The Big Trip Part 3 and the rest of October

 The last leg of our trip was spent in Idaho with our good friends, the Glenewinkels.  Casey was able to fly in and join us for this part of the trip.  The first day we got to check out the potato sheds that Dustin oversees.  Zane got to learn all about the storage process and got to climb on mountains of potatoes.

watching the potatoes head into the storage shed

a storage shed full of potatoes(they are about 22 feet deep!)

Zane spent most days playing with Merit and riding around in his red truck.

Zane and Merit

Riding across the wheat fields

Always an adventure

There were many wrestling matches with the boys and their Dads.

Casey and the boys checking out a tank

My buddy Peter

One of the days we headed up into the hills to ride the four wheelers and look for wildlife.  We saw a few deer, we were hoping to see moose, but no luck.

Dustin

Casey, Merit and Zane

Zane driving

On the last day of our trip we drove through Yosemite National Park.  Zane and I decided we didn't want to do any hikes so we stopped for a few pictures and headed home.

Zane with El Capitan 

After we got home Grandpa arrived to volunteer on a bridge rebuild at Hartland.  Zane was excited to spend time with Grandpa and help with the bridge.

All the old decking removed

Zane helped carry out the new decking boards

 Zane liked climbing under to pick up things that got dropped

Almost done

Dad and I saw a black bear in camp

Grandpa taught Zane how to build card houses

And how to knock them down with rubber bands and nerf guns

October brought the fall quilt retreat.  At the spring retreat I was blessed with a wax fabric quilt kit.  Wax fabric comes from Africa.  It was lots of bold and bright colors and very fun working with a different type of fabric.

A close up of the 3 quilting styles I used

All finished

The back is also wax fabric 

Casey and I were able to go on Zane's whale watching field trip off the coast near Ventura.  We cruised through the Santa Barbara Channel and around one of the Channel Islands.  We saw thousands of dolphins and one humpback whale.

Humpback Whale Tail

The back of a Humpback

Dolphins

Dolphin pod

Humpback blow spout

Casey and Zane on the boat

On the way home from the whale watching trip we stopped by the pumpkin patch for Zane to find the perfect pumpkin.

Pumpkin head

Jumping off the hay stack

Finally found the perfect one

Carving

Good looking pumpkins

Thanks for following along with all of our adventures.  See you next month.

The Big Trip Part 2

 For the next part of the trip we headed over to Eastern Washington to spend a few days with my best friend Cori.  Zane had a great time learning to bowl and play tennis and we even happened upon some RC hydrofoil races.

Playing in Lake Chelan

Mini golf

We checked out Rocky Reach Dam

Watching the fish come up the fish ladder at the Dam

Playing tennis with Cori

Learning to bowl

Watching the hydrofoil races

Hydrofoil races

He was even excited to mow Cori's lawn

On the way to our next stop, Yellowstone, we stopped at two carousels.  One in Spokane the other in Missoula.  I love riding carousels and both of these has a ring grab and toss, most carousels don't have that feature anymore.  Zane loved them both and we rode them many times.

The big red wagon in Spokane

Zane in the red wagon

Monkey bars underneath

Spokane Carousel

He grabbed some rings

Missoula Carousel

Missoula Carousel

Next we spent four amazing days in Yellowstone.  It's my favorite place in the world and I was so excited to share it with Zane.  Leading up to the trip we studied all about Yellowstone; the animals, geological and geothermal features.  Zane's favorite part was Old Faithful and Bee Hive geysers that we were able to see erupt multiple times.  He also enjoyed seeing all the animals and experiencing Bison jams on the roads.

Grand Prismatic Spring(one thing he was really excited to see).

Grand Prismatic Spring overlook

Paint Pots

Climbing in the Hoodoos

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Big Horn Sheep

Bison

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Swimming in Yellowstone Lake

Playing on the shores of Yellowstone Lake

Old Faithful on the left, Bee Hive on the right, they were erupting at the same time!!

Zane getting his Junior Ranger Badge

Bee Hive geyser(volume up)

Zane and Otter at Bee Hive Geyser

Bison Jam

Black Bear

Crossing the Continental Divide

Pronghorn

When we left Yellowstone we headed south into Grand Teton National Park.  The Tetons were covered in a nice cloud layer most of the day.  We did a hike half way around Jenny Lake with a loop around the Moose Ponds.  At the far side of the lake we took a boat ride back to the car.  It was a beautiful hike through all the trees changing color and we saw a bull moose!!!

Moose

Jenny Lake

Moose Submarine

Deer(other hikers were adamant that it was an Elk)

The Tetons in the clouds

We stayed and watched the moose for quite a while

Hiking

This wraps up Part 2 of the big trip.  After the Tetons we headed to Idaho to spend a week with our good friends the Glenewinkels and Casey flew in to join us for that week.  Stay tuned for the next post to finish up the trip.