Our Trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

If you know the Barrow family, you know that we LOVE to tell stories. Almost as much as we love to tell stories, we love to have the adventures that make up the stories we later tell. Well, here's another to add to the collection. . .

Aunt Charlene was having Todd and Sara and their two kids (Riley 3 and Tanner 10 months) over for Christmas so we all planned a trip on Saturday to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. They are trying to start a tradition of opening for the Christmas season and have a Christmas theme, like at Hershey, PA. I was excited to go. We packed up and our plan was to leave by 8am and get there around 10am and spend the morning and leave in the afternoon, before it got too cold. It took a while to get going and from what I hear, Charlene's house was a circus also so we didnt' leave until close to 9am. No worries, we were off and ready for a day of fun. We pull up to the park and no one is there. All of a sudden, we were the Griswolds pulling up to Wally World and it's closed. There is a sign telling us that the park is opened that EVENING from 4-10pm! What on earth are we going to do with 2 babies and a 3 year old for six hours?!

We decided that the Jelly Belly factory was nearby so we took the tour there. It was pretty lame because it was a Saturday and no one was working the factory. We lined up to look at a bunch of still machinery. Oooooh ahhhhh!


After the factory, we went to grab lunch. It took quite a while to decide what to have and where to go, and getting lost by taking the wrong exit didn't help. Finally, after an hour, we stopped at McDonalds. I go to get my wallet out and it's not there. Oh no. I got such a pit in my stomach. I have everything in that wallet: ID, military ID, bank card, credit card, temple recommend, insurance cards, and other vitals that make modern life possible. I tried calling over there but their phones were only running an automated message about their hours and tour information. I grabbed my mom's keys and said, "You all eat, I'm going back to Jelly Belly." I raced back to the factory, a 10 minute drive, and drove up to the door (I didn't have time to park in the parking lot) and ran up to the information desk. I told the lady there my problem. The lady was very nice and asked my name and handed back my wallet (with everything in it!). I was so grateful for honest people. Disaster averted.
After meeting up with the group we went to the Nut Tree Family Park in Vacaville. There was a carousel and some carnival rides. It was $3.50 a ride so forget it! I took William to the *free* Rocking Horse Corral and he had a big time. Until he slid off the side. I had his arm, but he twisted around the front and bumped his head. He bit his lip and there was blood gushing from his mouth. Poor guy. We went to the bathroom and cleaned him up. He was done. He fell asleep in the stroller soon after. After killing time for a couple of hours, we headed off to Discovery Kingdom. It was all lit up and the Looney Toon Characters were dressed in Santa hats and scarves. We spent most of the time in the kid park. William got to ride the tea cups, the submarine ride, the carousel, and the hot air balloons. He loved the rides. I loved getting him all bundled up, especially his hat! We played until about 8pm then there were tired kids ready to go home and their babies as well! William and I fell asleep in the car and my mom drove us home.
So that was my adventure. Like I said, it was fun, but not quite as fun as it will be retelling it with the whole family sitting around to listen to my adventures. Merry Christmas!