rachel's continued ramblings

in an attempt to recover from depression over our early morning goodbyes, we picked up jordan, and drove back into sacramento one last time, to do something I’ve been wanting to do for YEARS! in connection with the california state railroad museum, which we visited on tuesday, you can take a short, scenic train ride, pulled by a working steam locomotive!

supposedly…

so I tried not to make too big of a stink, and enjoyed the fact that it was still a train ride, even if it was pulled by a diesel. anyone want to see the governator? there’s the capitol!yes, that is a real conductor, punching my ticket!

the replacement locomotive:when you get to the ‘end of the line’ in baths, the engine unhooks, switches tracks, pulls past the waiting train, switches tracks again, and then couples to the other end of the train to pull it back to the station.

and I had to take a picture of the really ugly gold bridge that is a landmark in sacramento. seriously. it’s metallic!

this was our train:after the train ride, we stopped through the old schoolhouse to explore.shane, jordan and layla, doing some writing on slates.dave, attempting to get suspended…shane, ringing the school bell: and then there’s the “rules for teachers”. this is a hoot!

after that, it was laundry, packing, one last swim, one last in-n-out burger,and then hitting the road. we drove all night again, and got home around 10:30 the next morning. it was a long trip, but totally worth it! we miss everyone so much.

thanks, gramma and papa, for putting up with all of us and helping us have such a great time! so many great memories! we love you and can’t wait to see you again!

warning: WAY too many pictures! this was quite the eventful day! we drove back to the bay area to spend some time visiting with grandpa dick.

but first, we had to get the kids all lined up in their ‘matchie’ shirts that gramma jackie got for them! my kids, at least, are totally in love with those shirts. pink with sparkly hearts and rainbows for the girls – what’s not to love? and the boys have electric guitars. micah calls it his ‘rock star shirt’.after we got to oakland and picked up grandpa dick, we went to joaquin miller park for some sight-seeing and a picnic. we hiked down to the amphitheater first, to see the fountains and the view of the city below.

then we hiked back up the hill to the cars to get our picnic stuff.

then we hiked down a different hill to get to the place where we would have our lunch! it was quite an ordeal getting all of us, our food, our kids, our strollers, our toys, etc. down without killing anyone on the way! dave, the sandwich chef, and grandpa dick, being… grandpa dick.

after lunch, it was off to fairyland! it’s this great little amusement park based on fairy tales. the little kids thought it was great, and even shane had a good time.

of course, as soon as I saw that there was water attractions, I knew somebody was going in. sure enough, after exploring the pirate ship, there was this other little thing to go through that had ‘stepping stones’ to get across the water. as I was helping hannah across, micah fell in. nice wet pants, buddy. after we changed him, it was off to explore the little western town, the highlight of which was the little train that went by every few minutes. they were dying to ride the train!

I was really excited to see this sign and know that, should I have desired to participate in this attraction, I would not have had to worry about the low head clearance!layla found a place to pose…the much anticipated train, or “jolly trolly”!dave took the boys in one car, and I got to take the girls.after fairyland, we went for dinner at this little mexican restaurant down the road and had some yummy burritos.apparently, dave ordered a whole “weaht” tortilla for his! Smile with tongue out and then came the depressing part. the illdaps were flying out EARLY the next morning, so that night was our last evening together. lily and layla were especially sad, and stayed up until midnight, cuddled up together. just seeing how sad they were was making all the rest of us even more sad. in fact I’m getting sad now, just writing about it! boo hoo!hannah and her godparents…layla and her godparents!