Old Town Sacramento AKA Disaster Trip

I love this picture of Russ and Parker analyzing how everything works and Hannah skipping along most likely humming to herself.

I'll start from the beginning...2 weeks ago, while I was traveling home from a baby shower on 395 going 70 mph, Russ's car just stopped. I quickly pulled over and tried to start the car again but it didn't start. I called Russ and he picked me up and towed the car back to our house (which was another ordeal) and found out that the engine was shot. After much thought, Russ figured the cheapest solution was to replace the engine himself. His friend told him of a place in Sacramento that sells engines for his car. I thought it would be fun to go with Russ and make a trip out of it. We decided to go to Old Town Sacramento.

Russ went to work at 5:00 a.m. so he could get off early. I had lunches made and the kids all ready to go and timed Olivia's nap just perfect so she would sleep on the way down. I had TVs and DVDs for the kids and had envisioned a sleeping baby, Parker and Hannah quietly watching their shows and Russ and I having a fun talk all the way to Sacramento.

None of it went how I had planned!

Olivia didn't take a nap and needed attention at all times from anyone who would give it to her. Parker and Hannah fought over which DVD to watch and what earphones to wear. I was constantly turning around trying to solve the problems. I finally got Parker and Hannah set up and gave Olivia her "emergency" treat and all was well . . . until Parker said, "I think I'm going to throw up!" Russ and I have learned from previous experiences that when Parker says this it's almost always too late to pull over, so Russ immediately pulled the car over to let Parker out. Parker walked around the car a few times and felt a little better. We started back on the windy mountain road only to have to pull over 3 more times for false alarms. Finally, after no throw up I gave Parker a cup to use just in case.

We had 45 minutes left (the trip only takes 2 hours) and Olivia finally fell asleep only to be woken up 10 minutes later to Parker throwing up in the cup. We pulled over once again and threw the cup away and started out again with a crying baby, a very cranky Russ and a happy Parker.

Fortunately, everything went well with picking up Russ's engine! We headed to Old Town Sacramento only to find that the Train Museum (the main highlight) closed at 5:00. It was exactly 5:00 when we got there. We took a deep breathe and decided to walk around, shop and find a place to eat. Parker and Hannah were satisfied with all the trains and the machines on the outside of the building plus we stopped at a fun toy store.

We lost track of time and realized we needed to put more money in the meter and rushed back to the car without eating anything. By the time, we got to the car we decided to just find something on the way home. We stopped at the Old Spaghetti Factory and had a nice, relaxing dinner. As we pulled out of the restaurant, my stomach started to rumble and I broke out in a cold sweat. Russ had to pull off the freeway 3 times before I felt better so....

We finally pulled into our driveway at 10:00 p.m. listening to Hannah and Olivia trying to out cry each other. Needless to say, we won't be going on any road trips any time soon!