Our Unplanned Trip to Waterton

The plan for the holiday Monday was that Daniel was going to Waterton to climb Mt Vimy with friends and the kids and I were going to stay home and can the 88 pounds of pears that were just right for canning.That was the plan, until I discovered that the wasp problem that Daniel had been trying to fix under our bay window had decided to make it's way INTO my house. Oh, I haven't told you about that yet? Yeah, we discovered that there was a wasp nest under our bay window, but not out in the open, up inside the guts of the house. There was a very small opening under the window between the plywood and the cement foundation that they were coming in and out of.  Daniel sprayed, twice. Monday morning I saw a wasp flying around the window so I went to kill it and discovered about 20 more in the window! Where the heck were they coming from! I looked down, and saw three more come out of the heat vent! They kids all went down stairs while I attempted to solve the problem. That didn't last long as they soon discovered a few wasps downstairs too. So they went out side. I got some plastic grocery bags and folded them up and duct taped them over the heat vents in the living room by the bay window and over the one downstairs that was directly below the bay window. I then proceeded to kill the ones trapped behind the curtains in the bay window and then vacuumed up their dead carcasses. I decided that canning pears may not be the best thing to do as I wasn't in the mood to deal with wasps and scared crying children. So we made a quick decision to go have an adventure in Waterton since we hadn't been there at all this summer...how lame is that? We packed up a quick picnic lunch in the cooler, gathered up swimming suits and towels and made sure all the kids had good walking shoes and off we went.

 It was a beautiful day in Waterton with not a breath of wind. It was a quite hazy so the sun was never shining directly on us but it was still very warm. We first headed down to the Lake and ate our picnic lunch.

 The kids changed into swimsuits and played in the water. That was all fun and games until it tried to rain on us, so we decided to take a walk in town so I could show the kids where I worked the summer before I married their father.

 While we were walking the rain stopped so we then headed to the park for more fun and games.

 I wanted to take the kids up bears hump. Kathryn and Tansley were all for it, having been up once before. Kymberly was nervous. I showed her which mountain we were going to climb, that it was just a little one, but that didn't help. She was scared and didn't want to go. I told her it would be fun. When we got to the trailhead she exclaimed in delight, "Oh, there is a path to follow!". Apparently she had had something completely different in mind when in came to "Climbing a mountain". In our haste to leave home, I hadn't thought to grab backpacks. I had grabbed water bottles, just nothing to carry them in. And thankfully the snugly was still in the van from a previous trip to somewhere. Kathryn, my clever child, used a hair elastic to close the bottom of her hoodie and then tied the sleeves together to create a bag she could carry over her shoulder. It was just the right size to put the water bottles and cookies. It took us an hour to reach the top. After the first little bit I didn't think I would make it to the top with an extra 20lbs strapped to me, but once I got my blood pumping, I felt good and ready to conquer the world...OK, maybe just Bears Hump. James "Gave up" at least a dozen times. But we bribed him with cookies and the chance to see chipmunks up close. After much coaxing, we finally made it to the top. But to our dismay, not a chipmunk to be seen. Good thing James was just thrilled to be on top of a mountain and to have some cookies. It was beautiful on top, without even the slightest breeze. I can only remember one other time that I have been up on bears hump and there hasn't been any wind at all, and that was the summer I worked in Waterton.

Going down took us half an hour. James didn't want to go back down the mountain. But Kathryn was great and keeping him going. She was really patient with him. Kymberly and Tanlsey went up ahead of us a bit, but I told them to stick together and to be nice and loud. They started singing songs like "there's a hole in my bucket", "My dog Lima likes to roam", "Father Abraham" and any other silly song. It made the time go by quicker, and even James started singing his own silly made up songs. There was no chance of a bear encounter with my crew around.When we got to the bottom dad was waiting around the corner and jumped out and roared at Kymberly and Tansley. James was so excited to tell dad that he had climbed a mountain! Ella was all tuckered out from her climb, she fell asleep in the snugly.

We passed a number of people on the trail, and just about each one made some kind of comment about me being a brave mom. Kathryn, looks at me and says "mom, everyone keeps saying that too you." Yep, I'm either brave or crazy...I leaning towards crazy. But I wouldn't change it. We had a fun day. It was a much more fun and exciting way to spend the holiday Monday than staying home and canning pears, by a long shot.