We had no school on Friday, and D took the day off of work, so we took a day trip to L.A. The plan was to use our free IMAX tickets at the California Science Center, but the projector was having technical difficulties. Fortunately, I had also made reservations at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, which is within walkable distance so our drive to Los Angeles was not all for naught.
I would recommend buying the tickets online before you arrive. Adults were $12 and kids were $5 with no service fee. At the door it appeared that they were charging $10 for kids.
Right at the entrance to the museum you are greeted by impressive dinosaur fossils.
The geodes and precious gems were fascinating to look at. Can you imagine stumbling upon one of these beauties?
This fish totally grossed me out. I guess someone found it in the LA River??
I had way too much fun taking pictures of the animal displays. So nice that they stand still for pictures! 🙂
I think we need to watch Night at the Museum now!
There was a whole exhibit dedicated to the history of Los Angeles.
They had a staring contest. The polar bear won.
k is getting close to 5 feet; n is on his tiptoes!
As you can tell, there was a lot too see. I will do part 2 tomorrow…
When Irvine Meadows shut down last year, it was questionable whether FishFest would stay in Orange County. They ended up holding a concert at the Honda Center, but we did not attend. However, when I heard they were having a Fish Family Night at the newly opened Five Point Amphitheatre at the Great Park in Irvine, I bought tickets. I was curious about the venue, AND Jeremy Camp was headlining, so that sealed the deal.
Friday night is not an ideal time for a concert. D had to stay at work a little late, so he ended up just meeting us at our seats. Good thing the parking was FREE! (I am sure this policy will not last long). We ran into a family from k’s basketball team so we hung out with them for a bit before the concert. The mom had to return to her car because blankets were not allowed, so take note. They did allow everyone to have a gallon ziploc bag with food and water, however.
We were in the back section all the way to the right of the stage.
This was only the second concert held at the amphitheatre. D says it is a temporary structure. Well, my main complaint is the lack of leg room. As you can see, we were quite cramped. If anyone in your row needed to leave, everyone had to stand up, and some people had to exit the row to let others pass. Also, because of the way the seats were connected, I could feel the constant jostling of the kids a few seats down from me. In was pretty bad, to the point where I felt some motion sickness!
The lineup was:
Royce Lovett–I had never heard of this artist. His music had some rap in it, reminiscent of Toby Mac. I felt kind of bad for him because the amphitheatre was quite sparse when he started his set. However, everyone needs to get their start somewhere, right?
Micah Tyler–I was looking forward to “Never Been a Moment”, one of my favorite songs currently being played on the Fish.
We Are Messengers–Never even realized that this band is Irish until I heard the lead singer talk. It is funny how people’s singing voices are different than their talking voices.
Big Daddy Weave–I always forget which songs Big Daddy Weave sings, but they have some good ones.
Jeremy Camp–My all time favorite Christian music artist. Yes, I even read his autobiography. He has quite a story to tell, and his performances are always dynamic.
n was pretty much asleep by the end. We left before Jeremy Camp’s last song, so exiting was not a problem once we found our car (there were no parking lot signs!) I am glad that 95.9 the Fish has found another home, at least for now.
D and I both celebrated birthdays last month, so I have now officially joined him in the 40’s club.
I had two Knott’s Berry Farm tickets that needed to be used before the end of the year, so we made it a birthday celebration and went last weekend.
Charlie Brown in a Frankenstein costume greeted us while we waited for the gates to open. k did not want to jump in for the photo opp–oh no, say it isn’t so!
Although fall is my favorite season, I am not too much into Halloween decor. Ghost Town had some creepy setups, but there were also trick or treat stations, so that was fun for the kids.
With n being over 48 inches now, a whole new range of rides became available to us. We rode Ghost Rider, Pony Express, Big Foot Rapids and Jaguar for the first time with the kids. In addition we went on Voyage of the Iron Reef, Coast Rider, Log Ride, Mine Ride, and Sidewinder. We tried to convince the kids to go on Montezuma’s Revenge, but they were not having it. I think they did not like the idea of going upside down. Next time!
We were able to practically walk on almost all of the rides except for the last one, Sidewinder (35 minute wait-time). We were ready to go home by noon!
On our way out of the park we stopped at the onsite Starbucks to try the Boysenberry Frappuccino. It did not have coffee like I thought, so the kids had some. It was more like an icy boysenberry smoothie.
Now that Porto’s is in Buena Park, it is a must stop if we are in the area. Lines were long, but not out the door.
This was my first time trying the Citrus Chicken Plate. This was SO good, and I would highly recommend it. The combination of flavors was spot on (I have been watching too much MasterChef with the kids!).
We brought our dessert home. Chocolate eclair for the kids and a special seasonal pumpkin eclair for me.
We have been to Tanaka Farms on numerous occasions, either in the spring for the strawberry tours or in the fall, for the pumpkin tours. I won tickets to the farm a while back, but I wanted to hold onto them until the summer so we could go on the watermelon tour for the first time.
D had been looking for a straw hat to wear for our housebuilding mission in Baja. When we were browsing the gift shop, they had a nice selection for a reasonable price. Sold!
