Our Newport getaway continued but unfortunately Todd had to get back to Santa Barbara to work so it was just the three of us for a few days.
Shopping at Fashion Island
Seriously?
The kids were enamoured by the food court. We don't have a "normal" mall in Santa Barbara with a food court so this was a big ticket event.
More root beer floats that I kept sneaking drinks of because I don't know the last time I've had one and damn they are good!
We played, swam and relaxed at the resort.
Samantha started a new chapter book series on our trip.
I love seeing her so engaged in a book.
Smoothie time!
Bingo time!
No Bingo winners :(
Swimming at sunset
Getting cleaned up!
Cozy movie night at the villa.
"The Croods"
Making sand art
I need to find where to get these sand art kits because they were really cool and came out great!
Pretty good for a four-year-old ;)
One evening, I decided to take the kids to Medieval Times.
I hadn't been there in over 20 years and I have to say it probably was a top highlight of our trip for both me and the kids. It was so fun!
Checking out the horses before the show.
Getting excited to cheer on the green knight!
Both kids were thrown a rose from our green knight
Thatcher had to go the bathroom halfway through the show but refused to take the break in fear he would miss something.
Our knight came in second place. The show was awesome and the food was good, we were thoroughly entertained! There's a pirate dinner show similar to Medieval Times right next store that I promised the kids we would take them there next time. But we definitely will revisit Medieval Times with the kids and daddy again soon!
I was doing pretty good for the first two days with just the three of us so I decided to keep the fun going and take the kids to Knott's Berry Farm. I wasn't sure how taking two kids alone to an amusement park would go but figured we were in the area so I might as well try.
First stop, Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner restaurant. The place still smells the exact same from when I was a kid. It smells like a mix of biscuits and cloth napkins if that makes any sense….
The kids' meal was the exact same as I can remember where they give you red jello before your meal.
And neither of my kids would eat this….. I have to say, like the Balboa Fun Zone, Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner restaurant has also gone downhill. Or maybe both of those things are the same and I am just getting old and my expectations higher ;)
Off to the park!
What's funny is my kids don't really know who Snoopy is. They didn't even know he was a dog.
The park was practically empty. Sometimes we were the only people on a ride.
Rosy, sweaty cheeks! It was super hot!
Talking to "Sad-Eye Joe" in the jail. Samantha kept asking Joe if he remembered last time she was there with her grandma and poppy and that he knew her name. And then asked, "Do you remember me?" He called her the wrong name because now that we are home I googled how he always knew our names. And I can't reveal that here because Samantha now reads our blog on her tablet so I have to be careful giving out secrets ;)
Samantha was so interested in how "Sad-Eye Joe" got in jail and how he knew so much about her that she was asking all the Knott's characters to help her understand. She even went back to Joe and asked him. I can't remember exactly what he said but he did say that the foot hanging in the picture below was his ex-wife Goldie.
Every now and then the foot would kick against the wall. We stayed in this Ghost Town area of Knott's for about an hour with Samantha wanting more and more info.
This train ride still scared the heck out of me as it did when I was a kid. I knew the "robbers" would be making a visit but I still jumped out of my seat when I heard the cap gun shots.
The kids purposely sat away from me thinking they were "big kids", not knowing what I knew, and I could tell by both of their faces they wanted to run back to where I was sitting.
The "robber" took it easy on the kids because they were laughing two seconds later.
After closing down the park, we headed back to Santa Barbara and I felt like we squeezed a lot of last minute fun in before the first day of school for both kids!
