California Day 5

After a morning of making final edits to the program for Mom's memorial and doing laundry, Grampa Neil met us to visit the Sacramento Train Museum.

John particularly enjoyed it at a whole new level than he did when he was here at age three or so.

Each time I took the kids up into a railcar exhibit, I'd leave Margaret in her stroller with Neil.

"Excuse me, how does a steam engine work?"

 Cute photo taken moments before a curator let us know that we were not to touch or climb that handcar

Playing the chimes that called passengers to dinner

After lunch, we stopped by one of the many (sort of) old-fashioned candy stores in Old Sacramento. The kids had never seen so many barrels of candy . . . or even, you know, one barrel of candy! Note the exaggerated, strained smiles on the children's faces, revealing how tired they were by early afternoon.

After a much-needed afternoon nap, I took the children out to meet their Aunt Beezee and two cousins. We met at the Davis Farmers' Market, which hosts Picnic in the Park on Wednesdays during the summer. I've lived in quite a few places now and the Davis Farmers' Market remains the best I've ever seen: the food is truly clean and local, the farmers are often the ones selling the food, and many other interesting local and handmade items are for sale. Being there today reminded me of my mom because I grew up with her taking me to the farmers' market many Saturday mornings. She knew the vendors by name, would ask about the produce in detail, and I remember her keeping me apprised of things like, "the peaches are in at Sam's booth!" It occurs to me that it must have been a real sting of loss when her increasing limitations on mobility meant she couldn't visit the farmers' market anymore and Neil had to do the shopping for her.

These odd swings reminded me of Lazy-Boy chairs.

There were three bounce houses set up.

 

John really surprised me by saying enthusiastically that he wanted to try rock climbing as soon as he saw the 30-foot wall. I didn't know if he'd freak out shortly after leaving the ground, so I began taking photos right away with him at the very bottom. He ascended three times, always making it to what he called "the top section," as seen in the above photo. He had great fun!

The children had their faces painted.

 

Watching bees buzz at the local raw honey vendor's table

We bought dinner and ate our picnic on the grass while listening to a live band.

My beautiful youngest niece

 

Watching jugglers

File this photo not only under "You Know You're in California When," but under the sub-file "You Know You're in DAVIS, California, When"! There are no standard garbage cans at the Davis Farmers' Market. At each refuse station, there are five (count them) receptacles with detailed signs (using words and diagrams) and a worker sitting there to monitor that everyone puts their refuse in the right places.

I laughed myself silly.

We ended our evening enjoying ice cream and amazing pastries.

While it has been physically and emotionally taxing to be taking the children out and about to so many adventures by myself, it is sad that Chris is missing so much of this. This family trip is greatly possible because it's a business trip, but that means Chris is commuting into the Bay Area every day, working so hard to support us. We miss you, Daddy!