We have never been to Knott's Berry Farm before. I guess that makes us all KBF virgins, if you will.
We have heard many stories from friends, but never really had much desire (or time) to go. Well....this year I decided to work over Easter break because I just have too much going on at work. I usually try to take off at least 1-2 days, so this was unusual for me. Luke and I tried to come up with some fun things he and the kids could do over the break and Knott's came to mind.
I scoured online for coupons and deals. Finally I found five 1-day tickets for about $150 total. Considering one 1-day at Disneyland is more than half that price, I thought we should give it a go. When I bought the tickets, I wasn't sure which day we were going to go yet. I worked later on Monday and somehow managed to take off Thursday so we could take the kids down that day. I was excited, even if it was just a 1-day trip. We didn't say anything to the kids either, because we wanted it to be a surprise.
Wednesday night we got the kids primed by letting them know we had to head out of town early Thursday morning. This meant they couldn't stay up late, which was their Easter break mode of operation. Luke and I didn't know what we were going to tell the kids yet and we went back and forth with ideas. Luke says to me, 'What is something they really don't want to do?" I couldn't think of anything that wasn't outlandish or unbelievable. Finally, as we were getting ready to leave the house at 7am we told them we were going to LA to volunteer at a cannery. So....a service project. We were going to do some service for people less fortunate than us. Much to my delight...the kids weren't disappointed at all. They were actually agreeable, had smiles on their faces....and just asked a few obvious questions. As we got closer and closer to Knott's Berry Farm, Luke started making up details about the cannery and what they were going to feed us for lunch. Tubbs was a trooper and didn't say a word. Bubba on the other hand...made it known he wasn't eating their canned vegetables for lunch...or hanging out with homeless people. I was trying really hard not to laugh from the front seat. It wasn't until we pulled up to Knott's Berry Farm and the kids saw the signs everywhere that Bubba smiled real big in the back seat. No canned vegetables for lunch. :)
I loved that the parking was not a 10 mile walk to the park. It was actually very close...but still $15 to park. BLAH!
We walk through the front gates into the park and 5 minutes later Luke was buying churros for the kids. This was going to be a great day!
First stop was a roller coaster...the Silver bullet. Only Tubbs would ride the roller coaster with me. We made sure to ride in the very front...and we LOVED it. I think we are the only thrill seekers in the group.
After lunch Wiggy begged to have her face painted. She wanted the "kitty face" which was $15. I obviously broke down and agreed. It literally took the gal doing the painting, about 45 seconds to paint this face. 45 seconds! I was in the wrong line of business. Nevertheless, Wiggy adored her kitty face and wore it with pride the rest of the day. Of course the downside was everyone was looking at the kitty and would smile or make comments. Pretty soon Wiggy started calling herself "Kitty" and talking in third person. "Kitty doesn't want to eat that. Kitty doesn't want to stand in line."
We had a Kitty diva on our hands.
Bubba said he needed to "work his way up" to the Silver Bullet....so while Luke played with Wiggy at Camp Snoopy, we headed back over to the Silver Bullet. We rode in front again and I had a blast listening to these boys scream like little cheerleaders.
We agreed that after dropping over $40 on lunch we weren't eating dinner at the park. We headed out around 6pm and decided to eat dinner at Claim Jumpers. We had a great time and I am so glad we all got to experience our first time at KBF together as a family. The roller coasters were a lot of fun...but next time I am bringing my own face paint. Tubbs also rode a free-fall type ride with me, that drops 33 stories. We LOVED it. Luke said we were nutballs. He said Camp Snoopy was more his speed. :)
Our kitty...the morning after. She didn't want me to wash her face. All good things must come to an end girl.
On our way out to the parking lot, there was a KBF baker that sold a loaf of cinnamon bread for $3.50 a loaf. It seemed like too good of a deal. We made some French Toast with it the next morning and it was delicious.
Around the middle of February I went to the doctor after having blood in my urine for several days. Lab results came back negative for a UTI, so they ordered a CT scan with contrast to check for kidney stones. A few days later I called back to get the results and I thought I heard the receptionist say that the scan was negative.
