Impromptu Photo Shoot!

The joys of having a tween... She's coming into that lovely time called puberty and come the mood swings. Now mix those with a mental age that's lower then it's suppose to be and trying to process everything that's going on with her case and you have our life! Yes it's hard and its difficult but I wouldn't trade it for anything else! I still can't show you her picture yet, but just hang on a little bit longer! I promise, she's worth the wait. (Plus we need to redo about half the pictures... -_-)

These are just a few of the pictures.. since I know you are all dying to see them :)

My own vacation

Since I didn't get a break this summer (I taught summer school... never again!) I decided that I was going to take a weekend to myself and go somewhere and just get away. I have a few places in mind that I've always wanted to visit but I finally landed on flying into Long Beach. Jetblue was holding a sale and I was able to get the tickets for $40 each way and I couldn't pass up that deal! I started looking around for things to do in Long Beach by myself and I remembered that Knott's Berry Farm is really close by and I've always wanted to go. Checked their website.. ding ding ding.. they had a sale on their tickets too! Yay! The stars aligned and I knew exactly what I was going to be doing. I even got a really good deal on a rental car.. It was about half the price of using Uber and walking everywhere. The most expensive part was the hotel. Yes, I could of stayed somewhere cheaper but I just bucked it up and stayed at Knott's Berry. Hey I could literally walk to the park and back when I wanted to :) So yeah.. for anyone who was really dying to know.. that's how I decided where to go. Pretty much I found some great deals all in the same area!! Ok so now onto my trip!!

I dropped Jaybird at school on Friday and made sure my classroom was ready to go for my sub. Brought along the dogs for a ride!

 

Mr. Manny thought that hopping in the trunk would help him get inside faster :) Silly dog!

After dropping the girl off at school I went and got some breakfast for me to eat at home and in bed! One of my all time favorite activities! I was able to catch up on my shows and just relax before I needed to head to Vegas to catch my flight. 

 

Manny was being very protective of the food

 

 I left around 10:30 and did all my normal errands before leaving; getting gas and caffeine, cleaning the car, etc. I got into Vegas around 12:30 and I was extremely grateful that I didn't hit too much traffic. Found my way to the parking garage, got checked in, through security, and found myself some lunch. I don't know how many of you have flown out of Vegas, but Jetblue is in terminal 3 along with all the international flights. There isn't much in terminal 3... I ate at Burger King... yeah it's been a while.. Oh well food is food :)

Southern Utah to Vegas.. yup this is pretty much it!

My view while I waited for my flight :)

 

My flight was a super long 45 minutes but it was way better then driving the 6-7 hours to Long Beach through the desert. I'll fly any day.. Justin would rather drive. We don't always agree on everything! Hehehe. I landed around 5:30 and got my rental car. Thank goodness I didn't have to take the highway into Buena Park or I might of had a panic attack. Scariness!! But I did make it to Knott's Berry Hotel with the help of Google Maps on my phone. I realized that I still had the Garmin packed in my suitcase and that was in the trunk. Didn't do me much good in there. 

My beautiful rental car!

 

My room was right over the pool.

I even looked at Yelp before I came and found the top places to eat in Bunea Park before I came. Yup I'm that person... thank Justin! But I found this place called Portillo's. Apparent it's a chain in Indiana, Illinois, and a few places in California.  Ummm.. This place was delicious!

You waited in line

Salad area! Hahaha this is a vacation!

They wrote your order on the bag. I got a bacon cheese burger, cheese fries, and a soda.

You sat down and waited for your number to be called

Yummies!!! Cheese Fries

You could watch them make your burger! Pretty sweet!

 

Outside of the restaurant.

 I enjoyed sitting there, in my little corner, single person bar stool, people watching! I loved it! I ate as fast or as slow as I wanted, refilled my soda without a small version of me begging to leave because she's bored. It was fantastic!

Yay my car had a backup camera! Pretty amazing!

Another perk of being alone... I ordered room service dessert at 10:30 at night. Yup! It was fantastic! I ordered boysenberry pie. They said it was meant for two people.... I may have eat half and put the rest in the fridge for breakfast. Totally worth it :)

 

I laid across the king bed by myself and was not squished to the edge by a husband and two dogs.. It was lovely :) So lovely!! I slept in as late as I wanted without a small version of myself begging for breakfast.. no guinea pigs begging for food.. no nothing! Exactly what I needed. I walked down to the resturant and ordered breakfast. Breakfast started the "You're by yourself? No one else? Eating alone?

 Yes yes and yes!! I over paid for pancakes and ham but hey I didn't have to make it!  

 

The park opened at 10 AM and I walked right through! 

 

And I promptly rode 5 roller coasters in a row!!! I only had to wait in one line! 

