Jelly beans, Old Faithful, and a side of Chabot

Ethan and Isabella had spring break this past week, so John took a few days off and we had a mini vacation. Originally we had wanted to head to Fort Bragg and see the Redwoods and beach. Mother Nature decided it would be best if we stuck around home, and made it rain instead. We still had lots of fun and found a cool summer camp for Ethan in the process. Wednesday was an adventure. We started the day by heading to Fairfeild to tour the Jelly Belly Factory. It was fun to see how the company started, and the jelly bean making process. At the end we got free samples and bought a few bags of belly flops (the beans that are not perfect and sold for half price). I think that was the kids favorite part.



After leaving Fairfield we headed north through Napa and stopped in Calistoga to see Old Faithful. They also have some goats that you can feed and pet. We ended up not staying long because it was cold, grey, and started to sprinkle. That's when we decided we should just go back home and do Fort Bragg another time. I had found a really good deal on a GPS for John for his birthday. Knowing me, I ended up giving it to him a month early so we were using it for the trip. We had good luck with its directions for the first half of the day, so we just told it to take us home and started blindly following its directions. Big mistake!!! So....4 hours after we left Calistoga we finally got home! The good thing is we were able to take some roads we had never been on before and it was all fun. (aside from the backseat drivers who are asking why mama is not listening to the gps anymore and getting us lost) By the way...the trip home SHOULD have only taken us 2 1/2 hours...NOT 4.





Friday we ended up going to Chabot Space Center in the Oakland hills. SO MUCH FUN!!! I highly recommend this for all space loving kids. This was perfect for Ethan who wants to be an astronaut when he is older. They have lots of different exhibits, and a really cool planetarium with lots of different shows. This summer we are going to have him do a one week camp. Its only 3 hours a day for 5 days, so he should have lots of fun. I thought he would want to do Micronauts and see what its like to be an astronaut, but instead he chose Kitchen Science where they make ooey gooey conncoctions and slimy stuff.