Long Travelogue, Friday the 13th Nightmare Edition

My sister and her family came to play with us this weekend. It was so much fun, even though it was a soggy, rainy weekend. Jake and Alisa had a blast with their cousins. They loved sleeping all together in one room and playing all day together. With a family of 6 joining us, our house felt quite a bit smaller--full and fun!

Here are the kids enjoying Scott's delectable pizza on Thursday night. YUM!

The chef and helper. Seriously, yummy pizza (bbq chicken and olive oil, tomato, basil, and mozerella)

Friday started out just fine. We were geared up for a somewhat rainy day at Knott's Berry Farm. The J&J family left early, with Jake in tow (7 in their car) and Scott, Alisa and I were going to meet up with them. Scott got off early. We were about to leave when they called to say that Knott's was CLOSED! With absolutely no advanced notice (the internet said they were open that morning!) they closed due to impending rain. What?! We didn't think they'd do that. At that point, it was only partly cloudy. No rain. We have gone to Disneyland when it rained all day and night. They cancelled the parade, but didn't close the park!

So my sister went in to try to get her money back, thinking Knott's wouldn't be a good idea on a Sat., but they refused. We ran back to campus to get our money back, since we'd just bought our tickets 20 minutes before that. We debated going to Disneyland, but without the refund (and even with it) it was a little too pricey for a family of 6. So we decided to hit the beach for a bit to get some energy out. 

We met up at Newport, but by the time we got there, the wind was whipping up a storm. And it was chilly. Really chilly. They all went to scope it out while I stayed at the car (wrapped in a blanket) with a sleeping babe. In the 10 minutes they were by the ocean, BOTH of my kids had fallen in and gotten soaked. They came back sandy, wet, and freezing. Luckily, we'd brought a change of clothes. At that point it was about 2pm. We'd been in the car on the road for 4 1/2 hours. We didn't know what there was to do around there, but thought of finding a McDonald's playplace and stopping to get some energy out. We didn't find one. It started to rain.

We decided to just hit the road back home, calling friends on the way to get ideas of what to do inside (swimming, bounce house, etc.) when we got back. The Y had family swim for 1 hour (3-4pm) which wasn't promising. The bounce house was only for private birthday parties on weekends. The pizza/game/ride place was too expensive. We were laughing at the bad luck of it all. Even the discovery museum near Anaheim was open only until 5, and we didn't know where it was. 

To make matters worse, traffic was at a standstill. At 2:30pm. It was President's Day weekend. Hm. So we were stuck in crawling traffic, having been in the car much of the day. Scott, Alisa, a niece, and I were doing okay in our car. The other car had some wild times and antsy kids. So in desperation we pulled off at Yorba Linda. It was pouring. We tried to find an indoor play place. SoCal just isn't designed for the few days of inclement weather we have. We FINALLY found one at Burger King. We were cheering out loud. Scott went in to discover that it was closed for repairs. Seriously?!

This was the mini-slide that was open. And thank goodness for this much. Since traffic was at a standstill, we decided to kill a few hours. We spent an hour here on this mini-slide, trying to entertain two toddlers, two 3 year olds, a 7 and a 9 year old. 

This is how we felt:

So after an hour and an appetizer of french fries, we left for Costco, hoping to entertain ourselves for a few more hours until traffic cleared up. We got a pizza (thank you!) and it was so cold and wet we took it in, had the kids sit on cardboard boxed in the soaking carts, and had a picnic by the t.v.'s. We got many dirty and disgusted looks from the customers. Oh, well. We tried to kill time there, but were done after about an hour of climbing on treadmills and ellipticals and couches. We drove around Yorba Linda and saw nothing, so finally braved the creeping traffic around 6:15. 

We got home at 7:30 or so. It was a long, wet, miserable Friday the 13th!

The next day was great and totally made up for it! Knott's was just fine that Saturday. Not too many people. My brother, sis-in-law, and her nephews joined us. It was a romantic Valentine's Day! :)

We loved all the little rides with NO lines. Alisa had fun riding with her cousin on all the ones that we were too big to go on. She's such a big girl! Jake had a blast with his cousins. Thank you so much for a wonderful day, Jacqui and Jeff! 

We ended the day at Pat and Oscar's, which was a very family friendly place to eat and had killer bread sticks (as in, fatty and no good for you--we ate a lot!). It was fun to be with two of my siblings and families! The kids were exhausted and basically fell asleep at the restaurant. What a great Valentine's Day!

On Sunday after church Scott and Jeff took the kids out so I could get a nap (and my sis, too). It was soooo nice of them! They went to the orange groves and to Kimberly Crest Mansion (as in Kimberly-Clark paper goods). We've driven up there 3 or 4 times but never got out. We didn't realize you could walk a few feet and discover these beautiful grounds:

It was a lovely Sunday, even though it was a bit cold and cloudy. We had a good dinner and tried to get the kids to bed early. The next day brought a different adventure for Jacqui and fam, with a horrible driving experience that landed them in Flagstaff, not home in Utah. Closed roads. Again. We just cleaned for the holiday. We were so glad to host them in our small, two bedroom house! Thank you, thank you, thank you for a great weekend!

If you are still reading, you are a real trooper. Or just really bored. Or very into the details, like me.