Matt is Officially a Civilian

Yesterday Matt officially became a civilian. Woohoo! We had a small family celebration last night. We had a delicious Chinese dinner--friend rice, egg rolls and potstickers--YUMMY!! Of course we also had chocolate cake with fudge icing for dessert. We also finally hooked up our Wii console that we got for Christmas. Yes, I know we are crazy and sad. But we had a blast playing with it tonight. Here are some pictures (and yes, all the Wii pictures are of everyone's back but I was not about to stand in front and take the chance of one of them taking out my precious Nikon)...

Columbia, CA--Cowboy Costumes

For quite a while now we have been wanting to get an "Old West" Family Picture done. There was a place in Columbia but the line was too long. At one of the museums they had a dress-up area for the kids. We decided to take advantage of the clothes and have our own impromptu "Old West Portrait Session".

Chloe, as a laundress, and Aidan as a gold miner.


As you can see Brenna was having more fun running around than sitting still for the picture!


This is a sweet picture of Chloe...


Brenna thought running around in the long dress was hilarious...


We finally got Brenna to sit still long enough to get a picture but she refused to wear the sun bonnet.


Aidan loved dressing up as a miner...


One of these days we will get all of us in an "Old West" picture together...Maybe we can put them in our Christmas Cards. =)

Columbia, CA--Exploring the Town!

Here are some pictures of Columbia...


Saw this in a store window and just had to take a picture. Talk about reading between the lines.

Here are some pictures of the main street. Yes, it is an asphalt street, cars were allowed to drive through at one point in time. There are board sidewalks and most of the stores have giant metal shutters that close over the doors at closing time. The town looks much like it did 150 years ago.



You should of see the look on Chloe's face when we told her what this building was used for in the "Old West". She cracks me up!


Johnson's Livery had different buggies and buckboards inside. Including a horse-drawn hearse. There were old buggies and wagons through out the town adding to the authenticity.




The shops and building have been kept in good repair over the years but you can tell the wood is getting worn out in a few places.


Here is an old Mining Store set up so you can get an idea of what a store in the 1850s would of looked like. They even had living quarters for the store owner set up in the back. There is a small stable in the back of the store and a chicken coop which the kids thought was great of course.



Here is the original schoolhouse which was quite a hike up a hill overlooking the town. It only has two classrooms, one on the first floor and one on the second floor. It was neat seeing Chloe's reaction to what school used to look like. Aidan had to be carried part way up the hill so he could keep up. We were careful to follow the trail, signs were everywhere warning us to stay on the trail to avoid running into rattle snakes. Nice.


Here are some more pictures of us walking down the boarded sidewalks and looking into the various shops and businesses. It was starting to get crowded so we didn't get to pan for gold but the kids had fun watching other people do it.







It was a fun day of stepping back into time...

Columbia, CA--Stage Coach Ride

Today we went to Columbia, CA, Historical State Park. We had a great time. As many of you know my kids and husband love to play cowboys in the house and the backyard. So the thought of being able to go to a real "cowboy" town had us all excited. The town has been preserved and looks much like it did in the mid-1800s.

We even got to ride on a real stage coach. This was not a reproduction either, the coach is an original, restored stage coach. The kids were so excited. They couldn't wait to get on it.


Here we are enjoying the bumpy ride. Chloe couldn't get over how bumpy the ride was. Aidan was thrilled with the whole experience and couldn't get enough. Brenna loved it at first but when the coach started moving she started crying. Once she had Mom she calmed down and enjoyed herself.




Here is the coach crossing Main Street. The street is blocked off for pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles.

We took this family photo right before the stage coach was stopped by a "robber".

Here is the robber looking for gold. He didn't find anything and let us go on our way. The kids thought it was great. They couldn't believe that they got to see a "bad guy".

Here are some more pictures of us enjoying the ride.