today was a pretty fantastic day. a "free" family fun day. about as free as things get these days. with the cost of gas...and water bottles. this weekend is the annual gold rush days in old sacramento. i am such a history nerd. i often think i was born in the wrong era. and this is one of my favorite time periods.
we knew parking would be an issue. we were not sure if our big van would clear a parking garage so we drove around a bit and found a parking lot with an all day flat rate events parking. not a bad price. did i mention nothing is ever "free".
our first stop was the old one room schoolhouse. i love this museum. with my 50 cent donation i got a school rules poster. very cute. i think i will hang it up on our wall of fame at home. after we left the schoolhouse we were handed an event schedule. to our pleasant surprise all the museums in old sac are having free admission for the whole week end. i was ecstatic. that meant we were definately making our way to the train museum.
we made our way over to the civil war camp. the kids got to pet horses and get our family picture taken with a group of soldiers. we must make a bathroom stop in between almost every stop. someone always has to go potty or wash their hands. my favorite coffe shop, steamers is a must when we go to old sac. which isnt very often. 1 peppermint mocha freeze, 3 waters, 1 chocolate milk and a rockstar and we are only out 14$ water bottles are saved and refilled at all of our potty breaks.
now off to the museum. we sat outside and had our packed up lunch. sandwhiches and chips, before heading into the museum. there were quite a few people inside. must have had something to do with the free admission thing :) the kids had so much fun walking through all of the old train cars. the wax people really tricked the kids. in the old money order building they walked up to one and sat by him. to their surprise he said hello!!! oops not a wax one. all of the actors are great. i think they are all volunteers. but they take their job seriously!
we got done in just enough time to make it back to the middle of town for the shoot out. the kids did not want to miss that. on our way we made a pit stop and watched them set the canon off. unfortunately we didnt make it back in time to get a seat on the shady side of the street. but the kids were troopers and wanted to sit in the heat and watch. it was worth it.
after sitting in that heat we decided to treat the kids to some ice cream. we werent the only ones with that idea! imagine the poor girls face when i got up to the counter and asked for 9 kiddie cones...and 1 adult cone. she deserved a tip! and only 2$ for kiddie cones :)
after the ice cream had been devoured and we found a bathroom and washed sticky faces and hands we made our last stop. candy heaven. all barrels with blue signs were for free sampling. that was the icing on our day! except poor zaccy. with his caps he cant have gum, sticky, chewy or hard candy. so a pixie stick it was! i would have loved to stay longer but everyones feet hurt. so we made our way back to the van and headed home.
all in all a great day! although free is never completely free we did pretty good for this family of 11. and no guilt since we used our date envelope. and i think this qualified as a family date!
we knew parking would be an issue. we were not sure if our big van would clear a parking garage so we drove around a bit and found a parking lot with an all day flat rate events parking. not a bad price. did i mention nothing is ever "free".
our first stop was the old one room schoolhouse. i love this museum. with my 50 cent donation i got a school rules poster. very cute. i think i will hang it up on our wall of fame at home. after we left the schoolhouse we were handed an event schedule. to our pleasant surprise all the museums in old sac are having free admission for the whole week end. i was ecstatic. that meant we were definately making our way to the train museum.
we made our way over to the civil war camp. the kids got to pet horses and get our family picture taken with a group of soldiers. we must make a bathroom stop in between almost every stop. someone always has to go potty or wash their hands. my favorite coffe shop, steamers is a must when we go to old sac. which isnt very often. 1 peppermint mocha freeze, 3 waters, 1 chocolate milk and a rockstar and we are only out 14$ water bottles are saved and refilled at all of our potty breaks.
now off to the museum. we sat outside and had our packed up lunch. sandwhiches and chips, before heading into the museum. there were quite a few people inside. must have had something to do with the free admission thing :) the kids had so much fun walking through all of the old train cars. the wax people really tricked the kids. in the old money order building they walked up to one and sat by him. to their surprise he said hello!!! oops not a wax one. all of the actors are great. i think they are all volunteers. but they take their job seriously!
we got done in just enough time to make it back to the middle of town for the shoot out. the kids did not want to miss that. on our way we made a pit stop and watched them set the canon off. unfortunately we didnt make it back in time to get a seat on the shady side of the street. but the kids were troopers and wanted to sit in the heat and watch. it was worth it.
after sitting in that heat we decided to treat the kids to some ice cream. we werent the only ones with that idea! imagine the poor girls face when i got up to the counter and asked for 9 kiddie cones...and 1 adult cone. she deserved a tip! and only 2$ for kiddie cones :)
after the ice cream had been devoured and we found a bathroom and washed sticky faces and hands we made our last stop. candy heaven. all barrels with blue signs were for free sampling. that was the icing on our day! except poor zaccy. with his caps he cant have gum, sticky, chewy or hard candy. so a pixie stick it was! i would have loved to stay longer but everyones feet hurt. so we made our way back to the van and headed home.
all in all a great day! although free is never completely free we did pretty good for this family of 11. and no guilt since we used our date envelope. and i think this qualified as a family date!
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