Dinosaur Museum

One of the must sees for any kid in the Grand Valley is a visit to the dinosaur museum. 

I remember it from school trips when I was a kid.  Jaydon is just starting to get into Dinosaurs thanks to a couple of Dinosaur Train books (and he got to see the actual Dinosaur Train TV show in Denver to keep him entertained while getting ready in the morning). 

He thought the Museum was great and couldn’t get enough of it.  He ran around to each of the animated Dinosaurs over and over again. 

I was sure the big roaring T-rex was going to scare him (or we’d be up with nightmares that night) but he was very brave and was more curious then scared. 

We had planned for the adventure to take about an hour but we stayed almost 3 hours.  He loved the sand pit where you could dig for bones.

The visit turned him into a complete dinosaur fan.  All of sudden shirts that he’s had for months with dinosaurs on them are the coolest things and all he wants to wear.  Good thing Halloween is coming up…I think I know what Jaydon will want to be J 

This animated dinosaur really had Jaydon concerned and confused.  It’s the very first animated dinosaur you come to in the museum so we had to visit it several times so Jaydon could figure it out.  At first, he thought it was a Mommy dinosaur eating its baby.  We had to explain that the rest of dinosaur was under the one eating and that he was a carnivore.  He knows carnivore from the Dinosaur Train (that’s what Buddy the T-rex is) so now whenever we have beef for dinner he tells us how he’s a carnivore eating up his meat.

Lots of Firsts

Jaydon had a lot of ‘firsts’ during his trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s.  The reason I’m posting this picture isn’t because it’s an adorable naked toddler picture (I don’t even remember why he was running around naked that night) but because of the big bandage on his hand. 

Jaydon got his first wasp sting from sticking his hand up the drain pipe right after a wasp had flown in (Grandma tried to warn him but 2-year olds are not known for their listening skills).  I wasn’t there when it happened so he took the sting like a man and didn’t even cry (I’m still astounded by that).  We covered it up with a baking soda paste (hence the bandage to keep the paste on for awhile) and Jaydon did fine. 

He got really hyper and really hungry.  We scanned the internet and called up my brother who is in med school and was out to dinner with a bunch of med school buddies and they all decided that hyper was a good thing – his body was going into overdrive to deal with the venom.  The next morning he woke up with hardly a mark on his hand which was amazing since it had been pretty swollen right after he got the sting. 

He also loves throwing the ball for Jimmy but that night decided to throw it in the sprinklers which Jimmy wanted nothing to do with, so I told Jaydon that he had to go get the ball.  He did it and had his first run through the sprinklers – and they were COLD, it’s probably the coldest water Jaydon has ever been doused with.  (I made this picture big so you can see his expression)

He’s used to the water temp out of the hose being close to warm bath temp not mountain reservoir temp.  And speaking of cold water his other first was going fishing for the first time with his Uncle Mike.  Mike and his girlfriend Jen took Jaydon up to the Mesa for the afternoon.  

They didn’t get any fish to Jaydon’s disappointment but had a great time anyway. 

It was around 60 degrees up there and I think Jaydon got quite a chill, even when they got home he didn’t want to take his fleece off, took his afternoon nap it and wore it the entire evening (it was in the 90s back in Palisade so there was no reason for the fleece).

Botanical Gardens

We spent the day visiting Grand Junction’s quant botanical gardens. 

They have a butterfly house that is just the perfect size for a 2.5 year old. 

They had maybe 10 butterfly’s flying around and Jaydon had a great time watching them. 

I’ve been to other butterfly houses that seem like mansions compared to this one (with stairs, multiple levels etc.) but this one was just big enough that you could walk around or sit and enjoy the butterflies and feel like you’ve seen it all before kids attention spans diminish. 

One Monarch butterfly was particularly well behaved. 

He sat on the rock long enough for me to get several dozen pictures, and a video. 

After we finished with the butterfly’s we explored the grounds outside that had some neat local art work that focused on the history of the area. 

They also had a special kids castle which was great fun but unfortunately we got to it a little too close to lunch time so didn’t spend as much time there as we could of. 

Jaydon was not too sure of this guy when he first saw him; Grandma had to show him that he was just a sculpture and wouldn’t move. 

He also had fun sliding on the dragon (the other side was the slide). 

And did some gardening with the kid sized rake and ho. 

Inside the castle was a chest full of dress up clothes, I think Jaydon is a bit too young to get into dressing up.  He kept asking Grandma why he had to have the bib on for the picture :)

3 months old

Tylor is 3 months old today. 

