Field Trip: State Capitol!

Today was fun!

And long.

Long & fun? ;)

An old friend of my husbands was recently elected to the California State Assembly.

Today was his Swearing In ceremony & we went to down to watch.

What better time to give your kids a political science lesson right?

Assemblyman Brian Dahle & us.

The family picture a super nice total stranger took for us in front of the pretty trees in the lobby of the RCRC building.

The really really super nice mounted policeman (our first ever)

See the scarf  & antlers on his horse? How could he be anything but super nice?

Okay. This is the rotunda in the capitol building. It. Was. Gorgeous. And the light shining thru it was amazing. And the colors were fabulous. And I *may* have taken a few (okay like 40) pictures of it.

It's really pretty okay??

Not terribly sure what they have to do with California... but this is Queen Isabella & Columbus. An amazingly detailed sculpture.

Okay. Yeah. Another one...

The huge, totally cool bear statue right in front of the door to the Governors office.

In case you are wondering why there is a large statue of a Grizzly Bear standing outside the governors office~ it is the state symbol  :)

The state seal~ that is the Goddess Athena. Yes, the Goddess of War is the state symbol. Go figure... 

This is supposed to be a photo of that fabulous tile floor but 2 little boys got in the way...

Just a random walking shot. Sigh. I love these.

Isn't it a pretty building?

All decked out for Christmas.

Okay check these out. Don't know if you can zoom in or Google them or what but this a man on horseback (naked by the way) raising his spear to kill the bear attacking the horse.

This one is even better: a woman on horseback (naked as well) clutching a baby to her breast while the horse is being attacked by a buffalo.

????

WHAT was up with these people? Who designed these things?

:)

Squint hard ~ that's us.

Pretty tree (stupid boom was in the way :P )

The ornaments were so colorful & fun!

These last few were all taken from the roof of the parking garage.

 LOVE the colors.

It was a really fun, full day.

And we met some of the nicest people. Not what we expected in the hustle & bustle of the big city.

It was nice.

And it was nice to be able to support an old friend who is doing a very necessary job that there is not enough money in the world to entice me to do!

:)

Blessings.