Rock Skipping Lesson with Grandma

All in a day's fun

I was looking for something fun to do over Labor Day weekend and what was supposed to be a nice day watching hot air balloons turned into four hours in the car with a bunch of fun packed in between.

When you ask Madison about this day she talks about: Rode Thomas, High Five Doggie, High Five Giraffe, and the Horsie. Her memory amazes me everyday.  

Our day started out at 6am.  The annual Color the Skies fundraiser for the Children's Hospital was happening just up the road from us and I thought Madison would think that would be fun. There was LOTS to do, but EARLY!  

It was far from what I imagined.  I don't do crowds but decided to venture out in the name of Madison having a good day.  When we got there, first we were in a line of 300 hundred to get in.  Then we had the pleasure of parking in a field of goat heads.  The car tires, our shoes and the stroller tires were FILLED. I was less than thrilled.  When we finally got to the actual location, there were people EVERYWHERE!  

It was a great showing of how the economy is keeping folks local over a three day weekend I think.  We went to get in line for the pancake breakfast and that is when we learned that it was too windy and there would be no hot air balloons that day.  The hundreds of people broke from the field and headed for the pancake line. NOPE, skipping it.   We tried to watch the wild animal show but it was so crowded we couldn't see or hear anything.  

I wanted to leave immediately.  This is precisely when Madison spotted "Thomas" the train ride.  She is fascinated by trains these days.  I agreed because she was so excited.  In line, we did see a friend we made during signing class, Leanne and Emily and that was a special highlight. 

Daddy was a good sport and rode on the train with Madison. He does all the adventurous stuff like the kiddy rides.

Daddy said she waved at everyone as she went by and really had a good time.

Yes, above was the LINE for the TRAIN.  (the line for the food was 3X as long, no joke) What Madison taught me during this experience was that waiting in line isn't all that bad with a toddler. I think she enjoyed the 20+ times she got to see the train come and go each time much more than she actually did while ON the train.  It really changed my perspective and reminded me to see the silver lining.  She clapped and sang each time she heard him coming/going and then waved as hard as she could as he went by. 

We came across the Giraffe that was the mascot for the Children's Hospital and she usually is afraid of these characters but she gave him a high five and wanted to see him more.

The Giraffe was quickly 'old news' when she 'spotted' the Ripon Fire Department's mascot, Sparky I think was his name.  She did the high five and still talks about him.

All this fun and guess what? It was only 830 am!  I wanted so badly to have a fun family day and this was turning into a bust so I convinced Rick to drive up the road a ways to Lodi to a small animal zoo, Micke Grove.  I hadn't been there since I was a kid and wasn't really sure what to expect but knew it couldn't be worse than the goat heads.  She was asleep when we got there so Rick and I visited in the car while she rested and picked goat heads points out of our shoes.  What sweet family time.

The highlight of the day and worth the trip were the Lorikeets. You can buy nectar and watch them eat (and unknown to Rick, he volunteered to hold it not knowing they would fly on him, he thought he would hold it to them and they would drink, I told you he does all the adventure stuff). I wish I had gotten a picture of his face when he realized they were landing ON HIM.  We went into the tent type area and they were EVERYWHERE flying and sitting around.  They were chirping loudly and Madison's first words were "TOO MANY BIRDS!"

Well we walked around for about 20 minutes and saw all there was to see. Again, I was bummed.  I remembered it being so much larger when I was a kid. They did have a huge section shut down because they were building a new otter and snow leopard area so that will be cool later I hope. We tried to see the birds again and they were closed for a break, good thing we got to see them when we did! 

We left and it was still really early and I didn't want to go home to laundry or go grocery/target shopping like every other weekend!  I read in the paper on the way there that Old Town Sacramento was having their annual Historic Pioneer Days and again convinced Rick to drive more up North for more fun.  He is such a good sport, not to mention tolerant of me!

They poured tons of dirt on the roads of Old Sac and had horse buggy rides and gun fighting in the streets.  We found a pony ride and Madison was game. 

The highlight of the entire day had to be the Steam Train ride.  We stood in line for the 3:00 and I am not kidding when I stepped up to the window and was told "SOLD OUT till 4pm".  I about had a heart attack. I heard someone say, what about 1st class?  I was then like, yea, what about 1st class!?  Oh yea, they had those tickets, just $7 more. I would have done that regardless once I learned how much better it was!  

Heck I guess it all worked out. We were in an AIR CONDITIONED car, got served a GIANT cookie and a drink and there were only three other people in there with us.  We got a personal story told to us about the train we were on and had HUGE windows for an awesome view of the Sacramento River on our 40 minute tour.  It was great and Madison had a great time. It was the perfect ending to our day.  

Conductor punching Madison's ticket.

I told you she was having fun.

This is a train on display and not the one we went on but cool.  

We took a break and at a chocolate covered strawberry as we watched the gun fighters and horses and got messy with strawberries and melted chocolate. 

We came home tired and ready for bed. We stayed home all day on Sunday and didn't do much at all but rest.  Spontaneous marathon one day road trips are hard on these old bones.  We then made it to Grandma's and Papa's on Monday for BBQ pork chops and fun in the water. Photos of that day to follow soon.

Life doesn't get much better than this.