Red Knight's Going Down, Down, Down, Down.

This weekend we went on a mini-vacation.  Right now -- and for the past year -- I'm busy with work, and cannot take time off for a more prolonged vacation.  Thus, we have found ourselves taking mini, weekend vacations (e.g., San Diego, San Francisco, Monterrey).  This past weekend we had a wonderful mini-vacation to Buena Park, Anaheim, and Whittier.  Our mini-vacation started on Saturday, February 19, 2011, at the Simi Valley Mormon church, where the Santa Susana First Ward's men's basketball team defeated the Simi Valley Fifth Ward by thirty-seven points.

After that, we braved terrible Los Angeles traffic and went to Medieval Times in Buena Park.  Because it was supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday, we thought it would be best to do something fun inside -- plus, for some reason I had never gone to Medieval Times.  I loved Medieval Times; I think the kids enjoyed it as well.  I cannot believe it took me so long to see the show.  I mean heraldry, knights, castles, wenches, chivalry, and jousting, it is right up my alley.  I almost cried when the knights entered the arena displaying their colorful banners.  Our knight was the red and yellow knight, and was killed by the white and black knight in the first round.  As most people know, I'm a pretty frugal person, and do not like to spend money, but I was enticed by the sword and shield sword store.  I wasn't going to buy anything until the clerk showed me the Don Quixote sword (see pictures below) with scenes from the book engraved on the hilt of sword.  I couldn't resist.  And then the clerk told me that if you buy a sword, you get a shield for half off, so it made sense to buy a something practical like an El Cid shield.  In summary, I need to stay away from Medieval Times. 

After Medieval times we went to the Sheraton, which was right next to Disneyland -- I know it is cruel to be so close to Disneyland and not take the kids there.  The great part about the hotel visit was that it was free -- see, I told you I'm somewhat frugal.  Because I've been traveling so much, I've accumulated a couple of free hotel stays at various Sheraton and Westin hotels.  While at the hotel, we went swimming at night in the rain.  We crashed the jacuzzi party of some teachers who were attending a convention.  They didn't seem to mind, and we had a great time discussing education and the differences between Wyoming (where they were from) and California.  The kids did great at the hotel, except for Link who isn't used to sleeping in a bed.  We watched Megamind and then called it a night.

The following morning we went to Downtown Disney. Again a little cruel to walk through security to Disneyland and not go.  Surprisingly, the kids did not mind and did not even mention going to Disneyland.  This was probably because we let them buy a mountain of toys at the Wonderful World of Disney and the Lego store.  The ESPN zone was hosting a Nascar event for the Daytona 500, so Merrick got to see a lot of the cars that he loves -- especially the M&M car.  Because it was early, we were able to land a table at the exclusive Rain Forest Cafe.  None of us had ever eaten there, so it was novelty to eat next to an aquarium, experience rain storms, and watch elephants.

After Downtown Disney, we visited Stacy's sister in Whittier.  Now, it is back to reality with work and chores.  I'm flying back to Miami tomorrow, so it is going to be another long week.