getting all tied up in knott's

we woke up to a cool, cloudy day down at the knott's berry farm hotel.  the bean had been really hoping for a dip in the pool, which she'd watched the previous evening from the window, but it was just too chilly for waterplay.

instead, we headed down to the restaurant for a little breakfast buffet action.  i was a little confused when i was told that kids only eat free during lunch and dinner, but that discounted vouchers for breakfast could be purchased at the hotel's front desk.  kind of a pain in the ass, but i followed the instructions because hey, who doesn't want to save a few bucks?  as we were waiting for a table, we ran into an old friend and introduced the old lady to him:

the offerings were pretty basic, but good enough to fuel us for a full day of exploring a new(ish) park.

one last selfie in our super fun camp snoopy room.

after dropping our bags off in the car, we took the short walk across the street to the main gates of knott's berry farm.  our room had included park tickets for me and the bean, but because i hadn't been sure that the old lady would be able to join us, i wasn't able to add her ticket till we'd checked in.  and i still don't know how it all worked out, but for some reason the extra cost was just a whopping $2.02.  regular admission to knott's is almost $70!  even the guy at the desk seemed surprised, but we just went with it.  because duh, i wasn't going to complain about that.

once inside, we headed right to the camp snoopy area to show the bean a good time.

it was hilarious to watch her on this ride.  she was the biggest and oldest kid on it and yet she screamed and laughed the loudest, which was completely entertaining for everyone who stood and watched.  it was a mini version of "supreme scream," a ride that takes you up a few hundred feet,  drops you and yanks you back up a few times.  it was comedy.

camp snoopy is actually fairly large, with a good number of rides for kids.  we took her on quite a few of them, and were pleasantly surprised that the lines weren't too long.

and of course, we stopped for fun "peanuts"-themed photo ops.

the old lady and i tried to talk her sister into trying the "sierra sidewinder" - a relatively easy-looking roller coaster with no loops, but where the cars rotate throughout the ride:

we actually almost had her, but decided not to put too much pressure on her and headed off to see more of the park before trying again.  instead, we got her on the much tamer-looking "jaguar."

we had more fun in the "ghost town" area.

and stopped for some grub - a smoked turkey leg and some roasted corn on the cob.

we were also pretty excited to find this:

and of course, this.  funnel cake is a MUST at knott's berry farm.

as our day finally wound down to an end, we finally got her to say yes to the sidewinder:

it was such a fun ride.  we screamed and hollered and spun around and had a great time.  when we got off, the bean was reeling from what she'd just been through.  and when we found out that the video cameras that are installed in front of each seat had malfunctioned during our ride - well, let's just say we managed to talk her into a second round.  muahahahahaha.

and before we headed home, we made one last stop:

yup.  i absolutely did have fried chicken two nights in a row.  hmmmm.  maybe it's time to get back onto that clean eating wagon.