Sacramento

Our year-end field-trip this year was a CA History trip to Sacramento.  We had a really nice time.  The weather was not as hot as we were expecting, but it was still warm enough for the shorts we'd packed.  The kids got to swim a bit.  We had a great hotel room.  Logan LOVED the breakfast in the morning.  That kid ate SOOOOO much.  His favorite thing has always been hotel breakfast.  Waffle?  Yes, please.  Yogurt?  Yes, please.  English muffin?  Yes, please.  And the list goes on.






We headed out Thursday morning.  It was absolutely gorgeous weather.  The little town of Williams has a new playground, so it was a perfect place to stop for lunch.

On Friday we drove out to Coloma - Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.

This is where James Marshall, in the process of working for John Sutter, discovered gold in the American River - the discovery that sparked the Gold Rush.  It was an awesome park.  For $8 our entire family got to spend the day!

Inside a fake mine

Walking near the American River

Logan checking out the blacksmith's work

Saturday was spent in downtown Sacramento.

Enjoying the rose garden at McKinley park

Sutter's Fort

budding photographer

The Leland Stanford Mansion

You're not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion, so we couldn't show you, but it was really beautiful.

The kids loved the terrace at the mansion

CA state capitol building

Saturday was also Hannah's 14th Birthday!  We celebrated with an ice cream cake from Cold Stone (definitely a rare treat for us).  I think Hannah wants a bike for her birthday, so we just gave her a little bag of girly stuff - her first make-up.  Exciting!

On Sunday we went to Church up near the Temple.

Waiting for church to start....

Still waiting.

So this is the stake center next door.  It is the oddest looking chapel I have ever seen.

The park-like temple grounds where we spent our afternoon

On Monday we hit Old Sacramento.  The kids loved the Railroad Museum.  We also visited the Military Museum (free on Memorial Day, by the way), and a few others.

Natty getting ready to get shipped out with the oranges

In the engine room

Cutest engineer ever!

click to see a bigger picture.  SO many huge trains in one space.  It was awesome!

Best part - the three Thomas the Train tables for the kids to play with.  The girls did this while Josh took his sweet time  enjoying the nearby model train display.