It's All about your Funitude: "Having FUN with My Grandson, Evan!"

Wow! What a wonderful 3 days we had! My 7 1/2 year old grandson, Evan, came for a visit ( he lives about 1.5 hours away). I remember thinking when he was about 3 years old how FUN it would be when he could stay over night and we could do FUN things together!

I met my daughter-in-law half way and the three of us spent a few hours in Alamo Creek Park in Vacaville. Then Evan and I headed to Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory in Petaluma. We arrived just as a tour was starting. We watched a 20 minute video about the history of the business and how stickers are made, with about 50 other kids and adults. Then we were taken on a great factory tour, seeing all the machines, inks, huge rolls of stickers and more. We had a wonderful tour guide who would ask the kids questions and give them stickers for answering (right or wrong!). Then we all went into the project room where they give you lots of stickers and a postcard to decorate. Then of course, a visit to the sticker store! We had a wonderful time. We had sticker projects for the next three days! That night I went to sleep early. Robert, Evan and Asia made popcorn and watched The Little Mermaid.

The next day Evan came with me to my Toastmasters meeting. He took on the role of "jokemaster" and told 2 jokes in front of the group. He was so poised, adorable and funny! He enjoyed the meeting so much he told me he wanted to be a Toastmaster!

These are the jokes he told:

"What weighs 5,000 lbs and wears glass slippers?"

(answer: "Cinderelephant").

"What do you get when you cross SpongeBob Square Pants with Albert Einstein?"

(answer: "SpongeBob Smarty Pants")

Then we had a picnic lunch with my friend, Sally, played on the "beanbag mountain" at Mary's Futons, visited Robert at Lights of Rafael, and stopped at the Pet Arcade to pet the kittens, puppies and see fish, lizards and bunnies. Then off to a FUN store in Novato, Dollhouses, Trains & More. This is an amazingly large store filled to the brim with trains, collectibles, dolls, miniatures and more. There are fully set up train and holiday villages that you can turn on to watch the movement. We stayed for 2 hours playing with all the hands on exhibits that are extremely kid friendly. We both had so much FUN exploring and choosing some fun miniatures for our collections. They have the largest miniature collection in the United States! Prices are reasonable too.

That evening we had a power outage for 3 hours. We lit candles, made a fire, and played hand shadows on the ceiling with flashlights. Our cat, Asia, loved watching the flashlights. We also played improv/word/story games. (Asia just listened...)

The next day we took a nature walk around Pacheco Valle. We saw deer with their babies, visited the secret garden and walked over bridges and streams. Then we had lunch at the Northgate Mall at Chipolte and dessert at Berry Swirl, where you can make your own yogurt sundaes! Robert met his son half way and made the grandson exchange!