Train Museum (Last Stop)

   The final destination of our mini vacation was the California State Train Museum, located in old town Sacramento. It was a pretty neat place to see with the several different types of trains and cars set up (some of which you could actually get on. Unfortunately, Adahleigh and Charles were a little to young to enjoy it, or make it enjoyable for that matter. From the first second all they wanted to do was run around. There was a play area where they had wooden train set put up for them to play with, but the train set they have at home is almost as big as the one to play with there. Since there were over 20 kids trying to fight over the small sets it wasn't that great for them to play with either. Over all they did enjoy seeing the trains and just running around, so in their eyes it wasn't a complete failure.

   We did get a couple of good pictures with the trains, once they stopped bouncing off the walls.

   We were a little hesitant to go because we didn't want to disturb the other train enthusiasts, but reading online most people said it was really kid friendly. We found out right off the bat that it wasn't as kid friendly as described, or at least the one museum volunteer (all the museum workers are volunteers, most retired railroad workers) we ran into first wasn't very friendly. The kids got in trouble for standing on the box, it didn't help that Charles was shaking the pickaxe as hard as he could to get it loose.

   In all the museum held over 20 engines and cars.

   This was probably the highlight of the whole museum. This volunteer grabbed the kids and set them down to tell them how people traveled in the train and how the seat they were sitting in pulled out to form a bed like camper trailers do and there was even a bunk that folded out above the seats. The funny thing about visiting the museum is Adahleigh had to have a map of her own to look at. The whole time we were there she would constantly whip it out to tell us this is where we are and were going here next. She did go and use it as a way to ignore the museum volunteer, she acted like he wasn't even there. He made the comment when he was picking them up that he hadn't held kids this young for about 20 yrs since all his grand kids are also grown. I think their visit also made his day.

   Separate from the museum, there was and old steam engine and cars you could take a ride on. The ride ended up lasting about an hour and the kids really liked riding on the train.

        

   Charles had had a little too much running around by the time we got on the train that he couldn't manage to stay awake and ended up sleeping for half the trip.

   All his energy came right back after we got off the train and he proceeded to run around the whole place. Adahleigh has picked up a strange habit that she won't step on the cracks between boards (like on the wooden walkway, that's why she is lagging behind) even on playground toys.

   We never found out if all the activities and time relevant activities were an everyday occurrence (such as military marches and women picketing for rights), or we just got lucky on the day we were there and they had more to do. The kids liked play in the water and trying to pan for gold (it was planted with iron pyrite you could find and take).

   After showing Adahleigh how to pan for gold, she wanted to do it all by herself. She never did figure out what exactly she was looking for. She would just pull out the biggest rocks and say "I found gold, a big one". 

  She did do a good job, especially for how young she was. All Charles did was take the pan and dump water all down the front of him.

Fairytale Land

  Our next stop in Sacramento was just across the street from the zoo to Fairytale Land (If you want to challenge your fairytale knowledge see if you can name the fairytales by just looking at the pictures) . It's a lot like The Enchanted forrest in Oregon, for those familiar with that. It has a lot of nursery rhyme themed play areas and other children stories themes. Most of the things in the park are some kind of slide (Big bonus for Adahleigh and Charles, because the bigger the slide the better).

  The first activity we came to was the old woman in the shoe, which was just a large slide. The kids really love slides and climbing, so this was great. The hardest thing about getting around the park is that the kids would have been completely content to just stay and play on one of the toys for hours. We had to herd them (like cats) around from activity to activity, so they could play on little of everything.  

  Both Charles and Adahleigh had to hop on Cinderella's horses and take them for a ride.

 

   Then they wanted to be the coachmen and drive the team.

   They had lots of fun on Jack's bean stalk.

Of course, they had to climb the Giant's foot (the tougher the challenge the greater the triumph). 

       

   Keisha wasn't thrilled at all to be Giant toe jam.

      

   Even though it looks like Charles is smiling he's actually crying, he didn't want to have any part of the photo shoot with The Cheese Stands Alone. Keisha actually liked being scrunched up in the cheese hole. She probably would have even taken a nap there if we would've just left her there.

   Jack and Jill's well made up for the cheese photo for Charles. The only complaint that Adahleigh and Charles had about the well was it didn't put out enough water, but some how they both still managed to get plenty wet.

   Mother Goose was probably Charles' favorite. At first she looks like she's just a statue, but in actuality she's a slide. We didn't realize it till Adahleigh and Charles were trying to climb up the back.

   The chair spindles and Mother Goose's apron bow make up the ladder rungs to the slide. Both of them had to be helped the first time on finding hand and foot holds, but after that it was no problem getting up it on their own. Charles probably went down 5 times before we herded him off to another play area. I'm pretty sure his main interest in it was the climbing. It challenged him a little and gave him a chance to try out the newly observed skills from the zoo earlier that day (see Sacramento Zoo post for further explanation). 

   This was the point in the park where Keisha had decided that it was way past her bedtime, and she had seen enough. She passed out sitting up and then slept for probably the next hour in her stroller.

   Mr. McGregor's garden was another great chance for them to play in some more water. This was probably the hardest place to get them to move on from. What was amazing was how well all the plants were doing, because the whole garden was pretty much a swamp from all the constant watering it was getting from all the kids.

   The pirate ship was a lot of fun for them too. They loved pretending to steer the ship and of course tried to climb the cargo netting. Unfortunately, the only treasure found aboard was spilt popcorn. Charles thought this was a great treasure and it was about time for a snack anyway. Luckily, we were able to grab him before he was able to consume any of it.

   Throughout the day this poor chicken kept coming across these two's path at which point they proceeded  to employ intimidation tactics with no results. They found it one last time when we were getting ready to leave, so we turned them loose on the chicken and let them have their fun. Once again the chicken was able to escape unscathed.   

