Just Ducky

Ducks were practically made for little kids to find, chase, and throw bread at. We spent this weekend tracking down lots of ducks. The first step in a successful duck hunt (the plump them up , not the shoot 'em down kind) is to fill your own tummy.

Shoveling in the pre-hike meal

Playing that amazingly tedious pick-up-drop-it-pick-up game. Usually when he drops something, he throws out his out his hands, palms up, as if to say, "What? Where'd it go?"

Starting our walk: These two look so much alike; I see the resemblance grow stronger as Steve continues to grow more handsome

 At Provo River Walkway- first duck sighting!

 Steve makes this exact face when he sees ducks too!

 Throwing in sticks

 His adorable fishing/woodsy attire was not planned but looks great in these pics, I think. The "Daddy is My Homeboy" onesie, our go-to outing outfit is way too small now.

 Focus= Tongue out & to the side (something I remember my Grandpa Forsyth always doing too)

We did see lots of ducks on our little hike that turned into a way too long walk. Provo River Walkway is great, but lasts forever. Best part, besides the four snakes Steve spotted en route (joking! Indiana Jones likes snakes more than I do), was when an adorably chubby little boy rode his bike past us with his family (think Disney's The Kid), huffing and puffing holding up the rear, and then took a look at my currently pink hair and exclaimed, "Your hair isth thso niiiisthe!!" It made my day. Note about having pink hair: huge hit with the under 12 crowd.

The second adventure was when we went to the Ducky Derby on BYU campus. They've just built this nice canal and re-landscaped the south side of campus (you know, the part riddled with the creepy Do Not Walk Here After Dark signs), and to celebrate, BYU hosted a rubber ducky race down the canal. Hundreds showed up! And not just families with little guys, there was a line down the block of groups of singles who wanted in on the action. Or maybe it was for the $1 J-Dawgs they were also selling.... because thats the real reason we showed up. But the ridiculously long line did not bode well for our little one. He soon decided that he would forge his own path forward...

 Re-organizing the landscaping crew's materials

 Blazing his own trail! See that line? That's the end, about a block away from the front registration tables. 

 So buff. (Speaking of buff, Steve just told me that Netflix just delivered a 4.8 stars "Best Guess for Steve" rating (the number of stars they think Steve would rate something based on his ratings of other movies), which is the highest they've ever predicted, for *pause for effect*... Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

How did Netflix know about Steve's embarrassing Buffy-crazed teen years?)

Since the Ducky Derby turned out to be a bust, we headed up the hill onto campus for Astro-something something Day, where the Science Center and SWKT quad were hosting build your own rocket launches, planetarium shows, light shows, physics demonstrations, etc. We actually didn't do any of that- we spent our whole time enjoying the bounce house. 

 He hasn't figured out how to jump yet- he just bends and squats and pops up and thinks thats a jump. We applaud it anyways.

You can tell how much he likes something by how big he opens his mouth...

 ...or by how far he sticks out his tongue!

 Cooling off in the canal on the way home...

 I'm so excited to spend more days outside like this, esp. once the waterparks open for the season. 

 Crashed in the stroller on the way home! He hasn't done this in ages!

 Maybe some drool there

Finish off the afternoon with a nap in his new big kid bed. This is his classic naptime pose (only for naps though, not at night for some reason). Who doesn't love how sweet sleeping children look?