Grandma and Jimmy helped him celebrate and Jaydon busted out in song for him. (well after a little convincing that is:)

And yes Grandpa, he does get a birthday every month until he's 1 then he can actually eat the good stuff (cupcakes, ice cream etc.) and that when they only happen every year.

Apple Trees

For those of who don’t know, my parents grow fruit (cherries, apricaots, peaches, plums, apples, pears) in Palisade.  During our trip it was peach season and just the start of apple season. 

The orchard right outside my parents house has Akani apples which are basically a small Johnathan and are the perfect size for kids hands.  

A trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house just isn’t complete without some fun in the apple trees. 

Jaydon loved climbing the ladder and didn’t hesitate a bit to go all the up to the top rung.  He had fun climbing in the trees and picking all the apples he could manage to reach. 

Tylor enjoyed being outside and watching his brother. 

We also ventured over to the plum orchard and Jaydon got to taste tree ripe blood plums which he loved (they’re my favorite kind of plum too but you never see them in stores). 

Jaydon had a fun time in the orchard but by the end he was getting a little tired (and was especially sick of all the picture taking) so gathered up his apple bucket and went home…

Tylor Update

Based on the pictures and stories from our trip you probably are wondering where’s Tylor…

he was there of course but it’s a tough gig being number 2 with a big brother like Jaydon who is an attention magnet.  Tylor absolutely adores his big brother; one way to calm him down if he gets a little fussy is get Jaydon to talk to him. 

He’s also become very in tuned with Jaydon which means if Jaydon cries Tylor immediately starts up too. 

Tylor has had pretty bad reflux (excessive spitting-up) and the doctor prescribed Dopridrone right before we left for the trip.  It worked like a charm but gave Tylor fairly bad stomach cramps.  

I started to do research on the drug and discovered that it’s not for sale in the US (only used in Germany and France) and is in a family of drugs that have a reputation of having some fairly severe side effects. 

My brother is currently in medical school so I got his opinion and he agreed that this drug was like using a sledge hammer to pound in a framing nail (or whatever that analogy is) – it gets the job done but… well anyway I decided to stop the medicine and try just changing what I ate.  I noticed a definite link to tomatoes so stopped all citrus and acidic items.  This helped but he was still waking up every 2-3 hours all night.  I continued research and many women on-line said that removing dairy from their diet helped.  Now I love cheese, ice cream, have yoghurt every morning for breakfast so no dairy was not going to be easy. 

I waited until we got home (couldn’t skip the vanilla ice cream with all those fresh peach pies and cobblers) but once I did it all of sudden Tylor started waking up only 1-2 times per night.  He still spits up a little but there’s no more full wardrobe change for either/both of us during the day so I think it’s been a success.  I do have to say though that eating is VERY boring when you skip the dairy but I’ll trade it for sleep anytime.

Peach Festival

We arrived in Palisade just in time for the big yearly event of the Peach Festival.  It has gotten so big that they now make everyone park offsite and bus people into the park. 

Jaydon loved the idea of riding a bus (he’s been on commuter type buses but not ‘yellow’ school buses) and he was the first one to get on when it arrived. 

He also made everyone smile by singing the wheels on the bus song while we rode along.  Jaydon loved the peach festival and Tylor enjoyed the time outside. 

Jaydon got to have his very first pony ride on Freedom and he rode him all by himself. 

Next activity was the train ride. 

Then the bouncy castle, actually it was a dragon not a castle. 

While Jaydon was jumping another boy joined and guess what his name was – Jaden too. 

We all had so much fun at the festival that we went back the next day. 

First we had get Jaydon his souviner 'Peach-a-boo' shirt and then got our complimentary peach (they had run out the first day we went). 

Next activity was visiting the Alpacas and Llamas.  Jaydon loved the Alpacas and spent 30 minutes just petting them, feeding them grass and talking to them.  The owner was just sure that he had found an Alpaca farmer in the making. 

The only way we could get him away from his new friends was by heading back over to the pony and train ride. 

This time the train had a few more kids on it to ride with Jaydon. 

And the pony he rode on was Tucker this time because Freedom “was taking a break” as Jaydon says.  

Then we headed home and Jaydon helped make a peach cobbler.  Though I think he did more eating then helping.  By the end every peach Grandma cut up had a few Jaydon bites taken out first…guess he takes after the birds.