We went to Sacramento to spend some special time with Grandma Z and Grandpa Z. We were there from August 15-19 and had a great time in the hot, hot weather!
The boys had fun standing on these posts while we waited for Gramz to get us. It was 104 degrees when we arrived.
We got straight into the pool! The boys loved climbing on the pool rocks.
Gramz is in the shade of the pool. She played in the water with the boys. I was content dipping my legs in the water. To be completely honest, the strong heat felt great to me.
Dallin had so much fun in the pool with Tanner and Grandma that he later wrote about it in his writer’s workshop journal and made a special book about the trip for a masterpiece project!
The train toys were a big hit!
Evening basketball was fun. All 6 of us played Around the World.
Tanner really likes Cody these days.
On Friday, we went to the Crocker Art Museum. For years, it’s been on our bucket list, but this was the first time that we actually went. All four of us LOVED it. The boys stayed very engaged, in large part because we are awesome parents and grandparents. I made a scavenger hunt for us to find various items during our visit. Grandma taught the boys about different art and California history that we saw. Jeremy told stories about the field trips he took here in grade school. We took a snack break halfway through, which helped the boys a lot, too. Tanner and Dallin had lots to say about the art, giving their opinions and interpretations to nearly everything. They genuinely loved the historic building that is part of the museum. My heart melted when they said it reminded them of the Hormel Historic Home!
That night, Jeremy and I went on a double date with our cousin Renton and his new wife Elizabeth. We did an escape room together and it was SO much fun. AND we escaped within the hour!!! Then we ate ice cream together and visited.
On the way home, Jeremy took me to a special bridge for a romantic walk. Rumor has it that people make out there a lot, or is it that they pee off the side of the bridge? The only sure thing is that with the full moon, it was a very mysterious place!
On Saturday, our family enjoyed touring Old Town Sacramento with Gramz and Grampz. I had been there a couple times before (a lazy walk with Jeremy in 2006 ish and a Jazz festival 2010ish), but never did a proper tour of anything. This was our day to really dive into the history there!!
First, we enjoyed the welcome center and took a Gold Fever tour of the town. The boys liked being a character from history, getting gold, and learning how each character died. It was really hot out, but they endured well. Then we had a yummy lunch at a Chinese dumpling place. Jeremy got to show his parents what Shanghai dumplings are all about, which fit nicely with the history of the Gold Rush era we were learning about. We were able to explore a candy shop, the old school house and the Delta King, too. Next, we took an Underground Tour of the city. This was a highlight of the day. Tanner and Dallin hung in there really well and liked seeing old artifacts under the buildings. Afterwords, they got an extra wind of energy to explore the Sacramento Historic Museum, where we learned even more stories about the gold rush, our ancestors and the city. We topped off the day with dinner at Chevy’s, which sits on the bank of the Sacramento River! Such a wonderful day diving into history!!
Is this the most adorable kid on a historic tour, or what?!?
The underground tour was fanastic, thanks to this amazing guide. Turns out he is the husband of Grampz’s old boss.
On Sunday after church, we visited Grandma Davidson’s grave. It became apparrent that our boys’ memories of her are fading, despite our efforts to remind and show pictures and tell stories of her. I have to remind myself that the boys had just barely turned 3 and 1 the last time that we saw her. Wierd how time goes by. Four years ago doesn’t seem that long until recognizing how much my kids have grown during that amount of time.
That evening we enjoyed a dessert at Aunt Suzy’s house. Our boys got to play with their cousins and had tons of fun (Jeremy’s cousins and some of Jeremy’s cousin’s kids). They enjoyed the playhouse, bikes, basketball, tetherball and more! The adults had a fun competition with footballs and tires and basketballs. We all ate delicious strawberry shortcake, and the boys would have stayed there playing all night if we had let them!
The boys were especially excited to play with cousin Aaron again. They love him!!
On Monday, the boys got in some good trampoline playing and swimming before we headed over to FairyTale town! Tanner got super brave and jumped off a super high rock into the pool. I was really surprised and impressed by him!
Fairytale Town is a childhood classic in Sacramento. We brought the boys here when they were itty bitty and haven’t had a chance since then. We figured we better take them this trip because they will soon grow out of the place! We enjoyed playing on all the play structures that resemble different nursery rhymes. There were a few animals to pet. And of course, all of it was a big trip down memory lane for Jeremy and Grandma. They had fun telling the boys about when Jeremy was their age visiting this park. We all had a lot of fun here!
Then, so we headed over to Adventure Land, where Grandma treated the boys to three rides. Dallin chose the merry-go-round and the dragon roller coaster twice. Tanner chose the roller coaster twice, and gave grandma his last ticket so she could ride the roller coaster with them.
We snuck in a few minutes of feeding the ducks, and then we met up with Grandpa for dinner. They were treated us to a delicious meal at a Hawaiian restaurant.
Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for letting us enjoy a historic, happy, and hot weekend with you during our summer break! We love you!!!
One of the best things about this trip is that the flights were only $70 each, the flight length was only 1.5 hours long, we only live 15 minutes from the airport, and we could Uber to and from the airport for only $12. We are loving these perks for living in a big city! The flight home was a breeze.
