last half of Knottsberry

After lunch was over and we had hit the bathroom, empty bathroom, might I remind you, we went to probably my most favorite ride - Raging Rapids. As you can see it is a large intertube thingy where 6 people can sit in it and basically get wet. Over the years, especially since we visit in October, we have learned to bring ponchos. It isn't too fun to be wet all day in October. Some brave the water 'poncho-less' and suffer the consequences. I prefer to have fun and then be somewhat dry for the rest of the day. In the past, pre-poncho days, we either were close enough to our hotel to go and change or we brought a change of clothes and left them in the car. But I have wised up. Yes, sometimes it is a pain to carry a backpack of ponchos, but not with strollers and certainly the benefit outweights this burden. This year we had to throw a couple of them out after our stint on the ride. After years of use, the rips and tears were not much protection against the raging waters. As you can see, this ride does not allow little ones to ride, so Grampa and I stayed out the first few rounds. (If the day is slow at Knotts, the workers just let you stay on until there is a line or you just want off. The day was slow, so we got to ride it over and over again).

Carolyn and Celynda get off.

Now it was our turn to ride:

A few of us got wet and some got soaked. Losers.

After this we went to a Wild West show. Here is how all of us felt about it: I'm right there with you Griffin.

A few more kids rides ; Snoopy Mail Drop, The Great Skate.

Treyson not being able to do much. Okay, so here is my heart of the day. Brian gets credit for this one. It is on Brookie's blanket. They say it is chocolate. I can only take their word on that.

Well, this is the end of our day at Knottsberry Farm. I can really say it is one of our families favorite places to be. In the next few blogs I will put our beach pictures on.

kai time

Today I had intentions of finishing our day at Knottsberry Farm, but I had a cute experience with Kai last Thursday and I wanted to share it before I forgot. Carolyn needed to work that morning so I went over about 6:45am and was there for the boys when they woke up. Part of my 'huge' responsibility was to get the boys to their school on time. Griffin woke up around 7am and we as we were eating breakfast - Kai woke up. Griffin and I went up and got him dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed. So, far so good. (This story sounds like it's going to have a major problem, but I promise it doesn't - just a funny ending). Around 7:30 Grif is ready to go and so we, Griffin, Kai and me, head to the school. He makes it and the two of us return back. We had left Treyson asleep and so we hurried. He had not woken and so I'm thinking, okay I'll have so 'grammy time' with Kai. I sat at the dining room table and said, "Well Kia, what do you want to do?". (I'm praying its not something to hard to do or a long activity). He puts his finger up to his cheek and says....'umm.....poop'.
I nearly had the drink of milk I had just taken coming out of my nose! My response to him was... 'away you go then'.

Good thing I brought a book.

lunch at Knotts

Every year when we go to Knottsberry we try not to eat there because it's kind of expensive. We have always either gone the whole day with just snacks in our purses/diaperbags/backpacks or we leave and eat at our hotel room (if we're close). This year we were not close at all so we decided to take pack some lunch stuff in the cars. As usual our (Dad's) choice of lunch was to pack sandwich stuff. All of our trips are 'sandwich' fixings so this was no surprise to any of us. However, this year we splurged and brought sub rolls. They get less squished. Well, we spent a good amount of time in the park and around 2 or 3 we left to go to our car to fix lunch. It was a good 10 minute walk (or more). As we start pulling out all the sandwich stuff, chips, granola bars, fruit, etc., and we can't find the rolls anywhere. Hmm. I remember putting them into the cooler, but they just weren't there. I can't say who, but someone confessed to taking them out of the cooler and leaving them on our hotel table, a 60 minute drive to the south. It just didn't seem right to him to have them in the cooler. Luckily, the little kids were very adaptable, just eating rolled up ham and cheese, but we adults complained just a little. We did have lettuce and we tried to do lettuce roll-up and we were so hungry that they were kinda good, but it just wasn't the same as a sandwich. Here is our 'lettuce-roll' assembly station.

Yum. The chips were delicious!

They had some chickens running around loose next to the parking lot and one of them had 'hippie' feather pants. Take a look!

My favorite part about lunch was this next photo. I guess it was really after lunchtime, but when we came back into the park and found the first restroom - NOT A SINGLE PERSON WAS IN THERE! ALL OF THE STALLS WERE EMPTY. I think this was a first in all our years going there!

A bummer thought after lunch was that I knew those rolls were still at the hotel and that would be our lunch options for the next few days. sigh........ no eating out.........