Family Field Trip

The Friday of spring break we took a family field trip to Sacramento in honor of Ben's fourth grade social studies curriculum. Ben and I have been reading about California History for homework for the last few months. I'm so glad that he felt so excited about actually going to see some of the places we've been reading about.

First stop, Sutter's Fort.

After walking around to all the rooms, Ben and Ethan decided they would want to be blacksmiths and Eliza decided she'd be a baker. Blake just follows everybody everywhere.

Of course we had to stop at the shop and browse and resist the pleading to "please, just let me buy something!"

And of course we had to take a family picture:

We walked next door to the Indian Museum next, where a scavenger hunt turned boring into engaging.

Then to Old Sacramento - lunch at the Harvey House. The service was terrible (turns out they'd only been open for three days - forgiven!), but the family history lesson was significant - Jeff's great-grandfather met his 2nd wife, Marie, at the Harvey House where she worked as a waitress in the 1920s. Yup. Got that?

We walked down the cobblestone streets and visited an old store and the old schoolhouse. Oh we also passed the train station where old engines and railcars were parked in the engine shed. Blake's face looked astonished to find (for the first time) that trains are actually real and very very big. The kids loved doing school the old fashioned way.

It was an excellent day to step back in time. We hope to visit Columbia - a California Gold Rush town - this summer. Stay tuned :)

Ethan's Birthday

Ethan is 12! Yes, Twelve! Wowza. "Where does the time go?" Ethan invited some friends to Qzar to celebrate his special day. It was a joy to meet some new friends that he's made in middle school. How have we been so fortunate for him to connect with such great kids who also have great families?! It is such a blessing. Anyways ... to the pictures. Here they are at Qzar (aka the loudest, boy-est party joint ever - I was so ready to get out of there!)

Then home for pizza ...

... and presents ...

... and cake.

On his actual birthday we made pancakes for breakfast. I still remember when he used to toddle into my room at 5:30am and say, "Good morning, mommy! Make pancakes?" and I'd moan, get out of bed, turn on Elmo, and go back to bed for 30 minutes.

Twelve is a milestone birthday in our church. For all children it is the age where they "graduate" from Primary and begin attending Young Men/Young Women. Ethan was anxious to leave the little kids behind. His Young Men leaders have been great and the other boys welcoming. It is a blessing to grow up together in the church - the people become like family. For boys in our church, twelve is the age when they can receive the Aaronic Priesthood. And Ethan did - he is now a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood and is passing the sacrament and collecting fast offerings and doing other duties. We are proud of him, indeed. He's a good kid.

March

Best friends:

The Lemon Lady came to pick up all the oranges from our trees. What an awesome service she renders!

Ben was VERY excited for another Pinewood Derby. Alas, he did not win the derby, but he did win a few races. He handled it very well.

We went on a family field trip to the Tech Museum in San Jose. It was our first time there and I was soooooo impressed. It is now at the top of my list of favorite science museums. While there, Ben disappeared for a few minutes so I went searching for him. I found him like this:

We celebrated Granny's birthday:

Ben ate a LOT of pickles. We started working hard on table manners and Ben's response (not surprisingly) was to stop eating altogether. Except for pickles. He went a whole weekend eating pickles only. Sunday afternoon he finally was weak and tired enough to eat something else. Over the next week he became willing to eat most things, but they had to be with pickles. And so, we have here, a pickle pancake:

Eliza had her last class and dance performance at Kids N Dance. Here she is as Cinderella. She seems to love dance class so I'm looking for a studio that is closer to home that can be a long term option for her. It's really too bad that I am so picky. It's also too bad that the studios I like are 45 minutes away. No can do.