Tigger, candy, and potty

Lindsey was Tigger for Halloween.  Lucky for Lindsey, we started potty training on November 2nd and the reward for going potty was Halloween candy.  Lindsey had never eaten much candy so it was a hit.  It took 5 days of "tell mommy and daddy when you need to go to the potty", a few tears, a couple of "I want my diapers back", but after 5 days she loved her underwear and hasn't looked back.  We love you and are so proud of our not so little Lindsey Kate!
 

Leaf pile

Ellie, Lindsey, and Garrett making good use of the maple leaves in our back yard on a warm late October morning.
 

Rocktober camping

I call it Rocktober because October in Idaho is absolutely stunning.  It simply rocks.  Chris had to drag me to Ketchum for the weekend after a long couple weeks of work.  I was admittedly not terribly enthusiastic but once we were there, it was awesome.  We rolled into Ketchum and ate dinner around 6 pm Friday night.  Our plan was to sleep in the tent trailer at on of the Forest Service Campgrounds north of town.  We forgot about the government shutdown so when we arrived at Easley Campground around 8 pm, we decided to keep heading north.  We turned off on Silver Creek road (or something like that) and travelled a couple of miles thinking about how it would suck if we had to turn around.  We ended up driving straight into a wonderful spot and set up camp for the night.  We woke up the next morning to beautiful snow covered mountains, yellow aspens, and sunshine.  Our weekend consisted of a fabulous family bike ride further up the road that we were already camping near, trailing of the sheet in Ketchum, and snow on Sunday morning.  The pictures don't do the scenery justice.  It was absolutely spectacular. 

good morning Dad, thanks for breakfast!

bicycle built for two

 

dismount

aspen grove

a visit to Ketchum isn't complete without fries from grumpies and some saturday college football

campfie, hotdogs, and smores

dad, take a picture

girls are cached

profiles

sheep on main st.

the tent trailer..with a broken lock..long story

bike ride break, time to push dad, the trailer, and bire

 

 

sunday morning snow outside the tent trailer ~ 7000 ft

family pic

October family time

Mom and Sparky.  Fun fact - Sparky was once an American Gladiator.

We woke up early on October 5th to race out to Station 10 for some pumpkin gathering.  Station 10 grows pumpkins in the back of the lot.  They have pumkins up to 100 pounds.  Lindsey and I sang ring around the rosey and 5 little monkeys in the dalmation bounce house.  She didn't want anything to do with "Sparky" the fire dog.  As we headed down Chinden towards Station 10, 6 hot air balloons took off from the Fair Grounds.  After naptime we went to Harvest Fest at the botanical gardens where we met up with Drew, Jill, Adri, and Lexi.  Lindsey and Adri had fun playing in the fountain.  Great weather, good fun, and happy memories.  

 

 

Lindsey (2+ years) and Adri Wollam (3.5 years)

Yellowstone and the Tetons

This picture is for Jana.  Its a close up of one of the Grizzlies at the Yellowstone Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.  Our trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons in August was full of bears, some caged, others not.  The story goes something like the commentary below.  Its been a few months so my recollection is a little fuzzy.

This bear was re-homed in West Yellowstone with its twin after their mother was killed in Alaska.  We visited the Center for the afternoon on our way from Papa Jim's to the Teton Climbers Ranch.  There are several "bad" grizzlies, wolves, and birds of prey in captivity.  These bears are absolutely massive.



We went on a lovely hike around String Lakes.  Lindsey and Chris are walking down the steps to the lake shore.  Snuggles in tow.

 

While taking this picture, unbeknownst to us, a black bear is standing right behind us eating berries.  We knew there was a black bear in the area and had seen it on the trail so turned around and started heading back to the car.  After 10 mins of walking I stopped to take a picture of this osprey nest and we watched the ospreys take off and land a few times.  I turned around to talk to Chris (who had Lindsey in the backpack) and I saw what was probably a 300 pound black bear but in my mind it might has well been a grizzly.  The bear doesn't care we are near him and is just eating berries.  Berries are everywhere...  I say to Chris "hey, that black bear is about 10 feet behind you", we start walking away quickly and Chris says "hey, did you get any pictures"?  Are you kidding me???  Now Lindsey talks about bears and says "bears walk on the trail and eat berries".  I say wow, glad our bear spray was at home in our basement.  WTF?

 

 

Doesn't everyone walk like a penguin when hiking?

We rode the Jackson Hole Resort tram up to the top of the ski area.  Lindey and Chris taking in a view of the range.

Deuces

 

 

Tram ride back down to the resort

Monkey nap mat

Nana visited last month while Chris was visiting Kel and Olivier in France.  While she was here she attended Ms. Rose's class with Lindsey.  Nana came home with Lindsey after school to inform me of one of the many essential items that I am sure I'll neglect to equipt Linsdey with over her lifetime.  I sent Lindsey to Ms. Rose's class in June with a sheet, blanket, and pillow per the instructions I received.  I was unaware of the well-known pre-school accessory called the nap mat.  Nana bought Lindsey a monkey nap mat which Lindsey refers to as her monkey blanket.  She loves it and has been asking if she can bring it home from school for her bed.  I told Lindsey that the nap mat is from Nana and she said "that's nice Nana".  Thanks Nana!
 

Papa Jim and "big dogs"

Papa Jim and two of his 3 favorite ladies!

I am still catching up on blogging our summer activities.  Here we are in October and these pictures were taken in late July.  The three of us visited Papa Jim and Grandma Sandee for a long weekend while enroute to Yellowstone and the Tetons.  We floated the Big Hole River where Papa Jim caught his first fish as a little boy around 5 years old.  Lindsey enjoyed some time on the sticks.  Chris was talking to Lindsey about visiting Grandpa Jim the week before our visit.  Grandpa Jim quickly morphed into "Papa Jim" and Lindsey was also very interested in meeting what Chris referred to as the "Big Dogs".  Lindsey was so excited that it turned into a song that we sang on our way to Papa Jim's house.  It goes something like "We're going to go see the big dogs tonight, tonight...".  Papa Jim and the big dogs are well cemented into Lindsey's memory, as is Papa Jim's cat named goose.  When ever we talk about or see pictures of Papa Jim, Lindsey always asks about how the big dogs are doing. 

lindsey on the sticks

one of the big dogs, Riley, with two tennis balls in his mouth

1st Boise River Float

We floated the Boise River in mid-July with Grandma and Grandpa Mattson.  As we were walking up to the river with our raft I thought to myself ... this is one of those moments I've looked forward to since I found out we were going to become parents.  The water and river used to be such a big part of our lives before moving to Boise and Lindsey.  I miss it.  We really look forward to getting back into water sports as a family and this was our first step towards that.
 
A notable quote:   "Lindsey went down the waterfall".  She said this right after she turned around and saw the diversion dam ripples behind us. 
 

 

 

4th of July at Redfish and Stanley

We took the tent trailer to Redfish.  Chris reserved a lovely camp site.  The views from the site were fabulous.  We rented a canoe, rode bikes, hiked, swam, and played at the playground in Stanley.
 

One of Lindsey's recent quotes "I like my dad".  You can see it in her face here.

View from our campsite

Beach baby, taking it in.

Swinging with mom at the playground in Stanley. 

 

Sawtooths and sliding.