Sutter's Fort

Well, I promised to write about our time at Sutter's Fort. To refresh your memory, this was an over night field trip to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. I appreciate over night field trips that include hotels. This one did not. :) So, as we left our house at 6:30 on Thursday morning, I was a little anxious. The boys, on the other hand, were quite excited. Their excitement was bursting out of the windows as we traveled to Sacramento and the year 1846. We were dressed in our period clothing with stuff sacks and such in tow. This picture was taken in our backyard by my wonderful husband before we left.

When we arrived the boys were carpooled over to the Railroad Museum in order to ride in a covered wagon to the fort. This ride took 45 minutes. They looked so cute as they pulled up to the fort. A gentleman greeted them and shared that a traveling salesman had come through and done fooled all of the people that lived at the fort. He had sold them (us) these boxes that he claimed could hold pictures. But we all know that pictures are taken with pencil and paper. He told the pioneers to humor us fooled folk as we tried to use our boxes to take their pictures. He told them to just smile real big and pretend. This was one of Z's favorite parts.

He then introduced John Sutter (my very own Z) to the crowd and told them to follow himself and Mr. Sutter inside the fort. This is where Sutter would issue a welcome to the pioneers whom had traveled so far. The beginning of the video below has Z's welcome speech. Too cute.

After the greeting, all of the students were split into small groups to go through the stations throughout the day. I was assigned to work in the modern kitchen. I became a prep cook and a dishwasher. This was a lot of work, but I REALLY enjoyed myself. I was able to head out here and there and capture pictures of my pioneer boys as they moved through their stations. Every time I caught up with them, they were both grinning from ear to ear. They were having SO much fun!

The boys learned how to use a loom, make candles, build a box, make rope, trap animals, work in a blacksmith's shop, make bread and cinnamon rolls, and prepare our lunch and dinner by chopping fruit and vegetables in the period kitchen. They even visited a covered wagon and heard about the travel to get to the fort. They were even able to use their Sutter bucks to go to the Trade Store to buy period toys and/or food. Again, they were smiling all the way.

That night we had a hoe-down. There was music and men teaching the kids (and adults) how to do square dancing and others. The following pictures and videos give you a little peak into the fun that we had.

Later, we went upstairs and had a sing along. The kids all had the opportunity to play the period instruments. So exciting! Everyone had so much fun! By the time the "show" was over it was about 9:45. We still had night watch! My A was a little bit afraid of doing night watch, but I encouraged him to do it reassuring him that I would go along too. Each pioneer had a pretend gun and had the task to secure the fort. Their task was to walk around the inside edge of the fort looking for anything suspicious. A just knew that someone was going to jump out and scare him. He started the task a little nervously, but really got into it. He was SO brave! I couldn't believe it! He saw someone stirring behind a group of barrels and yelled out, "Come out with your hands up!" All of the pioneers enjoyed hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls that they had a hand in making earlier in the day.

To continue with our adventurous day, the boys and I decided to sleep outside (we have a picture to prove it although it is on someone else's camera...I am awaiting the email)! Remember my comment about enjoying an over nighter in a hotel? Well, there was something about Sutter's Fort that brought out my adventurous side. My boys thought that this would be the best idea! So, around 10:30 or 11:00 we snuggled down into our sleeping bags along with a new friend and her mom. Poor Z and A had a hard time falling asleep due to the chilliness of the night. But they finally succumbed to their sleepiness. Around 2:30, I began to feel drips on my forehead. I sat up along with the other mom. She felt that it was just mist from the fog. So, I laid awake for the next hour waiting it out. Z was cold and so I tried to snuggle him amidst the tiny drops falling. At 3:30 it began to drip more and more. We decided that it was time to move inside. Upon moving inside, I came to realize that Z had taken off his socks to sleep...no wonder he was so cold! Poor guy! So, I slept from about 4:00 to 6:00 and then woke up to go and help in the kitchen. Needless to say, I was exhausted!

As we left Sutter's Fort that morning, we were all sad to go! A wanted to stay for at least a week. Z thought that sounded good. I settled for going back next year. Who knew?