a day at knott's berry farm

(* * Updated to add: I will upload some photos tomorrow. After my trusty ol' mac has time to process my camera card contents at the flintstone speed it now runs at. * *)

It's a balmy Saturday morning and Tim, the boys, and I are in the car, on our way to a surprise location. The children are restless in the backseat as the long car ride and anticipation starts to wear on their little bodies.

Finally, after spending way too long in way too many traffic jams, we veer off of the congested LA freeway and enter the home stretch. As we make our way through Korean Town, the kids begin to become suspicious as signs for Disneyland fill their sights. Little do they know that we have a different destination in mind.

Ten minutes later, we pull up in front of a huge silhouette of Snoopy as a voice from the loud speaker from some godly location above, welcomes us to the very first amusement park ever. The kids are ecstatic and our day of fun is just beginning.

And it was fun. Lots and lots of fun. We celebrated many firsts yesterday. The boys experienced their very first amusement park in California, their first roller coaster, and got to see their first live Extreme Sports show.

We learned that Bumpo (who is only seven) is much braver than his ten year old brother. We also learned that Bob isn't afraid to conquer his biggest fears. We learned that it is possible to spend $50 on a pizza dinner and still be hungry. And that eating said pizza, and then going on a roller coaster that straps you in by your waist isn't the best idea.

We celebrated our vacation, and Bob's return, and the end of summer, and the new school year ahead. We looked back on our first year in California with fond memories and made plans for our remaining year here.

And most importantly, we logged many hours of quality family time at that rustically beautiful theme park.

It was a fantastic day.