Charlotte the Explorer

Charlotte and I went on a big adventure today.  We went outside to play and she said, "Let's go to Dinneyland!"

"Where is Disneyland?" I asked.

"Over there!" she said and started walking to a corner of Pake and Beppe's yard.  Then she changed direction.  "No, wait, it's by the beach!" she said and went out the front gate into the driveway.

I caught up to her and held her hand as we continued to walk down the driveway.  "Where is the beach?" I asked.

"First, we go past the rocks.  And Crocodile Lake.  Then, we find the beach!" she said, imitating the cadence of the instructions on Dora the Explorer.

We arrived at the front neighbors' yard.  "Here Crocodile Lake.  Mama, sing song."

I improvised a little ditty with the words crocodile and lake in it.

"Stop singing.  Not crocodile song.  Dora song."

We sang the Dora theme song and skipped to the end of the driveway.

"Hey, Charlotte, let's cross the street and look and see how much water is in the canal," I suggested. 

The canal was full to the brim.  We could hear the roar of a waterfall, and continued down the raised path alongside the canal to investigate.  A few yards back from the street the canal drops down a level to allow farmers to dam it up and increase water pressure for irrigation as needed.  A rusty metal grate forms a bridge to the other side.  Under the grate, we saw a soccer ball caught in the current under the falls.  We made a game out of watching it disappear under the swirling water and pop back up. 

Charlotte noticed the trees to our left and went to the edge of the steep dirt embankment that separated us from the walnut grove. "Look, a forest! How can we touch trees?" she said.

"We have to go down this hill."

After a few trips up and down the hill, she wandered into the grove and then said.  "Hide and seek!  You count."  She put her head against the trunk of a tree and covered her eyes with her hands.

I counted slowly from one to ten. 

"Ready or not!" Charlotte cried gleefully as she ran back toward me.

I wondered if she would have to use the bathroom soon.  "Let's go back toward the house now," I said.

"How do we get there?"

"First we go past the waterfall with the magic ball.  Then we cross the street and look for the beach again."

When we returned to the waterfall, Charlotte wanted to try to cross the bridge to the other side.  At first we approached it holding hands.  She shied away, so I carried her across and back.  Then she wanted to try again holding hands.  She was very brave!

We continued back across the street, and then followed the canal up that side through tall grass, wildflowers and weeds all the way back home.  Along the way, we got a closeup view of the neighbors horses, goats and new steer, and crossed another bridge.   At the southeast corner of George and Brenda's property, I picked Charlotte up and put her over the fence, then climbed over myself.  We hiked through the field back to our house and ended our adventure by going inside for a snack.