Ok great.... life goes on. Within a few more days I started experiencing some pain and I thought for sure I had a UTI this time. I went back to the doctor and explained to the nurse practitioner what had been going on. She starts reviewing my chart, looks at me and says, "It says here you have MULTIPLE kidney stones in both kidneys."
Huh?! Really!?
Crap.
I could've sworn I heard the gal tell me over the phone there were no stones. Very bizarre.
Well...since I have no family history of kidney stones I was left to google what a kidney stone was and what I should do. It sounds like a real treat.
Two weeks after that dr appt I was able to see a urologist. Great guy and I really liked him. He gave me some instructions and I needed to go get an x-ray, so see if the stones showed up. If they do, it means they are most likely made of calcium. I guess I will get those results when I see him next. Iin the meantime....I got this fun package in the mail.
I get to pee into this nice big jug for 24 hours and then send back in two samples. I can hardly wait to do it. I have had it for almost a week and I have no idea when I am going to be home for 24 hours straight.....because the jug has to be refrigerated. Yum! :)
Tubbs brought this home in his backpack a few weeks ago and I am finally getting around to posting it. I love reading these little ditties they bring home.
I finally decided it was a reasonable idea to take all three of the kids to an allergist, after the pediatrician recommended it.... a few times. Bubba, particularly, was having so many sinus issues I was hoping to figure out if there was something that could be done to prevent his infections. AFter a few visits and blood work it was time for the kids to be tested in the office. I took them all in and they took care of all three of them at the same time. Since Bubba was eleven, they did a more extensive allergy panel. Thankfully none of the kids had any extreme allergy that required shots. Great news!
Another Jog-a-Thon down. in Bubba's usual fashion he wasn't the least bit interested in running or fundraising. Tubbs, on the other hand, was running laps around the block after dinner, "training" for the big day. He also took to his cell phone to text Grandmas for pledges. Somehow he also managed to wrangle up some pledges for Bubba. Good ol' Tubbs.
The night before the run, I bribed Bubba into running instead of walking...and he accepted. Thankfully this year because Tubbs is in a combo class, the boys ran consecutively...so there was no waiting a half hour until Bubba's grade ran.
Wiggy was very excited to see Bubba and his BFF, Chase.
In 20 minutes Tubbs ran 16 laps. He was a running machine...and very entertaining to watch. I think on lap 2 he was pouring his lone water bottle over his head. Funny guy.
Bubba ran 13 laps in 20 minutes. Very proud of him. I think that is almost double what he did last year since he mostly walked.
I had to make good on my bribe....so each of the boys picked out a slice of chocolate cake from Sweet Surrender. Yummy!! perfect way to top off the day!
I say it was little because we were only gone three nights and I say "getaway" because we all got to play hooky from school and work for two days. Who doesn't love that?!
Luke had a conference in downtown Los Angeles for three days, so somehow we were able to convince him to let us all tag along. I wasn't really sure what me and the kids were going to do, but I knew we had lots of options. We left Wednesday evening to avoid traffic and it gave us plenty of time to pack everything up after a busy day at work/school. On the drive down Luke is talking to me about an article he read earlier in the day, that took place about 1mile from the hotel we would be staying at. It was pretty gruesome, but to sum it up.....a younger man went missing the end of January. Apparently they found his body in a hotel water tank earlier that day. I was pretty grossed out. It began to out some fear into me about the part of town we'd be staying. I am usually pretty independent...but I wasn't feeling it so much with three kids in tow. Luke pretty much told I shouldn't be walking around downtown LA "exploring" especially with the kids. Ok. Got it.
The hotel we stayed at has appeared in lots of movies I guess. When we walked into the hotel from the parking garage there were dozens of movie posters up. So...we were feeling a little better about where we were staying. It appeared it was the kind of hotel we would never be able to afford if we were footing the bill ourselves.
Our view from the 20th floor.....
Pretty neat--you can "rent" workout clothes. No excuses....except I would rather shop and eat cupcakes. :)
Wiggy liked snuggling in to her own bed after Luke left each morning.....
