One on One: Boysenberry Milkshake

I have a special trip planned for Thatkid and myself coming up next month.  It involves an airplane ride across the country, a hotel stay, and doing a bunch of fun things he really is looking forward to.  And I felt a little bad about it.  I'm overly sensitive to sibling dynamics, and while there are a ton of benefits to being an older child, they shouldn't get all the fun.

So I planned a special weekend for Thatbaby and I too. It didn't include an airplane ride across the country, because I'm not crazy, but t did involve a very special hotel stay and a bunch of fun things.  We did a little drive to Knotts Berry Farm!

We left pretty early in the morning and managed to miss all the traffic, so I was surprised when we checked in that our room was ready.  I finished up at the front desk, while Thatbaby impatiently whined and pulled, begging me to finish up because right across the lobby, someone was waiting to say hello.

He was SO excited to see Snoopy.  Which was a big part of this trip.  In fact, I booked us the super special Camp Snoopy room!

It came with that stuffed Snoopy, which of course HAD to go to the park with us.  They were inseparable.

We walked over to Knotts Berry Farm and made a beeline to Camp Snoopy - the children's area of the park. A familiar friend greeted us.  And despite having seen him only moments before, he had to go say hi again.

And then it was time for the rides!  The great thing about Camp Snoopy is that all the rides are really geared for the smaller audience who usually gets overlooked.  Nothing was too scary for Thatbaby.

And he adorably buckled in Snoopy beside him on all the rides.

We stopped for a little lunch, where he convinced me he needed a giant cup of strawberries.  And over the course of the day he ate all but two of them!

After lunch we had time for a few more rides.  Including a horse drawn buggy and a train ride around the park.

They did a mock hold-up of the train, which Thatbaby did NOT appreciate.

Because Knotts Scary Farm had begun, I ushered him out of there a little early, so we didn't run into anything scary on our way out.  And I ushered him right over to Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner restaurant.

The little guy was pretty happy with his jello appetizer, biscuits and jelly.

Although as he licked all the butter and jelly off his biscuit then asked for more butter, I had my own little appetizer.

It was a busy night, and dinner took hours.  We were both pretty tired from our long day - especially since Thatbaby didn't get his typical afternoon nap.  We headed back to the hotel and I ran him a nice, warm, bubble bath.   He had interrupted my nice, warm, bubble bath a couple weeks back and expressed interest in the face mask I was wearing at the time, so I picked up a hydrating jelly mask for him.  He was so happy about it.

After bath I whipped out some new Snoopy pajamas for him, which was greeted with equal enthusiasm.  And then we curled up on the bed together and watched a little television while waiting for a special friend to drop in.

Having Snoopy tuck him in was an awe-inspiring moment for him.  He made me show him the video a couple more times before tucking in to bed.  

The next morning, we hit up the hotel pool.  They have their own little splash pad which made this trip over the top for Thatkid.

After the pool we got cleaned up and headed to meet up with a friend before going home.  It was a pretty epic weekend.  And Thatbaby had a wonderful time.  His one request for the weekend was that he wanted a milkshake - because Thatkid had preemptively bragged about the one he was getting on his trip.  And so I found one for Thatbaby.

Knotts Berry Farm is known for their boysenberries.  In the late 1920s, Walter Knott, who was a berry expert, was the first to commercially cultivate the berry.  He began selling them from his farm stand, which eventually grew into Knott's Berry Farm.    His wife, Mrs. Knotts, began making preserves out of the berries, which made Knott's famous.  

Now boysenberries are all over Knott's Berry Farm.  The barbecue sauce is made with boysenberries. The salad dressing is made with boysenberries. The churros are stuffed with boysenberry syrup.  That beer I was drinking?  Boysenberry beer.   So naturally, Thatbaby found himself with a boysenberry milkshake.

And the great thing about Knott's Berry Farm, is that you can take some of that boysenberry home with you.  Which I did.  In syrup form so I could make milkshakes for the rest of the family!

Boysenberry Milkshake

1/4 cup boysenberry syrup

1 cup vanilla ice cream, softened

2 Tbsp whole milk

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender. 
2. Pour into a glass and serve!