   Ashley had noticed the tractor and had to make sure they got up on it for picture, especially since "it's the right color". As everyone knows not all tractors are created equal and it's okay to discriminated against all non-red ones. The kids might not have even been allowed on if it was green (that's how bad those ones are).  

   We thought that after having run them through the zoo and then running around during lunch they might not have enough energy to get through the park. Their exhaustion just started to show once the park was about to close, but then they took a quick nap on the ride to the hotel and then wanted to go swimming. These kids definitely have more energy than a hamster on a wheel.

Sacramento Zoo

   This last month we decided to take a mini vacation to Sacrament since we are short on time with my rotations, to be able to make a longer trip, and we had a free night at motel 6. We were able to pack a bunch of activities into two days though. The big highlight and first stop of the trip was the Sacramento Zoo, the kids have always loved going to the zoo and since we don't really have one close by here (Sacramento is actually the closest zoo). Ashley had started getting the kids excited about going weeks in advanced, (I think she was really more excited to go than they were) Adahleigh would go around listing  the animals that she was going to see at the zoo and Charles would make the different animal noises.

   Unfortunately, when the day finally arrived the kids were a little on the sick side (Adahleigh feeling so bad that she said she didn't want to go and just wanted to stay home). We went anyway and figured they'd be feeling better by the time we got there and a couple hour nap on the ride over would help them feel a lot better. Once we got there Charles was feeling a lot better, but Adahleigh was completely out of it and it took us a little bit to wake her up.

   The first thing Charles noticed in the park where we parked were geese running around, of course he had to get out and go chase them. They wouldn't let him get close at all, so we bribed them with bread so they would come closer. Once he realized they were almost as big as him he wasn't too keen on getting close anymore (he is actually right next to me, the little girl in the picture is just a fellow goose chaser).

   Once we got in the zoo, one of the first things we saw was an animal show going on. I figured the kids would love it because they were bringing out different animals to see, but they were only interested for about 10 min. and then just wanted to run around so we took them out to look around the zoo. The first thing they found was this cement snake slide. They both really enjoyed playing on this and actually played on it longer than they watched the animal show.

   Here are some of their favorite animals that they saw. Adahleigh still enjoys pointing out the animals and telling everyone what they are. They weren't able to get as close to the giraffes as we have been at other zoos though.

   For all the effort in the world Charles wasn't able to get as close as he wanted.

  He would've preferred being this close, were he could touch them if he really wanted but he wouldn't touch them if he could (he gets scared when animals are too close.

   I don't think Charles liked the monkeys the best, but were sure he picked up a few pointers and climbing and getting into trouble from them, because since we got back from there he has definitely made bolder attempt at climbing things. His latest climb has been the dressers with the drawers closed. He scurried right up the handles as if they were actually put on the dressers to aide in climbing.

   Keisha really enjoyed her day out of the house. riding in the stroller. She didn't really look at any animals, but really enjoyed all the comments she got about how cute she is.

   We tried to get Adahleigh to take a picture with Ashley, but she absolutely refused to have any part of it. We attribute that mainly to her being tired and sick, but it could also have part to do with her being two.

   One of the most unique animals they had were the flamingos. The neat thing about their exhibit was that there was a plywood poster put up the length of it with peep holes, so you could get a closer look of them than usually. Charles didn't understand the concept of using the peep holes to look at them, so he bent over and look under the poster through the chain-link fencing to get his peek.

   It only took about 4 hours to get through the zoo, and by then the kids were hungry and wanted lunch. It worked out perfectly since we had other plans for the afternoon. We went and ate lunch in the park next to where we had parked the van. The whole time we were eating a butterfly kept flying by, so Adahleigh got a hold of a stick and chased it around the park. In the first picture it's right at the end of her stick, she didn't actually get that close to getting it but it made for a good picture.

    Charles even got in on operation "Beat the Butterfly" which was given an immediate and mandatory cease and desist order once both of them had acquired a stick, so that no one lost an eye. 

The rest of the trip will be posted at a later date........

The Marina

  The other day we took the kids out to the marina for a change from just swimming in the pool at the apartment building. It wasn't the original plan though. It was art month here during July and all month long different places have different activities to do. We originally were planning on going to the animal shelter where they were suppose to have animals you could pet and hold and a few art activities. When we got to the address we were given there was no animal shelter in site, so we went over to the marina instead for a picnic and to let the kids play in the sand. 

   When we first got there all Charles wanted to do was chase birds. We had a hard time getting him to sit and eat with all the birds around on the ground needing to be chased. Of course, Adahleigh joined in the harassment of the local wildlife.

   Since this wasn't the originally planned activity no one was dressed appropriately for swimming and we didn't bring any swim suits with, but Adahleigh had said she just wanted play in the sand and we figured they might just get their feet a little wet. At first this was all the kids did.

  

   That is until they spotted a sea gull swimming in the water, that for what ever reason, Adahleigh felt provoked by it necessitating chasing it no matter what the cost. We figured that since she is used to swimming with a swim vest she figured she'd automatically float. By the time I got to her (since Ash was busy with Keisha and Charles went wading one way while Adahleigh went the other) she was bobbing to get air since the water was nose deep. Once I got to her she wanted to turn around and continue her pursuit of the sea gull.

Even better than this later on we spotted a flock of geese on the beach that needed a good chasing down back to the depths that they came from. What was the funniest about that was a guy had been coaxing them up the beach until she came screaming by to scare them off. By the end of the visit between the two  of them there wasn't a bird in sight that didn't have the fear of God scared into them.

August 6, 2005

Happy Anniversary Adam! 

I Know our Journey has not been perfect but 5 years later life couldn't be better! 

I love you so much and i'm so happy your MINE!