proof of wild winds, check out the nice hairstyle below...)

As we tramped down (ravenous and ready for dinner at one of the few restaurants still open for the season), I stopped a minute to marvel. The hike marked one of those points in life where new things are possible for our kids. We don't have babies anymore. We have hikers who can climb mountains! How cool is that?

I'm going to add a good 60 or 70 pictures to our Shutterfly site later on today (hopefully!). You may want to check it out tonight or tomorrow at jackkateliv.shutterfly.com (email me if you need the password). Here are a few more for now to tide you over. Happy fall to you, and happy Canadian Thanksgiving, too!