Jack's costume

I am not holding out on you -- we did in fact take pictures of Jack for his school Halloween party.... but I can't find the cord to download them to the computer (and that might have to wait til John is home on Tuesday!). Alas... the suspense will simply have to continue for a while (at least until I get a bit more organized).

Happy Halloween!

Two tricksters

We sent a firefighter and an astronaut off to school this morning, where they had a great party (including orange juice with spooky dry ice and spider rings in it). Between the candy and cupcakes, and the parade around the school and party, it's hard to imagine Halloween getting any better -- and yet they still have trick or treating on Sunday (and this is a great neighborhood for that). It's been such a fun day.

Here are some shots of astronaut Katie (we tried to find a patch and U.S. flag so she could be a dual-citizen astronaut, but didn't have much luck...), firefighter Livie (wanting to be just like Uncle Steve), and a hint of Jack's costume in the last shot -- his school party is tomorrow.

And stayed tuned for some Jack pictures tomorrow. Any guesses on what he plans to be?

It's that time of year...

There are a few life lessons John and I have picked up these last eight years since Jack (and then Kate and Liv) came along. One of these is that when it comes to knives and kids... it's best to not be outnumbered.

So with that knowledge, we invited "Tio Pat" and "Tia Andrea" over for our annual tradition of pumpkin carving. These two truly earned their Spanish titles of aunt and uncle -- they were the first friends we made in Lethbridge, they have been by our sides for work, pleasure, worries and celebrations,  and we can't count the Sunday nights we've had dinner at each other's houses. Sadly, Andrea wasn't feeling well today, so we didn't get to see her, but Patrick still came to help us keep our kids-to-adult ratio intact (and indulge in a bit of childish fun).

Here is what we ended up with:

(Katie's on left, Liv's in the middle, Jack's on the right)

And here was part of the process:

Wonderful Waterton

Lots to catch up on (which I hope to do later tonight) but I wanted to start loading some of the great photos from an unexpected midweek Waterton trip we took this week with a French scholar who was giving a talk in Lethbridge.

This time, the hike was shorter (about 3 km roundtrip) but 700 feet STRAIGHT up to a part of a mountain called the Bear's Hump. The kids were incredible... we realized some of these steps were at the girls' waists... and yet they just kept climbing.

The view from the top took our breath away (literally, figuratively, you name it).

More updates to come -- we are all well, happy, having fun... but just too busy still.

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!