Every little boy's dream

Actually, I should title this "every guys dream", because Kevin thought it was so cool too.......

A couple weekends ago, we visited Tilden Park in Berkeley.  There is a little farm there where you can feed the animals, but the main reason we went is for the steam train.  But I'll get to that in a sec.

Jacob has always been a little timid with cows (while visiting Kevin's brother and his wife, Jacob would take off anytime he heard a "mooo" from thier cow), so I was happy that he was willing to feed this one celery.  His expression is awesome. 

He looks like an old-fashioned soldier in this picture to me.

On to the main attraction...the steam train.  This thing was awesome.  It is a real working miniature steam train that takes you on a little ride through the mountains.  At one point we had an amazing view of San Francisco too.  Jacob was in heaven (and I think Kevin was too).  I also kept thinking how much my dad would get a kick out of this:)  

don't worry, this track wasn't in use

Enjoying the scenic ride.  

The steam train.  

Two happy boys.

4th of July

Our fourth was pretty fun this year.  We started off with a parade in Pleasant Hill.

Then we headed to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield to go on a factory tour.  It was really interesting to see how the jelly beans are made.  Jacob is obsessed with jelly beans so this was awesome for him.

We weren't paying attention very well, so Jacob ended up eating this entire bag of jelly beans.  They give you tons of free ones and he also got some from a little vending machine.  It's funny how kids can eat sugar and become instantly hyper.

After the factory we headed to Kevin's parents house in Elk Grove and spent time with the fam.  Jacob really likes fireworks.  He loved the sparklers, and whenever the fireworks would be going he would say "can I touch it?"

Oh, Jacob can say the pledge of allegiance and it is so stinking cute.  Proud to be an American!

Wednesday Field Trips

Since there are so many fun things to do in the Bay area, the girls in my ward started doing "Wednesday Field Trips" for the summer.  Every Wednesday we have a fun outing.  This usually means I have to sacrifice my precious afternoon nap time (when both boys are sleeping at the same time--it is wonderful), but it is worth it to get to explore this great area that we live, and it is a lot of fun for Jacob (Hudson could probably care less, but he's easy-going).  So far we have had three outings and all three were a lot of fun.  We went to Pixieland, Mrs. Grossman's sticker factory, and into the city to Mission Dolores Park and Bi-Rite Creamery.

Pixieland

So excited to be on the train

Pixieland is a tiny little amusement park (and I'm mean tiny).  I think there are about 5 rides, but it is perfect for Jacob's age.  His favorite thing there was the train that takes you all around the park.  He didn't really want to go on anything else, but I was able to get him on a few other rides.  He also liked driving the old fashioned cars.  This place was great because you just pay as you go, so once they got tired and cranky I was able to just leave and didn't have to worry about getting my money's worth.   

Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory in Petaluma

Remember these stickers?  While touring the factory, I saw displays of sticker designs they had throughout the years, and when we came to the 1990's I recognized most of the designs because I had most of the stickers!  That was back in my sticker-collecting hay-day.  The tour was really interesting and they gave us a ton of stickers.  Hudson tried to eat his.  After touring the factory, we went back to the viewing room where we watched a little video and the kids made a picture with even more stickers.  

here's all our loot!

Mission Dolores Park and Bi-Rite Creamery

Mission Dolores Park is in San Francisco, so we took BART with some friends to get there.  Riding the train was so much fun for Jacob--we probably could have just done that and called it a day!

This park is awesome.  I would say the only downside is that there is not much shade, but it has the most awesome play structures and huge slides!  

After playing at the park for a bit we headed over to Bi-Rite Creamery for some amazing ice cream.  Jacob got an apricot popsicle, and it was sooooo good!  While we were outside eating, a photographer was getting ready to take someone's engagement photos.  He saw our kids eating and asked to take a picture of them, and it turned out so cute:

Back to the park for some more playing!  I would definitely make the trip to come to this park again.

Can't wait for more Wednesday Field Trips!