What’s with the Name?

As new parents, we have done our fair share of the “name game.” With both our daughters we were quite aware of the difficulties of picking a name and the process it requires. What a crazy feeling to have to pick the name they will use for the rest of their life! I found it extra tricky as a teacher, as so many names remind me of students (some good, some not so much). During both my pregnancies, we developed quite a lengthy list leading up to their births. Ironically, with our second daughter, we didn’t choose any of the names on our list and instead settled on a name Kit thought of hours after she was born.

Just as with naming our daughters, we have put a lot of thought into our blog name (for a few years actually, as we first got the idea of starting a blog back in 2019). We wanted our name to include the word "adventure", but to encompass some of our ideologies and motos as a family. So let me explain the "hilly" part to our name. Although it is also a play on words, with our last name being Hillis, it also encompasses a lot of significance. When Kit proposed to me (on top of a hill during a rainy, muddy hike) he used the analogy of a hill in his speech. It was heartfelt and beautiful and sappy all at the same time. He talked about how our relationship has (and will continue to have) lots of ups and downs but how he wanted us to continue to "sprint" aka work hard through the uphills (hard times) and then "coast" aka enjoy the downhills (good times). This analogy he thought of during an earlier time when we had ran this hilly section together. We were both of the same mindset that we wanted to sprint every time we got to a hill so that the tough part was over quicker and then we slowly jogged the downhills and flat sections so we could chat and enjoy our time together.

The more we have chatted about this analogy and the significance it has had in our marriage, the more we wanted to make it a part of other aspects of our life. We realized we were already modelling a lot of our trips after this sentiment. Whether we were cross country skiing, canoeing, winter camping, or hiking, we found that we tended to power through the rough parts and take it easy when conditions and terrain were “smooth sailing”. Since travelling with our kiddos, the notion of pushing ourselves through rough patches has brought on an even greater meaning. We never want to compromise the safety (and as much as we can help it, the enjoyment) of our kids on adventures, but that means that we sometimes have to put ourselves in uncomfortable spots in order to achieve this. In some cases it means carrying an insane amount of equipment (with our kids strapped to us) down long portages, and other times it means sacrificing our own sleep so that we drive through the night to avoid long daytime driving periods. Either way, the “downhills” have made up for all the sacrifices we have made as we have been able to create amazing memories with our family.

Whether your trips have many uphills or are relatively flat, so to speak, we hope you can find enjoyment and embrace the downhills together! And you can bet that we're cheering you on through every hilly section!