Thursday morning I decided to take the kids to The Grove. It was only a few miles away, but with traffic it took us almost 30 minutes. :(
We went to Dylan's Candy Bar first and then walked down to the Farmer's Market. I gave the kids each a few dollars for them to pick something out during the day. Bubba spent his right away on an assorted mixture of Jelly Bellies. Wiggy ended up finding a "Tangled" sticker book, from one of the shops at the Farmer's Market. Tubbs was harder to please. He looked and looked but decided to save it.
There was a kids' show in the grassy area, in front of the shops, so we watched that for a bit and saw some funny puppets. There were PLENTY of nannies there with little ones. You could tell. It felt like an episode of "Jessie." :) We walked around and shopped a little. THe weather was so nice! We grabbed some Jamba Juice and Sprinkles Cupcakes for lunch. It was wonderful!! I do think that makes me mother of the year.
We headed back to hotel around 1:30pm because the kids were officially checked out. I thought about finding somewhere else for us to go for a few hours, but I wasn't too sure about where. Since Wiggy was especially cranky, I thought heading back was the right option. Dragging her around when she hasn't had a nap, is like letting someone knock me in the head every 2 seconds. It's not very fun....or smart.
After Luke got back from his conference we headed to "Pink Taco" for dinner. I had seen this restaurant every time we drove down Santa Monica Blvd and it was a perfect opportunity to try it out. The atmosphere was very family friendly, so we were able to take the kids no problem. Unfortunately, the food wasn't as good as I'd hoped....particularly for what we paid. I took a risk trying the lobster enchilada...and since I don't really care for lobster in the first place, I don't know what I was thinking. The sauce was amazing, but that's about it. The kids each had chicken fingers and they weren't too impressed either.
After dinner we walked around the outdoor shopping area next door. The kids liked running around, so it was nice to have them burn some energy before heading back to the hotel. The kids and I each had a small hot cocoa since it was chilly.
Friday morning I was going to try and meet up with a friend from HS who lives in Manhattan Beach. She gave me some recommendations on places to take the kids. Her husband and kids were home sick that day, but I made the short drive over and took the kids to a fun place. I really wish we had something like this where we live. It had an area to run and crawl around, but they also had a huge gymnasium and a reading corner. They offer "day camps" too for older kids. We paid for two hours and by the time our time ran out, the kids were exhausted. It was the perfect amount of time.
(Wiggy let me french braid her hair for the first time this morning. Too bad it looked awful by lunch time, from all the running around.)
Friday evening we were looking for something to do that we would all enjoy and had never done before. Luke did some googling.....an we ended up at the Griffith Observatory. It was really neat and we went right before sunset.....which I highly recommend.
We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory at The Grove for dinner. Delicious. After dinner Luke drove us to Sprinkles ice cream for a late treat. I love that man....almost as much as I love salted caramel ice cream. :)
It would be seriously bad news to live this close to a Sprinkles joint. I think I would end up being on the Biggest Loser.
Back to the hotel with a belly full of ice cream. Life is good.....
Saturday before heading home, we headed over to the 3rd street Promenade in Santa Monica. We walked around a bit and ate some lunch. We were ready to be home. Luke had read another news story about a TB breakout in downtown LA. Seriously!? We had a great few days away.....with plenty of treats...but ready to be home. I think we had our fill of Los Angeles for a while.
That Stop Wasn't On My Itinerary....
So the Hogue's made it to Florida for our first official family vacation. It was Sawyer's first plane ride....and Simon's first plane ride that he can remember. We were excited....the boys were stoked. We had everything we needed! But it seems that Sawyer packed something with him that wasn't on our checklist: a big case of pneumonia. Yes, the little fella made it almost one whole day in Florida before he started heading downhill fast. Our 2nd day in Orlando we were in the Urgent Care south of Cocoa Beach. (By the way, to see a doctor more quickly, it helps if you vomit all over the waiting room in front of the receptionist. Little tip for ya) After chest x-rays they advised us to head to the ER in Melbourne, where they eventually admitted him to the hospital. So, we had 3 night deluxe accommadations at the Holmes Regional Medical Center. The little whipper snapper was a trooper though! The nurses loved him, thankfully, and made us all feel right at home. We were going to send postcards out with pictures of the hospital since we spent 40% of our trip there...but they didn't have any. Imagine that!Hmmm.....maybe its something they should consider.
