Dino Day

Jaden had a five day weekend over Presidents day and we had wanted to do something special at least one of the days. We thought we had Gramum and Poppy talked into Thermopolis but it  didn't end up working out. Sooo...Jaden and I got to spend lots of great 1:1 time together for a day trip to Bozeman and Chico Hot Springs.Jaden has been really into maps lately and draws out ideas for trips he wants to go on. We brought along the map of Montana and he marked down where we were on the map as we drove and he drew circles when we stopped.
We were on a budget so Jaden also wrote down our expenses!

It was such a wonderful day. The quality time we spent together was a nice break from the daily grind. For the first thirty minutes, Jaden kept telling me how happy and calm he felt! Our first destination was the Museum of the Rockies. I hadn't been there since I was ten. We checked out all the exhibits...
Such a ham

                                   A little gruesome

Jaden got tired of pictures.  I tried to get him to stand in front of a stagecoach and he ran and got into the fetal position.  Head covered with coat. 

Our favorite part of the museum was the kids play area upstairs.  It had amazing diaramas and fun play stations.  This is a buffalo made with all sorts of unusual objects.  I think Opa would have liked it!

There was a cabin corner with the coolest old stove. Jaden put on the chef's shirt and cooked plastic pizza for me. He managed to almost escape this picture. See him bolting?

Jaden filled out his fishing license and went "fishing" for magnetic trout.

Isn't the scenery just lovely?

Then he measured all his fish on the wooden ruler. 

Jaden got up on the firefighter lookout tower.  He dragged the camping backpack with him.  You never know when you're going to need a striped scarf.

Before we left, we sat down and did a little craft project.  It was supposed to be a snowflake made out of Q-tips but Jaden made a leaning tower instead. 

After the museum, we stopped at a toy store and looked around.  We then headed to Chico for an evening in the hot water.  We could see the stars and tried to remember what we learned about the IMAX planetarium movie at the museum.  (I got these two pics off the internet.)

 We liked the sign on the wall.  Jaden thought it was "HIL-arious!"  He says that a lot.

  We got home around 11:00 pm.  And that was our amazing day...