Menifee and Surprise Company!
Finally, we made it to the post about the big surprise! Where to start? Well, unbeknownst to my children, I had been keeping a secret from them. Months ago, Cindy and I decided to surprise all the kids by having Maddie and Trent come for a visit with she and Ron, at the same time that we would be visiting the area. We planned adventures and activities and hoped that we wouldn't slip and say something that would alert them to our plotting.
We didn't know if we could pull it off, though, because the kids talk on Skype all the time. And they aren't little kids anymore, so we both kind of thought that someone was going to put two-and-two together as the time drew nearer.
Finally, we made it to the day before they arrived. I did it! I kept the secret! I didn't slip up and say anything and nobody figured it out! And the wait to see Maddie and Trent was nearly over!
I was congratulating myself on being so slick and thinking of how excited the kids would be when they were reunited after a year apart. I went out into the living room and sat down on the couch, next to Jordan. Just then, she let out the loudest gasp and looked at me with a shocked expression on her face. I saw that she had her laptop in her hands and thought, "Oh no!!!" She squealed, "Maddie?!? And Trent?!?" You see, Maddie had written her to say that she was flying down to visit her grandparents. So Jordan connected the dots and figured it out. I tried to shush her so Jackson wouldn't hear, but that was fruitless. The cat was out of the bag! So close! Haha.
So my kids found out about the super secret surprise the day before it was to take place. BUT! Maddie and Trent still didn't know! So the next morning, we grabbed some donuts from a popular shop here called Wongz (So good!), and headed over to Ron and Cindy's house. The kids were sleeping when we arrived, so my kids got to wake them up. It was a great surprise!
Then we all had breakfast together! Cindy and I sang to them, "Reunited and it feels so good!" I wanted to hug those kids all day! They've both changed so much in the last year.
After breakfast, we decided to go for a hike. We didn't have any big plans for that first day and I was thinking that they would be tired from their day of travel, so we took it easy.
We drove out to the Santa Rosa Plateau, found a trailhead, and hiked in. I hadn't done any research about this location, so we picked a trail at random.
Seeing them all together makes me so happy. I can't believe how much they've grown! Seems like only yesterday they were little kids. Like,
So anyway, we hiked up and down and around the plateau. It was a nice, easy walk with lots of interesting rocks and flowers. Here are a few pics that I took:
After our hike, we decided to go for a swim at our campground. Then we had pizza and watched a movie. My kids were so happy after that first day with the Powers kids.
The next big outing that we did was to Knott's Berry Farm. We had never been to this park and I wasn't expecting a lot. I just didn't think it was going to be as good as the Six Flags parks we have visited. I was wrong! It was great! I actually appreciated that the footprint of the park is smaller, and they had a little bit of everything--from mild to wild!
The above pic is the boys waiting for their turn on the log ride. I didn't want to bring my nice camera, so had to make do with my old iPhone. Jeff keeps telling me that I need to upgrade so I'll have a nicer camera in my phone, but I must stand tall on my soap box and continue to fight with my refusal to ride on the consumerist crazy train that the cell phone industry has us on, making us think we need to keep up with the newest models. 😆
I guess that also means I will have poor quality pictures when I don't want to bring my Nikon. Hmph. Well, here they are, anyway:
We rode maybe six big rollercoasters, two water rides (many times!), one spinny ride, the ferris wheel, and the bumper cars (many, MANY times!) The kids kept Cindy and I hopping from one ride to the next!
Actors performing a skit. They popped up right in front of us and kind of held us hostage with their show. We were just trying to get around them, to get to a ride!
I don't know why. I guess this is what you have to do when you see a coffin propped up against a wall?
Trent, Jordan, and Jackson could not be stopped on the bumper cars! I don't even know how many times they went through and did them. Lots of fun!
In the last hour, we all wanted to hurry and get to as many rides as possible. So we decided to pair off so that each person could do more of the thing they loved best. Jordan and Trent opted to do the water rides while Maddie and I did a few more coasters. Jackson split his time right down the middle, doing one of the crazy coasters and then riding with Jordy and Trent the rest of the time. Megan happily hung out with Cindy, which makes me smile because that might sound sad but she really was doing the thing that made her happiest: visiting with Cindy! She's not a thrill ride kinda' girl and she had been such a good sport all day, riding along with us.
Finish 'er off with a cotton candy run and I say that makes for a pretty fantastic day! The kids said that they want to come back down next winter and get season passes to Knott's.
Kind of a cool thing, my great grandparents used to work at Knott's Berry Farm, back in the early days. I'm not sure what position my great-grandpa had, but my grandma started as a berry picker and later moved on to become the head baker in the bakery. There, she became good friends with Mrs. Knott, who she always referred to as "Cordie." I remember her telling me that every so often, Cordie would come in and say, "Helen, let's go get a permanent." And they'd go off in the middle of the day, to get their hair permed. (Mrs. Knott paid the $3.00 fee for both of them.)
