**Friday night was the big *cooking school* fundraiser. O.M.G. I had worried the menu didn't seem that exciting, and dh told me at some point, "they are still learning - I wouldn't have high expectations."

Boy were we off the mark! One of the best meals I have EVER eaten.

They had never done anything like this before, and did not accept any money for food, etc. Said they just needed the practice. I think we need more fundraisers like this. Cost of fundraiser = $0. We paid $50 and got more than a $50 meal in exchange, for sure.

Only downside was they were really slow, so childcare ended up costing $35. Ouch! If we can do this again, will have to arrange cheaper childcare. (& will show up an hour late?)

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Yesterday was Free Museum Day, so we hit the museums.

Holy Cow was it CROWDED.

We spend $2 or so to park downtown and $20 on a fast food type meal. We decided to skip the buffet after that childcare bill.

Art museum first, which was probably smart. It was plenty crowded, but enjoyable.

We stopped by the city cemetery and ate lunch over there. It is a historic cemetery with some historical figures there. IT was very peaceful compared to the rest of the day. Not very many people and just, peaceful.

Final stop was to be the science museum. I figured it may be too crowded to enjoy (this place is a really SMALL museum). So our backup plan was the aerospace museum down the street. Anyway, we saw hundreds of cars at the science museum (was insane) and I told dh I Was surprised if they could fit 50 people inside, so I though we should move on! It is very inexpensive and a convenient location - we can go there any time.

Unfortunately, the space museum was a bit of a mob too - by then it was getting pretty late. They have a really cool playground, and somehow the kids didn't get trampled in the playground mob. We figured we'd peek inside. We had just been there for the Star Trek exhibit - which has since moved on. Inside, there wasn't much different since last time (just more room to spread out all the exhibits), BUT since the weather was nice, all the planes outside were open to look inside, sit in the cockpits, etc. Thus we stood in lines for an hour or so checking out some of the planes - it was really neat.

I think yesterday was a success. Lesson learned - next year pick one museum (that is usually on the more costly side) and get there early.

Dh is always really into all the science museums, but going to the art museum reminded me that I need to take the kids to the DeYoung and the MOMA in San Francisco, one of these days. Particularly LM, who is much more artsy (while BM is very scientific). Anyway, was impressed by the Sacramento art museum, and was a good introduction for them.

As dh and I discussed all the things we want to do with the kids, yesterday, I felt very overwhelmed. There are not enough hours in the day to explore all of the art, culture, museums, nature, etc., that our region offers. Yesterday we were reminiscing about some of the museums we had gone to on field trips (that the kids won't since we moved 100 miles out). We added quite a few museums to our list that we should *really take the kids too.* I think it's twice as long now than it was last week. Oy vey!

Once tax season is over, we will sit down and come up with an action plan for what is more important to hit while the kids are this age - what should wait until they are older, etc., etc. Start knocking some things off the list...

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I was just clearing some pictures off my camera - not sure if I had shared these before. Just a pretty sunset: