Sacramento

Doug travels a lot. And when I say "a lot" I mean about three weeks out of every month. It hasn't always been that way. But when you're a rockstar, you have to go where the "fans" want you. As an educator for Paul Mitchell Advanced Education he travels across the nation training the instructors at Paul Mitchell cosmetology schools. In the last two months he has been to Houston, St. George, Spokane, Sacramento, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa. He leaves Monday for New York for 4 days. Then he leaves Saturday for Alabama. He is home for a couple weeks before he goes to North Carolina, Utah, and back to Texas. You get the idea.

Sometimes we get to go with him. He is all for it. His dream is to get a giant RV and just go on the road. "We could be on a reality show. It would be great," he says. "You can home/RV school the kids. They would see America. No mortgage payments. Think of the adventure!" All I can ever muster is, "You've got to be kidding." Even though he thinks it would be the best thing since sliced bread, I am not so convinced. Being away from home for extended periods, in an unfamiliar place, with three kids under 5 is not as fun as it sounds. I have a routine. I like my routine. My routine makes me sane. Without it I would probably be in a corner rocking back and forth, speaking incoherently. So when Doug teaches somewhere close, we go too. We like to go to Sacramento. It is only 2 hours from Reno, and there is plenty to do.

The kids especially like The California State Train Museum, Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town. Here are some pictures of our most recent trip:

The trains are massive. It is such an amazing museum. You can even get in a couple of the trains. The best part is upstairs. There are Thomas sets the kids can play with. We usually see the bigs trains in about 20 minutes and then spend an hour playing with the Thomas trains. Whatever works.

The train museum is part of Old Sacramento. So when we finish at the museum we always walk around Old Sacramento. It is a little "town" (about two blocks) built up on platforms. There are shops and restaurants. It is right on the river with old steamboats.

(What is with their poses?)

Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale town are across the street from each other so we do those spots in one day...

We pack as much in as we can. The goal is to make them do this...

Unfortunately, the only time they are like this is in the car. I have been tempted to park somewhere and get some sleep myself. Would that be bad? I can see it now. All four of us, passed out, food all over their faces (who am I kidding, mine too), drool creeping out, when there is a knock on the window. "Everything alright, ma'am?" the officer would say. "Oh, yes. Everything is just great," I would say as I rolled up the window. "Thanks for asking."