Pumpkin Walk and Willow Park Zoo

One morning I was visiting with a friend. She reminded me that the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan was going on and was almost over. I have been to the pumpkin walk every year since 2003 and I did not want to miss it. I called Zach at work and asked him if he could get off early. He obliged and we were up in Logan a little while later. First we picked up Zach's sister Emily and went to the Pumpkin Walk. As always it was great. It is so fun to see all of the creativity people have and some of the craziness. Toby was so excited to see all of the pumpkins. He had fun walking around and then playing on the playground afterward.
After the pumpkin walk we dropped Emily off at work and headed to the Willow Park Zoo. It was the perfect zoo for our family. It wasn't busy at all, most of the time we were the only people there. It was small which was great because Toby does not enjoy riding in a stroller. Toby loved seeing the monkeys but his favorite was was the ducks. He couldn't get enough of them. He really wanted to feed the ducks, but we didn't have any change for food, so we tried giving them leaves. It fooled them for a little while, but they learned. It was a great day and a fun way to get into the mood for Halloween.

Cat with 2 faces

I felt that it was my responsibility as a human being to share this with all of you.

Mass. cat with 2 faces lives 12 years, sets record | ksl.com

Toby

Toby is getting so big. This picture is of him at granite flats, when we went camping with Zach's family. The water was so cold, but Toby just had to play in it. I love his big gut! Also on this trip Toby was standing by a hole in the ground. A potgut stuck it's head out of the hole and Toby was amazed. He simultaneously said wow, dropped his binky, scared the potgut, and watched his binky fall down into the potgut's hole. Zach was disappointed in me after that for not being willing to stick my hand down into the hole to get the binky. Just a note - Zach tried, but his hand didn't fit. But You couldn't see the binky and there was no way I was sticking my hand into a dark hole where I knew there was an animal in hopes that I would find a binky (especially since I had brought four back-ups).

Toby's vocabulary has exploded. He talks all the time, only half of which we understand. His new thing is to say "Oh gosh" whenever something doesn't go as planned. He knows all of his letters and the sounds they make. He can also count to ten. It is so fun when we are in a store and he'll tell me the number for the row we're in. I can't believe how fast this kid learns. He is so fun to be around. He has started to get possessive of his toys. The other day I was babysitting a little girl. When she tried to take some of his toys Toby grabbed them and hid with them under his bed. Also the other night he was crying so I went in his room. I laid down on the floor and told him to lay down in his bed. He started making fake sleeping noises and then would check to see if I was paying attention. He's done this before and every time he does it I have to try so hard not to laugh. Toby hasn't learned how to disobey. I think that since he doesn't have an older sibling he just doesn't know its possible. When we tell him to do something you can tell he isn't happy because he starts to cry, but he goes ahead and does it anyway. For instance I'll set him on the rocking chair for time out and then walk away. He just sits there, like he doesn't know he can get off. He cries the whole time, but doesn't move until I go and get him. He does a similar thing when its time for bed. He will grab his blankets and cry the whole way up the stairs, but he goes without any prodding. It makes me laugh to watch him. We certainly got lucky with such a good, fun kid. We sure love him.

More Glacier

We stopped several times at a place called goat lick. The goats come down to partake of the minerals in the rock, we come down to partake of the goats. Both times it was raining, buy we did see goats. Toby's favorite part was the binoculars. While other people were using them, he would stand at their feet saying "my turn" over and over again.
We did a lot of driving on our second day. The weather wasn't great and we wanted to see both sides of the park, so we drove their. Luckily the views were gorgeous and we got some great pictures.After driving around the outside of the park to St. Mary's Lake we had lunch and then drove up to Many Glacier. On the way Toby fell asleep in the car. He hadn't been sleeping very well or getting good naps so we decided that I would stay in the car with Toby while Zach took a look around. While in the car I took a little snooze and Zach had look at some big horn sheep.
On Friday we had the amazing opportunity to take a helicopter ride over Glacier. We had to split our group into three groups. The helicopter ride was so cool. We got to see things that we hadn't been able to because the road through the park was still closed due to snow. Everything we saw was amazing. It was my first trip on a helicopter and it did make me feel a little sick, but it was so worth it. We thought about taking Toby, he wanted to get in the helicopter, but we started crying shortly before we took off, so we left him down on the ground. The whole trip was a ton of fun. I would definitely recommend everyone go to glacier at some point. It was totally worth it.

Glacier National Park Part 1

On June 27th the Bateman Clan headed to Montana and Glacier National Park. We stayed in Whitefish, Montana - just outside the park and hometown of our friend Erik Kaltschmidt. While there we drove around looking at the beautiful sights, did a little hiking to Avalanche Lake, saw some wildlife - mostly goats, threw rocks in the water - Toby's favorite part, went on a helicopter ride, and had a ton of fun with family.

Andrea and Toby in Butte, Montana

Emily and Toby at the Flathead Lake overlook

Throwing rocks at Lake McDonald

Walking around Apgar Village in Glacier National Park

There were waterfalls everywhere in Glacier because the snow is still melting

Trail of the Cedars

Ezra and Abe posing for a picture

Emily carried Toby for part of the Avalanche Lake hike while Zach went back to the car to get the hiking backpack. Toby also walked quite a bit of it on his own.

Throwing rocks at Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake

The family looking at a waterfall through a gap made by an avalancheZach, Emily and Toby at Avalanche Lake
Taking a nap on the way down from the lake