Our Staycation

Andrew's boss learned the word "Staycation" a few weeks ago and couldn't stop talking about it. I guess he mentioned the word about twenty times that day, so I thought we'd try it since we're hanging around Sacramento anyway.

On the first day of our exciting adventures we headed off to Old Town Sacramento.


Only a handful of people asked us for money which isn't too bad.

(I actually don't mind sharing a couple of bucks now and then because I remember all of the rejection I received when I had to sell campfire candy and always promised myself to be nicer to salespeople/beggars/etc. when I got older.

But a couple of summers ago, I was parked in the overflow parking lot at the grocery store and this weird guy came up behind me when I was trying to buckle Isabella into her car seat. He handed me a note that said "I need money".

I was totally freaked out because I couldn't grab Isabella and run away because she was already in her car seat and he was standing right in the door so I couldn't get into the front seat. I wasn't sure if he was like trying to mug me or something or if he was just homeless and wanted a dollar so I ended up shoving a bag of groceries at him and I got in the car and drove away. But ever since then, I have this creepy beggar phobia, especially when I'm with the kids.)

Anyway, having averted near death while exiting the parking garage, we headed over to the most popular summer event in all of California . . . the farmer's market. Isabella scored a free dahlia just for looking cute. I was going to flash the melon guy a glimpse of Anderson to see if we could score a Ruby Bella (have you tried those? They're really good.) but I didn't want to lug a five pound melon around with us the rest of the afternoon, so we stuck with the free flower instead.



Next we walked down to the river and looked at the Delta Queen.


(Which incidentally is where Andrew and I had our bachelor/bachelorette party -- if you want to call if that -- I wouldn't call it that myself, especially since the announcer guy told the entire audience at their dinner theater that anyone going there for their pre-wedding bash was totally lame.) But if you're not into drinking or watching strippers where else are you going to go? Denny's? The Library? Why not a floating murder mystery dinner theater?)



Then we headed off to see the trains. Why do pre-schoolers like trains so much? What's the attraction?

If I could go the rest of my life without reading another train story, I would . . . do something . . . I'm not sure what. But it would be big like giving up coffee or selling my soul to the devil or seling amway or something. I'll have to think about it.


We also went to a birthday party during our exciting Sacramento vacation. It was a pool party which was very fun for the kids but not as much fun for me because I didn't plan on going into the pool.


I think anderson really wants a dog. He just stared and stared at their dog. Poor Shasta sat there thinking if one more toddler comes over and looks at me or pulls my tail, I'm going to try them out as a chew toy.








After the party, we came home and took a bath. Isabella likes to play beauty parlor and tries to help wash Anderson's hair.

I think he likes it.







On Sunday, Tara and Dave had us over for another pool party.

But this time we also got to wear fancy hats. Actually they are popcorn bowls, but they make much better hats. The boy in blue is Shannon's baby Luke. He is two months younger than Anderson. So they'll have a lot of fun causing mayhem together when they are teenagers.


Yesterday we went to Sonoma. I wanted to take some pictures of the vineyards but a lot of them had nets over the grapes. I don't know what that's about.

We stopped at this artsy garden place just to see what it was like. They had some cool lilly pads and water lillies.



Isabella really liked these cows.

















they also had this big blue sculpture that we could see from the road. I thought it was supposed to be a giant piece of coral, but it's actually a tree that died, but the owner didn't want to chop it down. So he covered it in hundreds of blue Christmas bulbs instead. It's called Blue Tree.




















This statue was like $2,000. I'm not sure why. I just tried to leave a wide berth around it while pushing the double stroller.

All in all we've had a pretty good staycation, but I would rather be in Spain.