Where the buffalo roam, and a goat eats your diaper bag.

So...as promised, the Dugan family (and half of the free world) headed to Lake Tobias, a wildlife park north of Halifax on Saturday morning. We really had no idea what to expect, but I think we were all pleasantly surprised! We didn't know how peanut-allergy friendly the concession stands would be, so I had packed a cooler for us with lunches. Joshua found himself a nice picnic spot in the grass when we arrived and filled up his belly while Lauren did the same inside the car. Then we were off to explore.

We headed to the petting zoo where tons of animals were just roaming around. It was pretty cool. Joshua was armed with a few packs of crackers to feed his little furry friends. He especially liked the camels, goats and alpacas. See?

After Joshua had his fill of petting the animals, we went on a safari ride in school buses that had the tops cut off of them. It was actually REALLY cool. I guess the whole place started when Mr. Tobias came back from a trip in the 60's with 3 wild animals in his vehicle (heck if I can remember what they were....but they were an odd combo). What has resulted is 200 acres of land for all of these different kinds of animals to roam free. They are surprisingly tame, and most of the animals will come right up the side of the buses to get a snack. Joshua got to pet a buffalo, several types of steers, an elk, deer and a whole bunch more.

Doesn't this just gross you right out? It sure does me! I've dared Jason to make it his Facebook profile picture!

Lauren was a trooper the whole day. She rode in the stroller for a while, had a bunch of snacks and then spent some time in my arms. She did not prefer the ride home, and screamed for much of the ride. Until she fell asleep......in Lewisburg. 15 minutes from home and that's when she decides to crash. She stayed in her carseat while I unpacked our bags and put things away.

Lake Tobias was definitely a cool trip, and definitely is somewhere that we'll go back to.

The rest of the weekend was at home time. Lauren practiced a lot of walking and is getting pretty good at it. She's more and more confident each day. She's taking off walking now without really stopping to think about it. Many times, she ends up on her bottom or on her face, but she doesn't seem to get discouraged. It's so much fun to watch. She was almost running up and down the length of the couch last evening...then she'd try to walk to me without holding on, and would just giggle when she got to me.

Jason snapped a few great pictures of some of her many expressions while she was eating some yogurt on Sunday evening. I just can't stop looking at them!

And finally, here are the kids all cleaned up for church on Sunday morning. I tried to get one together, but Joshua had an official meltdown about it so we didn't push the issue. He's SO particular!