A beautiful, short car trip away from our home lies a fantastic way to spend a sunny afternoon. The Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado is home to a number of beautiful old rail cars, steam engines, models, and train curiosities. A few weeks ago, Gabriel, his grandmother, and I "boo-booooooo!"ed the day away while climbing through cabins, eating grilled cheese, and learning the ways of the rails.
Now familiar with the popular hang-out spots for ants, bumblebees, sparrows, and roley poleys, Gabriel can very much keep himself occupied and in good company in the backyard for hours. Though he's not a fan of actually handling bugs (and there's a very sore ladybug somewhere out there to prove it), he often hucks his miniature Adirondack across the yard to sit and watch them go about their business. He has also formed sounds for most of the bugs: a very wet "tzzzzzz" for the bees; an excited squeal coupled with frantic pointing for the ants; an unfortunate "ewww...?" for garden spiders (a mistake on my part- I didn't mean to "ew!" at a spider on the bedroom wall!). Life has to be good when a mother and her child can go outside each morning, wave hello to the bees, smell the flowers with gusto, and push a pill bug on a swingset.