Can you tell I'm in the seat :)

 

It was extremely humid and warm. I forgot my PSI bands and I got dizzy and motion sick. I sat down for about 30-45 minutes and drank water and let my ears settled. Another bonus for being alone! I was on my own time!! I watched the Mexican Hat ride. Looked like fun if my tummy wasn't doing somersaults and it was 99% humidity and a million degrees. 

They ever sexy sun hat!

 

I walked around the park for a while and found their Gold Rush ride. The park isn't big and I was able to walk around in about 15-20 minutes. The Gold rush ride reminded me of a mixture of Pirates of the Caribbean and the Safari in Disneyland. It was a train that took you through a story and a little bit of history, but it was also interactive with the driver.  

Apparently I got some blurry shots.

 

I got thrown in with a large family, but it was ok. It forced me to get out of my shell and sit with people I didn't know.  

I rode their new 4-D ride.. Lords of the underworld or something like that. It was like the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disney mixed with Star Tours. Graphics were great!! You couldn't even feel like you were moving half the time! I could be surrounded by fake creatures and flip and move around without feeling motion sickness. (Ugh I hate this side effect of my medication! I miss having an iron stomach)

 

I had 88,800 points!

 I have always wanted to ride this style of roller coaster! They are set up like horses! You sit on the seat like you are riding a horse and there is an arm that comes up and squishes you against the horse. There are also arms that hold your legs in place. Claustrophobia didn't hit too bad.

 The one roller coaster I really wanted to go on... was closed :(!!! I think they were getting it ready for the Scary Farm.

 

I ate at the Ghost Town Restaurant. All of the reviews I was reading of the restaurants said this one was the best! It was!! 

My view of people cooling themselves off in the fountain

Yummies! Boysenberry Chicken Sandwich.

No I wasn't hot at all!

The waiter was super nice! I think he could see how hot I was and tired. He kept bringing me Coke Zeros and waters..and left me alone when I was answering his question of why I was here alone. Yup I'm relaxing and enjoying child and husband free time!

After lunch I was soooo flipping hot I walked back to the hotel and enjoyed the air conditioning. And I may have fallen asleep. After my nap I went back in and walked around one more time to see if there was anything I missed. I realized that I hadn't ridden the train yet!! It's one of the last steam engines!

It even included train robbers.

 I was done after that.. It was sticky and hot and I felt gross! Back to the hotel room because I can!!!! I did stop at the shops outside of the park and grabbed some things for the girl and Justin... It might have been candy.. It might of been lollipops and salt water taffy and many good treats.. just maybe :) I may have eaten a couple pieces of salt water taffy before I got back to the hotel room....I may have!

 Figured I should peel out myself out of bed and go get dinner. I was going to go to Mrs. Knotts but I really don't like eating chicken off of the bone (I know I'm weird.. don't remind me I already know :D ). Paul's Place was the number 3 place to eat.. Number 2 was Medieval times... yeah no... sorry just no..

Yes I know I ate a ton of fries and burgers.. They're my favorite.

Yummies bleu cheese burger. No bleu cheese dressing.. tons and tons of cheese!

The sun set was extremely pretty!

My pass to go back if I wanted!

I probably looked like a creeper getting pictures. The noise wasn't too bad!

Good Night from Dudley and Me! (Happy 10th birthday to Dudley)

And yes... I ordered dessert again..Because I can! I got a brownie al a mode at 10 pm. They said they were busy and it would be 30 minutes. When they didn't show up at 11.. I went to bed but I got this lovely knock on my door at 11:30 and tada!!! Brownies! I totally woke up for it! 

Slept in again... woke up and got everything cleaned up and just ate breakfast at McDonalds. Easier then paying 20 bucks for pancakes and bacon again. The McDonald's was attached to a mall. I was a mall walker for a while! After breakfast, returned the car, sat at the airport for a while, watched netflix, read a book, ate lunch, all of the above. I did find birds inside the terminal!

Yay I remembered them this time! 

 I was surprised that I didn't hit traffic on the way out of Vegas. It was around 5 pm on a Friday evening and I flew out of there! I even had time to make our stop we always make in Vegas! Dunkin Donuts!!!

Always get a dozen and always get the favorites!

Storms coming in!

 After a few stops in Mesquite and St George I made it home around 9 pm and promptly fell asleep on Justin!

Would I do it again! Yes.. In a heart beat! I love to travel and I don't mind doing things by myself! Would I do Knott's again by myself... No! It was too small of a park to do alone. The rides were not very thrilling and their super thrill rides were nothing compared to what I grew up with. Six Flags Heck yes!! Cedar Point! Even better!! I would have to have someone to go with and ride the rides with. It's going to be a great starter park for my daughter as soon as we get to adopt her. The coaster will be great for her to start on. We can then work our way up to Disney without her getting too overwhelmed.

On to our next big adventure that should be coming in about 4-6 weeks! We will probably try to take a quick trip to Vegas for the girl. It will be her first time too... this should be interesting :)