Knottsberry Farm

We went to Knottsberry farm on Wednesday. It was good. It was fine. It was fun. BUT, the next time we go to something like that, all of our children will be old enough to feed themselves, toilet themselves and walk themselves!

The boys enjoyed themselves, but there were so many rules and restrictions we had to place on them, for their safety, that I just kept thinking how they have just as much fun roaming around on the beach, where it's wide open, safe and free! (Free in more ways than one!)

We did enjoy the day. Even Stone got to ride some of the smaller rides, after being disappointed over and over that he was too short for most of them; even the big raft ride thing. Darn. There's no WAY we're doing Disneyland, so there! I said it. For all of you out there who think "well, you're in California, you HAVE to go to Disneyland"...let me tell you "no, we don't." ;) We will go, however, when our boys have reached the above mentioned criteria! When we can all ride the big fun rides together and laugh our heads off; instead of trying to shuffle this kid here, and this kid there and all of us wasting a lot of time just shuffling kids instead of hauling a** to the next exciting ride!

Saylor and I did make the decision to ride a roller coaster while we were there. Ready for a funny story! The Ghost Rider looked to be the least intimidating from the ground. No upside down, Saylor wasn't ready for that. So, we thought, hey, we could probably handle it. In we go, the very last car. Up, up, up we chug, chug, chugged. Saylor's already starting to make some nervous groaning noises, I poke myself in the left eyeball and knock my contact out. Quickly, I unclench Saylor's fingers from my right hand so I can re-insert said contact, which is now fuzzy and painful. Back goes my right arm around Saylor's head and back go his hands squeezing my hand with all his might. We haven't made it to the top yet. Ok, then doooooooooooooown, scary, fast, feels like you've been thrown off of a cliff down, like you might actually fly right out of the car down, thinking "oh my god, i think we're in here wrong" ... Down. Now Saylor is making some very primal terrified screams of horror. His eyes are shut tight, I want mine to be, but I'm trying to be brave for him. The plunging seemed to never end. It was scary. Can you tell?

Saylor held it together so well, though. He wasn't freaking out by the time the car came to a stop, he was shaken, but not freaking anymore. I piggybacked him all the way back down the stairs, figuring his legs were probably feeling worse than mine, weak and wobbly. We survived. We did it. The next time I do it, I'll be centered between 2 of my strapping young teen-age boys. Of course, after the ride, we keep bumping into all kinds of people saying "oh my gosh, that Ghost Rider ride is awful, it's so scary, don't ride it" Yep. Didn't hear a thing about it *before* we rode the thing. We've learned to ask first next time!

We got home and had a good laugh about it all. Recreating the scene and replaying the events, complete with my best imitation of his primal screaming grunts. The re-creation of it was WAAAY more fun than the actual ride. ;)

I'm still sore today (2 days later). My left shoulder/neck muscle, the same arm that I was using to hang on, since Saylor had my other one. Man, I must have had a death grip on that thing. It's funny now and I told him that'll be something we'll be laughing about when we're both old and gray!