Week 8

2/18 - 2/24

Cody and I went back in time for a day at Sutter's Fort.  

Still searching through pictures, so more to come....

The boys had their annual eye appointments and we walked away with reading glasses for Tyler.  

Pictures to come, because his new specs are awesome.  

Cody is sliding by for another year, as long as we keep to our promise of not letting him drive at night.  

Birthday present shopping took us to Lakeshore Learning and the boys picked up a couple of cool science experiments to play with. 

The Crystal Growing tree was really fun to watch.  It started in a few minutes and within the first hour we had crystals growing.  Once we came home from gym a few hours later it was completely covered!  I was a bit bummed that they didn't explain process or chemicals, so some Googling was required. 

 We also picked up this pocket volcano.  You can do a "smoke" eruption by filling it with baking powder and submerging it in water.  The second way was to put bath fizzers in and drop it in the tub for the same but more colorful eruption.  The last is the old standard baking soda and vinegar, always impressive. 

Beautiful weather means triple toe-head dog pile in the grass. 

Saturday morning was spent at the Fair Oaks Horticulture center for an open garden day.  They have a lot of master gardeners to answer questions and doing demonstrations.  

This was a favorite amongst the drought friendly plants.  

 We also tasted 8 different varieties of carrots grown in the community garden.

They also had gardeners working on different types of composting.

This worm box was pretty awesome, the boys would have a lot of fun with this. 

 The best part of the morning was dropping the kids off with their friends so the moms could enjoy a bit of time out!  Gardens followed by breakfast was perfect!

After our fun morning we headed out to continue the good day at the ice rink for a friends birthday.  We haven't been skating this winter, so the boys were happy to be on the ice with their buddies.

 

Tyler had another meet this weekend, this time in Grass Valley.  More here.....

We are still watching recorded Olympic shows.  This is Ty's favorite position on the couch with his flag. 

Sutter's Fort

Fourth grade history is all about California.  Cody has studied all year from the beginning, did a mission project and prepared to go back in time.  We are lucky where we live because there are a lot of options for living history.  

Our charter hosts a day to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento, with costumes and an over night trip if you are so inclined! Cody wasn't very sure about the whole process, especially the costume, but had a great time once we were there. 

We arrived at the fort at 8am, ready for our day back in time. 

Our pioneers....

I was lucky enough to be a group leader, so I spent the day going to all the stations with Cody.

The first stop was to play games. 

 

We then headed over to the store to trade goods.  We brought lemon drops to trade (store bought after a failed attempt to make them) He also had Sutter bucks that he earned for participating during the last station.

We had a good group of kids, Cody enjoyed meeting some new friends.  

They had a few minutes at the end of each station's time to write in their journals. 

Our next stop was to the yarn spinning and weaving station. 

It was nearing mid day at this point and we were all getting hungry.  

First we were able to see as a visitor from France arrived. 

Captain Sutter liked show off for his guests, so a fired his cannon. 

Chicken and bean burritos with fresh salsa was prepared for dinner (lunch). 

With full bellies we went to the outdoor oven to make bread and churn the butter for the evening meal.

Candle making was a slow, easy brain break for the group. 

We headed back outdoors to spin some rope to use later in the day. 

They also learned about leather stamping at this station. 

Cody enjoyed his time building a stuff box that also worked really well as a table during supper time. 

The kids had a chance to sit down while listening to the trapper.

Next it was our turn to help with supper.  

All the pots of stew and vegetables cooking.

Cutting bread....

Whipping the cream for dessert.

Our last actual station was in the blacksmith's shop.

After that we went on a self guided tour of the fort to see the jail and a short movie about it's history.

Before supper we listened to a story about the Donner Party.

After supper we  talked with friends and then ate an amazing apple cobbler the kids had prepared.  I helped to clean up the kitchen area while Cody listened to music and hung out with his new friends.  

We headed home a bit before 8pm after a long but fun day.  

Very glad for the experience and am already looking forward to going again in 2 years with Tyler!