Saturdays are the BEST!

Aren't they though?  And entire day to spend with your favorite people and you can go anywhere and do anything you want.  

Friday night Jeff and I were hanging out and talking.  We started trying to figure out what we needed to do the next day.  Saturdays we usually have something that we have going on, but this week we didn't!  We were shocked and were then trying to decide what we should do.  I wanted to make the most of the day, a FULL day with daddy is a rare treat in this house.  I remembered I had bought a groupon a while back for The Sonoma Train Town Railroad.  The weather looked perfect so we decided to do it.  I am so glad we did!  It was awesome and the kids LOVED it!

When we first got these we decided to wonder around and check the place out.  It is a fun atmosphere and surrounded by beautiful scenery   I thought the layout was weird at first, but it grew on me and I actually really like how they have it all set up.  The kids had a great time wondering around, checking out all the rides, people watching, and of course spotting the train as it drove through the woods.  There was not much rhyme or reason to boarding.  You don't pick a time, you don't even really wait in line.  The train comes about every 30 minutes.  As it pulls in, you get out of the way, let the people get off, and then jump in an empty car before it fills up.  I thought it was kind of weird, but it seemed to work just fine for everyone.

ALL ABOARD!

It was an awesome little ride!  They went through I think 4 tunnels, across 2 or 3 bridges, and it even went kind of fast (at least I thought so for how small the Train Engine was).  The kids LOVED IT!  The whole time P was grinning from ear to ear and Em was smiling and laughing and kept saying, "Are you ready Parker?  Are you ready?"  It cracked me up.  After we rode for about 10 minutes the train pulled into the ADORABLE little town.  Each building was named and resembled thing an actual town needs.  For example a school house, fire station, church, jail, salon, a fort.  It even had an actual barn yard where they could feed the animals which were very eager to be fed.  They let us wonder around for about 10 minutes and then it was time to load up again.  I kind of wish we could have stuck around a little longer and caught the next train.  The kids really loved checking out all the buildings and animals.  They would have been content to stay there for hours.  But alas, we climbed aboard and headed back to the main station.

Our groupon not only came with the train tickets but also a few ride tickets too.  We of course had to hit up some of the awesome rides they had.  First up the Carousel.  Em used to be scared of the ones that move up and down but this day she rode it like a pro!  P always loves riding the horses and tries to pick the fastest one!

Carousel

Ferris Wheel

At first P did not want to go on this one.  But with me and Em talking it up we finally convinced him to ride too.  He rode with me and although he was a little scared, I talked him through the whole thing and he seemed to have a great time.  He never let go of my hand though.  :)  But it was so fun too have a quick view at the top of the world.  Em is my little thrill seeker and she of course loved it!

At this point we were all out of tickets which is always so sad.  They had a few other rides, and I really wanted to go on the scrambler.  You know the one that swings you out toward the edge of the car and all you can do is laugh.  

(Source)

Well, both kids said they would do it so Jeff went to go get a few more tickets for us.  When it came time to ride P decided he would rather go on the carousel so it was just me and Em and we were both excited.  I was a little worried how Em would be, mostly because it does get going kinda fast but again, I talked her through it and she did AWESOME!  We spent the entire ride laughing our heads off.  I was so proud of her and love that she is a little thrill seeker like me.  :) I was bummed the boys didn't get to see us ride.  P totally would have wanted to do it if he saw how much fun we were laughing.  And of course my camera decided to break just moments before this ride so I didn't get any awesome pictures of us on the ride but thanks to the hubby's phone we snapped this one after we got off.  

We are doing our laughing faces that we had on the ride.  :)

Overall, it was an AWESOME trip!  I'm totally ready to go back.  Unfortunately the drive and the cost will keep us from doing it every weekend, but maybe once a year...

Our last picture of the day.  Right as we were about to head out the train we rode on pulled in.  Can you tell they are a little tired?  Fun day but they were exhausted and ready for a nap. And they did the moment we got in the car.

What do you love to do on Saturdays?