As a child, I had the impression that the Knott's were these benevolent benefactors who loved to spoil their employees with gifts. I don't know how accurate that is, but that's the impression my great-grandma gave me. Every time I see the Knott's Berry Farm logo, I think of my grandma.
The park we stayed at was called Wilderness Lakes, in Menifee. We really enjoyed this park! It was great for my walks, great pool, cell service and wifi, and there is a lot of wildlife to enjoy. The only negative to this park is that they are pretty mistrusting of all children. I think maybe they've had trouble with kids not respecting the property, so now they are ultra-cautious and have a lot of rules.
Example: when we went to check out pool cues and balls, the woman handed us one cue. When I asked for another, she said, "We only give out one per group. That way they're less tempted to bang them together. Just share the one. Sharing is caring!" I was like, "Uh, okay?" I was there with the kids, so it isn't like they were unsupervised. I guess that's just the way it is at this park.
The first week we arrived, we walked around and saw four nests of goose eggs. The next week, one of the nests hatched. The third week, four other nests hatched, including one clutch of a dozen chicks! If we did our math correctly, that added up to twenty-six little babies running around with their parents. We really enjoyed watching them go from brand new babies, to just a few weeks later seeing them figuring things out.
So, the kids wanted to watch this scary movie called, "A Quiet Place." I'm sure you've heard of it because it seems like advertisements are running around the clock for this movie. I typically don't like thrillers, but since this was the "make all the kids' dreams come true" visit, we did it. Basically, I hid behind my jacket for two hours and I think even stuffed a sleeve in my mouth at one point because I was nervous that I'd be startled and let out a yelp and embarrass myself. Good times.
Lotsa' Bananagrams happened. I did not win and I don't know how the kids have gotten so quick in such a short time. This is what they tell you about, right? When the parents begin getting slower as the kids are growing in strength and stealth? I guess I'd better ease back with my trash talking game, huh?
Ron took the kids over to the catch-and-release pond one day. It was perfect weather and we had fun. Maddie and Trent had already gone over once, so they gave Jackson some pointers since it was his first time fishing.
They must have instructed him well, because he caught his first fish pretty quickly!
I love this photo above. One day when we were first talking about this surprise visit, Jeff and I laughed about how they'd probably make it a few hours before Jordan and Trent were ribbing one another. I told Jeff, "I wonder how long it'll be before we hear Jordan holler, 'Trenton Michael!'"
Well, this is where it happened! Trent was egging her on or messing with her in some way and she decided she'd had enough, so she took off after him! I told Cindy, "Now it feels like old times!" Haha. They are great pals and have a really fun friendship.
Speaking of great pals! And...
...the greatest gals.
I told Cindy that's quite the motley crew for the Neighborhood Watch!
They had a sleepover one night and Cindy let them all take turns driving her around in the golf cart. Jordan came home and said she was ready for her driver's test!
More of the geese. I tell you, they were captivating!
The last outing we did was to go roller skating. My girls had never been, but they gave it their best effort. By the end of the session, they were able to make it all the way around the rink. Jordan told me that she wants to continue to go skating as we travel to different places, so I guess that means she had fun! I forgot my camera for this trip, but Cindy sent me this photo from her phone.
The morning they were flying home, we went over to say goodbye. Ugh and bleck and all the big sad feelings. It was a rough day. We miss them so much already. I'm so thankful that Matt and Anna let the kids come down for this fun trip! Now we're all ready to head back to Oregon to recuperate, repair, restock, and reload.
After the Powers' went home, we did one other outing in this area. It was to another ASTC Passport museum, The Western Science Center. This one was unique because it's part of a prep school! When we showed up, we were confused because there were crowds of kids outside, obviously on their lunch break. Inside, the receptionist explained that the museum is surrounded by the school. It's a 6th-12th grade school that focuses on math, science, and technology. What a cool environment to learn in!
The museum focuses on archaeology and paleontology. It was smallish but very nice and with some artifacts we have never seen. There was also a volunteer there, who took the kids around and told them additional information.
This is a worthwhile stop if you have an ASTC membership!
So that's it for our stay in Menifee! We had a blast! Next up, we traveled 6 hours north, to another Six Flags. This week, we are riding rollercoasters and getting soaked in the water rides. I don't know if I'll do a blog post for this stop, since we really only came here to go to Six Flags and aren't planning to do anything else. After this stop, we're pushing through to Oregon! Looking forward to seeing many of our family and friends after being gone for so long!
Until next time!
This weird jackfruit video keeps showing up on my Facebook feed and I cannot stop watching it. Every time it comes up, I watch the video all the way through. Fascinating fruit! We saw these at the grocery store and I had to take a pic for Jeff because he's never seen them at the store.
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