Day 3 of our summer vacation found us at Gilroy Gardens. It's a lovely little family theme park in Gilroy, California (the garlic capital of the world, in case you didn't know). We bought discount tickets at the local Costco. Two tickets for the price of one! That made it even more lovely.
The kids and I started the day with a spin in a giant garlic bulb. Dan sat this one out since he doesn't do spinny rides. We had a blast. I tried to spin that thing pretty fast and the kids just laughed and enjoyed it. Cate closed her eyes for part of it. That's acceptable as long as she's not flat out too scared to ride. That's not acceptable. No scaredy cats in this family.
I look like a goofball in this next picture but it's a good shot of the entire bulb.
The kids wanted to ride the paddle boats next so we did. I rode with Cate and Dan took Danny. Let me just say that I will never ever in my life go on a paddle boat with a small child again. Never never ever. She couldn't reach the paddles. I spent the entire time pretty much going backwards and in circles. It was horrible. Plus I was worried that she'd fall out since I love worrying about things. Zero fun.
Our giant duck boat never made it to the waterfall. That was the goal apparently. Get to the waterfall and then come back in five to seven minutes. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha. I somehow managed to paddle us back to the dock after about four minutes of aimlessly floating, only to not actually dock where I intended to and bonked right in the middle of two docking stations instead. I asked the worker if that was close enough. He smiled and guided our ducky the rest of the way.
He helped us out and I said, "That was hideous." You know what he said? "Was it ok for you then?" So I said, "No, it was hideous." I wasn't even joking. I'm sure he could tell from watching us float around backwards in circles that it wasn't very fun for me. What part of "it was hideous" did he misinterpret?
Horrible. Never again.
Dan had a blast on the big artichoke ride. Or maybe he was about to lose his lunch. I don't know. He was a good sport.
Cate loved it, as evidenced by her signature foxy model smile.
I rode the cars with Danny. That was fun until he figured out that he wasn't actually steering. He played along for kicks but the magic was gone.
I had a few visions of holy crap, I'm going to be teaching my kid how to drive in 10 years flashing across my mind.
I think Dan might have been feeling the same way. Either that or he was carsick.
The lines were nice and short so we had several chances to get off the roller coasters and then right back on. Cate loved it and Danny did too. It was like a dream come true. Dan and I both love roller coasters. We finally have kids big enough to ride them with us and they love it. I couldn't be happier.
We headed over to watch a little song and dance show after a while. The special guest was Wubbzy. The kids pretty much had no interest in dancing with Wubbzy or showing any excitement about the music. Dan, on the other hand...
More roller coaster riding after the show. Cate kept begging to go on the ride again and again so of course we did our best to appease her.
Then the carousel. This is the point where I could actually see Cate hit the wall. You know the wall. That place where her body language says I'M DONE. See the look on her face. Bless her little heart.
We went on the strawberry ride anyway and probably shouldn't have. She said her tummy hurt and then kept making coughing sounds. I figured she'd probably puke at some point but she held off.
Cate and I headed to the entrance to wait while Dan took Danny on the roller coaster one more time. Cate was big time done so we just rested on a bench. Lucky for us we had a perfect view of Gil, the dancing garlic dude and the 15 minute dance party with his awesome singing and dancing friends. Ha. Cate refused to get in line to have a picture taken with him though. That goes along with the part about her being DONE.
Dan and Danny got back just as the park was closing. It's open from 11-5 which seemed to be just about the right amount of time for our little family. It was a great day.
Except for the part when we lost Danny in the rock maze. That was just about as hideous as the paddle boat experience.
Our good friend Gil made it home with us. I think everyone needs a stuffed garlic dude.
Our good friend Gil made it home with us. I think everyone needs a stuffed garlic dude.
We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant with our good friend, Eve. It was yummy. Good ending to a great day. Check out my fortune.
Awesome.
