Knott's Berry Farm

Everyone woke up bright and early this morning, ready to get a jump on our next adventure.  The kids have been really excited to visit Knott's Berry Farm.

Once we arrived, we were shocked to discover that there were no crowds.  In fact, we had the place to ourselves most of the day.  We started the day off on Ghost Rider, which was a really rickety wooden roller coaster.  After that one, I was pretty much done.

Luckily, the kids have a dad who is a big kid himself.  He took them right on over to The Silver Bullet.  This coaster was the ride of the day.  They probably rode this ride at least 10 times today.

Another favorite was The Excelerator.  That was this coaster...

Absolutely crazy!  But they rode this one about 6 times.  I got sick just watching them.

I just had to get a picture with these old cowboys.  When I was a little girl, Knott's was a favorite place to visit.  My mom always took our picture with these cowboys.  It was so crazy to see my kids pose with them now.

We rode every ride in the park (except for the kiddie rides in Camp Snoopy).  Some of the favorites got ridden multiple times.  We got to Knott's when it opened, and we shut that place down!

And when we asked the kids what the verdict was, we got a resounding thumbs up.  We were so glad we took a chance and tried a new park this time.

After Knott's, I was feeling pretty nostalgic.  We were hungry, and the drive home was a long one, so I told the kids we were stopping for dinner.  We stopped at the La Palma Chicken Pie Shop, which was the little hole in the wall diner my parents used to take us to after we visited Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm.  The kids (and Justin) were skeptical when they saw it.

I think they were even more skeptical when they realized that the decor of the diner hasn't changed since I was a little girl.  We started coming here in 1975!

But one taste of the chicken pies and noodles, and they were hooked.  We got SO much food for about half the price of our lunch at Knott's, and it was was SO good.

Our meals even came with dessert (apple pie-yum!), which we had boxed up to take home.  We had happy children with full bellies, so the ride home was a happy one.  I think every kid told me that today was the best day ever, and it was a great feeling to see my kids enjoy the same things that made me happy as a kid.  It really was the best day ever!