A Trip Down Memory Lane

My dear 100 year old grandma died a couple of weeks ago, just about 3 hours sooner than my grandpa died six years earlier, weird. So we took a trip to Sacramento for the funeral service. We used to go there every year to visit my grandparents and we know it will be the last time we will ever go back so we went to all the places we used to go one last time. I will let the many, many pictures tell the story.

Caryn, Carol Ann, R.J., Ashley, Grandma, cousin Barbara at the 100th birthday bash back in February

My parents, us, and the Jensens all shared the same flight out on Friday. It was pretty uneventful, thankfully Conner fell asleep halfway through so we didn't have to keep trying to entertain him in our tiny space.

The boys unknowingly lined up according to height to watch the airplanes at the airport

Carol Ann thought it was sooo funny that she gave Conner a messy, chocolate donut while he sat on my lap. Somehow, most of it ended up down my shirt.

Emma got to keep my parents company on the plane.

And Eli helped us to keep Conner occupied.

The first thing we did was go to FairyTale Town. The boys had a great time. Poor Emma said she thought it was going to be like Disneyland so she was pretty disappointed. This place doesn't have any rides, it just has things to run around on.

This kid loves slides, especially the Old Lady's Shoe slide.

What a funny looking chicken!

Conner also loved the Yellow Brick Road.

And who doesn't like posing in swiss cheese?

 King of the castle

This slide had a sign that said no lap riding. But after Conner went down on both Cade and Blake's laps we let him go down with Emma. Unfortunately his foot got caught between her and the slide and he was screaming by the time they got to the bottom. Now we understand the point of the sign.

Conner also loved this moving pipe thing.

The looks on Conner and Emma's faces describe pretty well how they each felt about the park.

After the park we went back to the hotel and then walked to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. It was delicious and so nice since they gave up our own little section to eat in.

Saturday morning my mom woke up very sick so we had to leave my parents at the hotel while the rest of us went to Sutter's Fort. John Sutter (I think) came to the area after abandoning his wife and children in some European country and got the land from the Mexican government to build his little settlement. He somehow got the Indians to be his slave and had a very prosperous trading business until the California gold rush. Then many of his workers left and much of his goods were stolen and the fort was no more.

Conner, Tyson, and Tyler reading up on the history facts.

Tyson and Conner getting an up close look at the cannons.

A couple of oxen

Who can resist holding a gun?

Here we are playing a game that was reminiscent of the time and I was very good at it.

All of us at the wall of the fort.

After Sutter's Fort it was time to head back to the hotel, get ready, and go to the funeral. Well it wasn't actually a funeral, more of a few remarks and dedicatory prayer at the cemetary. It was a small service due to the fact that my grandma outlived most of her friends and family.

My grandparents bought spots at the top of the wall.

Eli is such a gentleman.

Here is my grandpa's name plaque, my grandma's name will be added soon.

The whole gang - Blake, Ashley, Carol Ann, Jared, Mom, Dad, Caryn, Conner, Cade, R.J, Jen, Emma, Tyler, Tyson, and Eli

There were a bunch of gravestones from 1918, including this family that included "brother", "brother", and "mother". Thanks to my mom, I can tell you that in 1918 there was a worldwide flu pandemic that killed 50,000,000-100,000,000 people. It was strange because it affected the young, healthy adults more than the kids and elderly like most flus. Very sad.

And here we are at Vic's Ice Cream Parlor, a favorite stop of ours. They have the best ice cream and I'm so sad that I'll never get to enjoy it again.

Just check out that fabulous Sundae!

And the wonderful milkshakes that even include all the extra in the mixing cup.

A rare photo of my parents :)

Poor Tyson was so tired he fell asleep while chewing, literally. Check out that piece of hot dog in his mouth!

After lunch we headed over to my grandparent's neighborhood to see the old sights. We began with Barlin. My grandpa's family owned the area and when they sold it to be developed they got to name one of the streets. Barlin is named after my mom and her twin sister, Barbara and Linda.

Down the street is my grandparents old house, which looks exactly the same from the front yard.

From there we took the walk that we always went on with my grandma - down the street, over and around the freeway. Here we are at the entrance of the winding freeway overpass.

Still walking...

We always climbed up this part and snuck through the "woods" to beat my mom and grandma taking the boring sidewalk. It was really just a few trees now that I look at it. Apparently here I love you while everyone else rocks.

Who doesn't love a great big pile of leaves!

On Sunday morning R.J. and Jen had to head back home, but the rest of us drove out to see the Sacramento Temple. They keep a gate around it so this was as close as we could get.

After that Ashley and Blake had to head home and those of us who were left continued our sightseeing tour. Here we are in front of the house that my mom grew up in. We also drove by my dad's old house later but it was too dark for pictures.

We had to stop and feed the squirrels for old times sake as well.

The squirrels were a little bashful until our fast food arrived, then they started swarming around us.

Look at this crazy upside down tree. Emma is also upside down so she would fit in with the tree.

We also took a quick trip to visit with the Washburns. Kristen, Rick, Ryan, and Michelle came over with their families so we could all catch up. Here are the kids enjoying dessert.

And that was the end of our trip. We had a great time seeing everyone and everything and we will miss Sacramento and our grandparents. Cade even thought it looked like a nice place to live if we could afford it, except for the the fact that he thinks California is going to fall into the ocean :)