Boy, yesterday ended up being a little crazy. A LONG day.

But a fun day, for sure.

We went to the Old Sacramento Gold Rush days (going on through Labor Day). I highly recommend to anyone in the area, particularly with kids.

The kids had an absolute blast.

We started out panning for "gold." I was just the watcher/picture taker, but the adults and kids could not be motivated to leave and make room for others. I guess panning for gold is rather addictive.

Finally tore them away from the gold panning, and they exchanged their gold for certificates.

The certificates were good for 5 treats at participating stores. I guess the idea was the treats were for the kids, but some stores gave the adults treats too.

Signs throughout Old Sac read:

"Gold Rush Economy Certificates Accepted Here! Use Them Wisely!"

One of the treats was Mardi Gras beads (from the sock store). There was also a lot of sarsaperilla around. A bar was passing out coins for free sarsaperilla, so the best picture I got of the day was of the kids sitting at the bar drinking their sarsaperilla. Looks like Mardi Gras, with all the beads, and alcohol in the background.



We also teased BM, because he has a perpetually loose tooth:



The story on that is that his permanent tooth has come through but the baby tooth won't come out (the new one is behind the old tooth). Ugh. I can't say this happened to dh or I. We have been advised to wait a few weeks and it will work itself out. (That it's relatively common). Otherwise, we might be paying for a tooth pulled. (It could be simple or he could still have a lot of roots - we haven't yanked it ourselves because it seems to be rooted pretty good). LM already has a shark tooth (an extra baby tooth that grew in front of his others), so now they both have a shark tooth. !!

Either way, BM will not have a gap in his mouth, with his first tooth loss.

Anyway, so we teased him and I think he thought we were serious about yanking his tooth. They had all sorts of interesting historical dental instruments to admire. BM was not amused. !

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After our day in Old Sac, we did keep our dinner/swim date with friends (though I was exhausted).

We had our bargain watermelon, and dh ended up getting Papa Murphy's. He baked while we swam, so it worked out.

Not much money spent, but fun was had by all.

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As far as Gold Rush, it was only $8 to park. We could have easily spent no other money there. But Grandma spoiled the kids rotten and paid for parking, etc. So it was a pretty cheap day for us, in the end.

We got free donut holes, candy, root beer, food samples, etc., etc. Besides that, the kids got some rocks and some other less than exciting trinkets.

Not sure what it is about the restaurants. We have eaten at a TERRIBLE restaurant there - one that we now stay away from. I am not sure we have ever had such bad food, except for yesterday we stumbled upon another one. Ugh! I had eaten there before, and they had a nice view. But the menu had a lot of mistakes, and the food was cold, and it was just bad all around. Blech. I felt bad because I said I had eaten there before and it was okay. (I didn't remember much about it - but didn't remember it being awful. IT was pretty expensive, to boot). That was the only bummer of the day. All I have to say is research your dining options before you EVER visit Old Sac. I am sure they have some good places. We usually just eat at their Round Table Pizza. Now I wish we had, yesterday! Pizza for lunch and dinner would have beat that crappy lunch.

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Dh and I have absolutely nothing planned for the rest of the weekend. How bizarre! I don't know if we will do chores, or just be lazy bums. Probably a nice combo of both.