Vacation in Fresno

Jeepers I'm exhausted. BZ went away for the weekend to visit family, and I decided to have an adventure of my own. I picked up the boys after school on Friday, packed up the van and headed out to Fresno. Friday afternoon heading East may not have been the best plan but who knew there would be 4 accidents to navigate? It took a bit longer than expected....

Fresno may not seem like a great vacation spot, but listen, there are lots of activities there for kids. And, I have an apartment to stay in for free. I kinda wanted to show my place to them and it ended up being a really good idea.

My plan for Saturday was to start the day at the zoo, go across the path to playland, then down another path to Storyland. Once done in the big park of activities, go grab lunch and head over to the Amtrak station. A colleague in the area suggested taking the boys on the Amtrak for one stop (30 minute ride) to Hanford. In Hanford, around the corner from the station, is a famous Ice Cream parlor and restaurant. The best laid plans....

So the first part of the day was really fun. The zoo was surprisingly entertaining with tigers, elephants, flamingos and crazy colored frogs and lizards. And hot chocolate, it was cold!!!!!! Storyland was being renovated while we were there so although the price was reduced significantly, it was disappointing since half the displays were inaccessible. Playland had a limited number of rides but...still fun.
Amtrak. I was really excited about this and had already bought our tickets online. How cool, right? Well, trains are noisy...really noisy and loud. And Aiden would have none of it. He screamed and cried which made Max start bawling as well. Before I burst into tears, I dragged both boys back off the train and back into the station. Got a refund, went to Baskin Robbins by car. Good enough. In fact, they had two different rainbow sherbet flavors.

Oka Sushi for dinner and then, I had planned an evening of giggling and playing games...but I was wrecked. I cheated and turned on some kid TV channel with cartoons. Nice easy ending to a ridiculously long and over-planned day.

Sunday, time to head home. Aiden didn't want to leave what he dubbed, "the guest room." And in a way, either did I. I almost never get to spend such concentrated time with these guys. It wasn't easy, I got tired out but, it was mostly really fun.

On the way home, we stopped to play miniature golf at Boomers in Modesto. Also fun. My kids love these places. We then grabbed a fast food lunch (with prize) and finished the rest of the drive. We had a whole afternoon and evening to settle back home. We played Star Wars, Lego something-or-other, ran around the living room, played Wii Fit, jammed in a dinner and bath time...oh and homework, stories....lights out...boy, much more tiring doing this parenting thing alone.

I look forward to a good night's sleep tonight. Knock on...where's the wood?