After leaving our 2 week stint in the national parks we headed down into Sacramento for a two day errand pit stop (Trader Joe’s and COFFEE!!!) and a visit with my cousins.

We’re  totally winging it at this point on the trip, so as we drop down into cell range after being black for two weeks, I start calling around. EVERY RV park is booked. The CA state fair is coming to town, and we just barely find a clean place to park our home.

Fortunately for Forest, the maintenance crew blows nearly EVERY DAY!

He followed this guy around the ENTIRE complex.

FAMILY

We got to visit with family not once but THREE times. After being on the road it was a real treat. We were having such a great time I didn’t capture many moments… mostly the little cousins meeting for the first time. …and having dinner together.

and napping on each other.

Thank you family for taking us in, letting us tag along, and rounding the troops so we could all hang out!

 

JELLY BELLIES

 

Ok, so WAY before this trip started, I promised Harlan that we would go and visit the Jelly Belly Factory outside of Sacramento, and that the boys could eat as many Jelly Beans as they wanted. Best Mom ever? Or what was I thinking? Turns out, it was totally manageable.

C’mon! What’s not to love about this? I think I was maybe a tad bit more excited than the kids.

Our strategy… make them EAT before the tour. What, you ask? A jelly bean shaped pizza of course. Ok, it was kinda gross, but I think it helped tame the sugar explosion at the end.

THEN…. make a pact to ALL try a booger flavored jelly bean. Oh YES we did. Yeah, what was I thinking. We got in on video. We’ll spare you.

Now as we’re waiting to take the tour, us adults find out that the factory is not in full operation that week due to maintenance. We didn’t tell the kids, and luckily some of the machines were working, so I think they didn’t really notice. It was still interesting, but I bet a lot more amazing if the whole place was pumping jelly beans out by the billions.

Yes. We all had to wear these.

Jelly beans pouring…

Jelly beans on a conveyor belt…

Jelly beans curing… you get the idea

Ok, so I was kind of fascinated by all the gross flavors they come up with. Eew.

Now no trip to the factory would be complete without Jelly Belly Art, and of course Ronald Regan (who was a huge fan of the candy) was immortalized in beans.

And this is only a small portion of the HAUL the boys took home in jelly beans. We are STILL eating them.

 

SAN FRANCISCO

We came, we got a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge and we pretty much left. Oh, and we went to the Exploratorium for the day, which was an AMAZING hands on science museum.

Magnets…

Lights…

Air…

Infinity Room….

And then of course the Golden Gate Bridge…

H has always wanted to see the Golden Gate…

Forest was crashed out in the car after the Exploratorium, so he missed the family shot.

Next “TIP” is to continue North to Fort Bragg to check out Glass Beach on our way to Lassen National Park.