Knott’s Berry Farm

Look at these cute kiddos ready for our day at Knott’s Berry Farm.

I hadn’t been to Knott’s Berry Farm since I was a teenager. And so much has changed since then! So in some ways it was nostalgic to be back and in some ways it was all interesting and new.

Our first ride of the day was Ghostrider. 

But before you look at the pictures, let me preface it by telling you the goal of the entire day was to take some really good funny-faced pictures. Totally. And if it wasn’t our conscious goal, it was definitely our sub conscious goal. And if it wasn’t that either we made it our goal once Kyler and I looked back at all of the pictures taken throughout the day. And laughed at some pretty good faces captured on the phone and in the ride cameras.

I was making a heart. Which is the teenagers symbol from the trip..

I’m pretty sure that was an accidental linking of the arms! Haha.

Then we got into the upside down rides. Some of the teens backed out, but these three ride every crazy ride they could.

Some more good faces...

The most uncomfortable place to take nap. We were not prepared with a stroller for this day. Which is what happens when you make plans last minute. But it was all fine. Thankfully she did transfer into my arms.

So much fun with these kids on the swinging boat!

The goofy face thing really was Kyler’s goal.

My first upside down rollercoaster as a little girl was Montezuma’s revenge. How pretty amazing is this—it became Layla’s first upside down rollercoaster, too! And she loved it.

She loved it so much that she begged to do one of the scariest upside down roller coasters there. Unfortunately, no pictures, but let it suffice that she didn’t love the second one as much.

The swing again!

One of my favorite rides was this drop. 

I love all these people and I’m so glad we were able to spend the day at knotts! 

Highlights from the day:

-riding hang time with Perry (even though there were great big crocodile tears afterwards)

-riding hang time with Layla, I’m proud of her even though it scared her

-riding supreme scream twice: during the day and at night. Such beautiful views!! My favorite.

-Brinna telling me “all done” during the mine ride when it got dark

-Perry wanting to ride the log ride again and again

-Layla’s first upside down coaster

-riding the boat swing with some of the kids (twice!) and getting the best video of their faces and laughs and screams

-the teenagers having fun on their own for most of the day

-by his choice, E didn’t ride most of the rides (which probably isn’t a highlight, but a fact of the day). But I had fun on every ride and could’ve kept going.

-the longest wait of the day was the kid’s ferris wheel

-Kyler and Kacin loved knotts and would definitely love to come back. Thrill rides are their thing. 

-the creation of the “collective family” handshake and symbol

goodbye wildwood, old town San Diego, and the vacation goes on

The missionaries that run the wildwood campground there were just so sweet. Brinna had a thing for sister Kuske’s cane and took it any chance she got. 

We said goodbye to camp wildwood on Saturday morning after cleaning up our cabins and the lodge. But the vacation wasn’t over yet...the kids didn’t really know our next big plan until we revealed it Saturday night. Until then, we kept our answers vague and went in to Old Town San Diego.

We visited the Mormon Battalion Center.

E found a way to contain the little one for a while. (Though she wasn’t the one I wanted to contain that day...let me just tell you that lack of sleep for three nights straight had done a number on one of our other precious children....)

I’m so glad these four boys are such great friends.

We got a ice cream at cold stone and then spent just a few minutes walking through the old town shops.

Refusing to open her eyes. But let it be clear that, despite the mood she was in, she adores Kate the most.

It was Friday night around midnight when we made our plans and lucked out and found an Airbnb that fit both of our families perfectly. It was a house with two sets of three layer bunk beds so we were able to put all 6 boys in one room. That was a nice arrangement. 

We all sat around after dinner and told the kids that we were “Knott’s Berry” tired over and over again until it registered that we would be going to Knotts Berry Farm the next day!!

And then it was officially time for bed. 

the beach

We spent one of our days at Camp Wildwood at the beach in San Diego. We hopped from La Jolla to moonlight beach.


It was pretty spectacular looking out at all the seals and the beautiful beach and water with all these lovely people next to us.

I so wish we had all of the moms from the trip in this picture! But this is 8 out of the 13.

Moonlight beach felt much colder, but that is where we decided to get into the water and play in the waves.

One of my favorite moments of the whole trip was playing in the water with Brinna and Perry and breathing in everything about the ocean. It was good for my soul.

Eric did document the fact that I ran all the way into the freezing cold water much deeper than I usually go.

My dip in the ocean friend! I’m sure glad I had someone to run out there with.

We played in the sand, games on the beach, and the teenagers went and got ice cream. The beach has never been my top place to play, but it has definitely grown on me and I think we all enjoyed the day.