Birthday Adventures

When I got orders back in February we knew I when I would be transferring to the ship.  I was in training from August until November.  My original plan was to check in early and take the week of Thanksgiving off for leave.  Shortly before graduation (from my class/training), plans changed.  In order to have Thanksgiving off, I'd have to take the full allotted time in my orders.

You see, our children's school district changed their calender days a couple years ago, scheduling the full week with Thanksgiving off.  This helps cut down on absenteeism and allows families like ours to actually travel to visit family for the holiday.  We wanted to visit Hubby's brother in Wyoming.

Originally, we planned to leave on Friday afternoon.  My birthday was Saturday.  The closer it got the more I realized that I did not want to be stuck in our van all day on my birthday.  I haven't had a birthday off in five years and I have no idea when I'll get another.  Why waste it driving?  When we got the weather report a few days prior to leaving, we learned that a nasty snowstorm was crossing the majority of our drive on Saturday and Sunday morning.


Naturally, we made other plans.  One thing that fit nicely was visiting Knott's Berry Farm.  We didn't go last year, but everyone enjoyed our visit two years ago, minus the smoke from the wildfire.  I really like their Veteran's tribute.  Veterans and Active Duty get in free, along with one free guest, and up to five additional guests at $15 each.  Children under 3 are always free.  One of our good friends and her son carpooled with us.  Her little man is a few months older than Pumpkin.

On Friday night we had a family from our ward come over for dinner and a game night.  It was great fun.  We at the yummy grilled chicken Hubby prepared.  We played Clue FX.  Then Hubby surprised me with cake.  After our friends left the kids gave me their present.

 Munchkin again rode the Jaguar (twice!), and tried a new roller coaster, the Pony Express (though he didn't like that one).  Little Miss was able to ride more rides this time (more were open) and thoroughly enjoyed herself.  The toddlers were able to ride several of the Camp Snoopy rides.  Hubby braved the same two coasters that Munchkin did, and he agreed with Munchkin's opinion.  My friend and I rode the Jaguar, the Silver Bullet, the Xcelerator, the GhostRider (three times before we went home!), and the Pony Express.

We stopped at Panda Express to pick up a late dinner on the way home.   After getting some sleep we packed up the van and left mid-day Sunday.  We completely missed the storm.  We had a few light rain showers while in California, otherwise the roads were clear the entire trip.  Once in Wyoming, it began to snow about fifteen minutes after arriving at my brother-in-law's.  It snowed until Wednesday morning.