Kya starts kindergarten

First day of school!
I'm already loving our small town school – her class size has half the number of students that my California kindergarten class had. It's especially nostalgic that Kya is starting school in the same small town that my mom and my grandparents went to school in. I always dreamed that would happen.

When I picked Kya up from school today, on her first day of kindergarten, she said "that was the best day ever!"
So that was a success!


All summer, Kya has been anxiously awaiting the day when I would let her wear her school uniforms. Today was the day! She's having a lot of fun mix-n-matching skirts and polos and leggings (they have free reign to wear any color/print leggings).


First task of the year: carefully selecting the perfect color crayon to use.
I know it's only the first day, but Kya's teacher seems great, and I've heard great reviews from other parents too. Oh it's going to be such a fun year!


It's so fantastically fun that Kya and her BFF get to sit next to each other.
... I think it's only a matter of time before these two chatterboxes are separated.

Kya came home very excited, saying, "I have Emma's exact outfit in my closet!" (which she does — khaki skirt and light blue polo). Then Kya said, "Mom, can Emma and I dress the same sometimes?"
Yep, this is going to be fun. Requests for matching outfits already — thank goodness for uniforms.

Rocky Mountain Road Trip: Part 3

Did you read Part 1 and Part 2 of our adventure?

Day 6: GONDOLA ride up Kicking Horse Mountain, Golden, BC


The day started out with not much of a plan. A thunderstorm rolled through mid morning so we all sat out on the cabin porch to watch. Our North Dakota prairie thunderstorm are quite a lot more exciting than these mountain storms were. But boy oh boy did it smell good.

After the storms cleared, and after we had lunch, we headed up to Kicking Horse Mountain to ride the ski lift gondola. Before traveling to Canada I honestly didn't know much about the sights and attractions but I did learn from multiple people that, "riding a banff ski lift" would be a great bucket list item. So after just a few minutes of research I learned that the Kicking Horse Mountain ski lift was far more impressive (and significantly less busy) than those in Banff. Lucky for us it was just a 10-15 minute drive from our cabin.

Kicking Horse Mountain has the fourth highest vertical drop in North America (over 4,100 ft), with a summit elevation of just over 8,000 ft. Oh and for you skiers ... the average snowfall at the summit is over 295 inches and well over 15% of the ski runs are rated for "expert only." It's an extreme place.


So ... up, up, up we went. It was definitely a day for challenging my fear of heights.


As if  gondola ride aren't exciting enough, this one also has front-row seats to X-Games-style extreme mountain biking.


These guys zoomed down the hill right under us, but one had an intense wipeout on nearly vertical sheer rock. We hope he was ok.


The town of Golden and the Columbia River wetlands valley down below us


We reached the summit and it was windy and snowy. Chilly to say the least. And my fear of heights was in full swing.


But the views were breathtaking!


In every direction. Mountains for days. The brighter green vertical paths on the mountains (that look like ski runs) are avalanche paths.


Kya loved every minute of it. Typical of her sherpa ways.




Gavin couldn't take his eye off the bikers. He was fascinated with their gear and speediness.




This photo is so special to me and I will never forget it. Corey and Gavin were on the middle bump, and Kya and my Mom were heading down to it. My dad and I were planning to chill at the top while the adventurers did their thing out on the ridge (with cliffs on each side!).

But at this point, Kya turned around and said, "mom, aren't you coming?"
I said,"yep, in a few minutes ..." (fully intending to stay put in my safer location)
Kya was quiet for a minute and then said (in a completely un-whiny tone) "You can do it mom, I'm right here to help you" "It's awesome, you have to mom!" "I can do it, so can you" "One step at a time" ...
She kept going like this, saying the most encouraging, supportive things I have ever heard. I totally need her as a childbirth coach, should I ever have another baby.
So what was I to do? I listened to my spunky 5-year old and started my journey toward her. She talked me through the whole thing, "one step at a time." And she was totally right, it was SO WORTH IT.
So we snapped a few photos out on the pinnacle of death (as I was referring to it in my mind). And then we started back up to the summit. Kya looked over at me and said, "don't give up on this mountain!" Ha. Like I was going to spend any more time out there than I needed to.
We raced to the top. Safely. In the absolute center of the trail. Single-file. Haha. I may or may not have been a little nervous mama with my two squirmy kids out on a cliff.










We arrived back at the summit windblown and chilled ... so the rest is history.
Best view from a bar stool? Oh yes.


The Caesars were AMAZING!




I had "adult" chai tea ... fanciest one ever.


Corey's beer


Gavin and his hot chocolate

. . .

I'm so excited for the next post! Day 7 (at a more reasonable elevation).

Rocky Mountain Road Trip: Part 2

Did you read Part 1 of our adventure?

Day 5: HIKE Yoho National Park, BC Canada
This was such a fun full day of hiking that it will be it's own single-day blog post.


Since we knew we'd be in Canada for an extended amount of time, we purchased an annual Canadian National Parks family pass.

Yoho National Park is a less known "sister" park to the very popular Banff National Park. Separated by the Continental Divide and a providence border, the Yoho and Banff parks are surrounded/bordered by other Canadian National Parks like Jasper and Kootenay. Basically this area is North America's hot spot for super sized natural wonders.


Our first stop in Yoho National Park was Takakkaw Falls, Canada's second-highest waterfall. This waterfall is fed above it directly by the Daly Glacier.






The waterfall produces a lot of mist — of which Gavin was not fond of. But he perked up when he saw a river and a lifetime supply of rocks. "Throw rock!" and "Big splash!"




Natural bridge, a rock formation created by many years of water erosion.






Next stop: Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park

It was around this point in our vacation that I realized that while there were certainly a fair amount of American tourists in Canada, we were greatly outnumbered by travelers from around the world (especially Asia and Europe). To me, it felt like we were a million miles from the prairies of North Dakota, but interesting to think that most of the other tourists traveled significantly farther to be there. We were so far from home, yet also so close.


Picnic lunch at Emerald Lake


Hiking the Emerald Lake Loop trail (3.25 miles)


The first third of the trail was a popular wide trail, so Gavin got to stretch his legs.


The second two-thirds of the trail were less traveled (much preferred by us) and we had the trail to ourselves much of the way.


Corey and the kids, dipping their toes in the glacier river. Yes, it was cold.




After hike snack at the Emerald Lake restaurant.
I had wild boar pizza and fireweed lemonade — absolutely delicious!
In this photo, my mom is feeding the kids wild blueberry "appetizers" that we picked along the trail.


And ice cream for dessert.


(pardon Kya's ice cream face)


Hiking to Wapta Falls (3 miles)
Hiking is never boring with Grandma Z (and her moss mustache)! Or witness protection?!


This was my view for much of the trip. Gavin in his element — throwing rocks into the nearest glacial lake or river.


Apparently this rock was particularly fantastic.


Kya found her happy place too — hiking. She started calling herself "Sherpa Sophie" and bravely led our group up and down the trails.


The very silty Wapta Falls



. . .
Next up: Rocky Mountain Road Trip blog Part 3!