South Bend and Amish Country

One of Lincoln's mission companions recently moved to South Bend, Indiana, so we decided to go and visit!  Neither of us had ever been to Notre Dame but luckily, Tyler (Elder) Gardner gave us the grand campus tour...

The Golden Dome (the gray sky really obscured the color for some reason)

Campus was so pretty with Fall colors

The football stadium is right in the middle of campus

Touchdown Jesus in the background

Our friends are from Southern California, so both the Fall season and Amish culture were foreign concepts to them both.  Just East of South Bend is an Amish community, so we drove out to investigate and enjoy the foliage.

This is the face Bennett makes when you tell him to smile.

We stopped and ate at an Amish restaurant, supposedly the biggest restaurant in all the land in terms of customers served. I should have taken a picture of my pot pie with the perfectly flaky, golden crust. We also took home a Dutch apple pie (not to be confused with a regular apple pie) that was really good!  Should've taken a picture of that too.  I wish we lived closer since their pie menu had over 30 selections.

We had a great weekend visiting and exploring with the Gardners.  Unfortunately due to Lincoln's schedule (he was somehow off on Friday allowing this trip), this will be probably be the biggest family vacation for awhile...not counting Utah for Christmas next month!

Halloween

We were so excited for Halloween this year. Bennett is just getting old enough to understand what's going on. He was so excited to help carve his pumpkin this year.

There's nothing better than squishing pumpkin guts between your fingers!

Final products

We went to Lincoln's work to show off his costume and then had an adventure after. This boy loves being outside

Headed to the church Trunk or Treat. Cheesing for the camera.

It's hard to take a picture with him standing still.

Maybe sitting is better

Showing off his candy from Trunk or Treating

Halloween treats from Grandma Andreasen

Showing off his bat puppet

Visiting the Gardners in South Bend.

More zoo

Bennett feeding the goats
The first 30 seconds of this one is him climbing the stairs. You may want to fast forward it. The end is worth seeing a few times!

Johansen Farm

A friend in the ward told us about this great petting zoo/farm that we just had to check out. Bennett had SO much fun. It was great for small kids.

Animal petting/feeding

 Corn maze

 Train Rides

 Bouncy slides/houses

We also had some yummy homemade pumpkin pie ice cream and apple cider donuts.

Adventures with Dad

I work every Saturday which gives Bennett lots of dad time. They can frequently be found doing something outdoorsy. This is the latest adventure. Lincoln said he stepped back to take a picture and when he looked up Bennett was running across the log. Bennett's coordination has really improved. He is running (I mean hard to keep up with running.) all over the place. This has led to a slightly more slender baby...slightly.

Instagram

I now have an Instagram account!!! YAY! However, we have some family and friends that do not. Instead of posting everything twice I have created the Instagram bar above. Just click on the picture to enlarge or watch the video or find out more information. I should be better about blogging, but Instagram is SO much easier and faster. So for now this will have to do.

If anyone knows another way to post from Instagram to your blog please let me know. This is not my favorite, but it works for now.

Fun in Chicago

We recently got a pass to the Brookfield Zoo. It's only about ten minutes from our house so we're hoping to use it a lot. Bennett still has a hard time seeing animals if they are not moving. However he really likes birds and fish.

The polar bears were really active which is rare fro bears I think.

This creepy eel kept swimming in front of Bennett. He loved it.

Morton Arboretum is not far from us either. This summer there was an all natural bug exhibit. Lincoln was super excited to take Bennett.

The arboretum has a kids area with different forts to plan in.

Grandpa Andreasen served his mission in Korea so they had to check out the Korean plants.

There's a couple of mazes. This one is for the little guys.

Bennett loves the water, so naturally he would love the wading stream.

We are so lucky to have such fun places to visit so close to home. The older Bennett gets the more he enjoys exploring new places. We will definitely be visiting the zoo and arboretum again.