Orchard Cove and Waterfall Trail with Jana

This morning Michael and I visited the Colorado Railroad Museum in Denver. It was a free day! I'm very sorry I don't have any pics. We got to actually ride on an old train called the Galloping Goose. It is actually an old car converted into a train. The museum is in Golden, CO. It's quite a fun place, and is extremely full of excited toddlers! :)

After we zipped through the museum, Michael and I met Matt and Rachel in Denver for lunch at a hotdog stand. Of course the owner gave Michael a free ice cream cone just for being a cool kid. On the way home, we stopped at the library to pick up a book I'd been wanting to read 3rd Degree by James Patterson. I dropped Michael off at home and then picked Jana up from school. She asked if she could earn a prize for reading, so we headed to the dollar store to pick one out. We decided to go to Arc instead to see what kind of things we could find there. She picked out a Stretchkins toy. It was more than a dollar, which is usually my limit for a "Mom Store" prize, so I told her she would have to earn it by doing 5 great things before she could have it. She wanted to do a bunch of reading to earn it, and she likes to read while I drive so we went for a drive. I decided to head to Lory State Park! Once we got to Lory, I blindfolded Jana and walked her onto a trail (didn't want her to see the Waterfall sign, because I wanted to surprise her with the waterfall). She ran down the short trail and was so amazed! She hates hiking, despite being a very good hiker. So this was nice. She climbed all over the rocks, and wanted her shoes off. She likes to feel the dirt, rocks, and water on her feet. We were both wearing ridiculous shoes anyway.

Next, we hiked to Orchard Cove. We planned to sit on a rock and read. She played in the water for a while. As I was getting our books out of my backpack, I set my book on a rock. So dumb! The rock was just slanted enough to slide the book right into the reservoir! I screamed, jumped in the water, and grabbed my book as it was slowly sinking. It was soaked. I still sat and read the whole thing wet. It was a great book. Jana read 70 pages of her (333 page) book. So she earned her new Stretchkins toy. And now I have to either magically get my library book to look OK or I am going to have to pay for it.

Jana has only 11.5 days of school left. I can hardly believe it. We have to finish the book she is reading, so she can read her Accelerated Reader goal. She is on page 170 out of 333. Fortunately she has no other homework for the rest of the year.

I have decided I have the sweetest and coolest daughter in the universe. Where did my tiny terror go? I told her today that she is the sweetest daughter in the whole world. She said, "I highly doubt that."