While we were on the tractor tour, we tried many freshly picked vegetables, including sweet corn.
All of the tour guides have been friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. This one was no exception.
We stopped and sat under a tent to taste various melons. This yellow watermelon had a slight pineapple taste. It is not widely available because it is fragile and difficult to ship. n did not really care for it, but he is not a huge watermelon fan in general. The rest of us really enjoyed it, though. So refreshing!
At the end of the tour, we each went home with a watermelon. One boy kept dropping his. “Hold onto your watermelon!”
Contrary to all of my recent posts about Alaska, we did do other things during our summer vacation. I was able to obtain free tickets to the Marvel Universe Live show at Staples Center, so we went on a Sunday afternoon.
I was not sure what to expect. There was a loose plotline and lots of pretend fighting.
We have never watched Guardians of the Galaxy, so we were not too familiar with these characters.
The aerial acrobatics were pretty impressive.
I think n enjoyed the show the most, which is understandable since I am pretty sure he was the target audience. D and I realized how many superhero movies we have not seen in the past few years. We need to catch up!
The Broad museum is a fairly recent addition to the downtown Los Angeles art scene. The Broad (as in Eli Broad, rhymes with “road”) opened in 2015, and admission is free. However, reservations are recommended as the stand-by line looked pretty long. D and I downloaded the museum’s app and we did the kids’ walking tour narrated by LeVar Burton.
I liked this whimsical larger-than-life piece that greets you in the lobby.
Next we went up a long escalator to view the main floors of the museum.
You can not help but smile at the balloon sculptures by Jeff Koons.
Interesting, and somewhat creepy statue of Michael Jackson and his monkey.
This piece was massive and makes you think about everyday life as art.
On our way home we stopped by at the new Porto’s Bakery in Buena Park.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/dereklauren/A5624T
The ordering process is quite something
It is difficult to choose!
We ended up sharing a cubano, a medianoche, a guava roll, mango dessert, a potato ball and two other “balls”, but I cannot remember what they were called. They also gave us a guava cheese roll as a sample!
Earlier this month I won a blog contest where D and I were able to go to Knott’s Berry Farm before it opened. Susan G. Komen is partnering with Knott’s Berry Farm to “Scream for a Cure” for breast cancer.
There was a small group of cancer survivors and their families, along with Brenda Song (whom we did not know at the time). We were led to Supreme Scream where we were supposed to scream and let out all of our anxieties at the top.
You can very briefly see me in the pink shirt on the left in the beginning of the video. I did not realize that her connection to the cause is so personal until watching this.
There was a nice catered breakfast.
We had been on this ride before, and it is fun! I was glad there weren’t cameras filming our reactions, though.
We were also surprised to find out that we were able to stay in the park for the rest of the day. Our schedule was pretty packed, and my sister was watching the kids, so we just went on a few rides. We were able to go on Xcelerator, which is just right next to Supreme Scream. This was the one ride that D and I had never been on before. It was so nice to just walk on the ride. It was CRAZY fast–way scarier than Supreme Scream. I basically had a headache for the rest of the morning. We also went on Ghost Rider, which is always fun. It was a fun date morning!
On our last day we ate the free breakfast at the hotel again, with the same exact food. Before going home, we made one last stop at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This was a good stop for us because we were able to see some of the animals that the kids had learned about during the junior ranger program, but we never saw in the wild.
I’m glad we never came across this guy…
…or this guy!
There was a sign that each person could take one rock home, so they searched for the best one they could find.
Definitely try to come here early in the morning to avoid the crowds. It opened at 8:30 the day we were there. During the summer I think it opens even earlier because most people want to avoid the scorching sun. They even provide free sunscreen from dispensers in all of the restrooms. The weather was a little chilly for us in the morning, but pleasant by mid-morning.
I like how the animals are not in cages, so it feels more natural. It kind of reminded us of San Diego Safari Park, but smaller.
After hearing much about its distinctive smell, we finally saw a javelina.
The highlight was probably the Raptor Free Flight show.
You have to stand throughout the show, but the birds swoop right over you–pretty cool!
The space is not enclosed, but they keep the birds near with food.
I felt like there was more to explore, but we needed to get back on the road for our seven+ hour drive home. It was a short trip, but I feel like we packed a lot in. D and I have started talking about doing Utah next, since it has been five years since our last trip and the kids barely remember it!
Last month n’s cub scout den went on a behind-the-scenes tour of our local In-N-Out. k had missed this tour when her Girl Scout troop went, so it was nice that she was able to go too. I was also fortunate to be one of the chaperones this time, so I was able to take pictures, learn about the company, and eat!
We met before the restaurant opened, so we had the place to ourselves.
The Fry-O-Lator!
Each kid had a turn at the potato-cutting machine.
It was hard work!
Working the potato peeling machine.
I felt like they should provide some goggles, or something, to the woman who was hand-slicing the onions. She was really tearing up!
We learned some fun factoids. One was that many In-N-Outs have two crossed palm trees outside to symbolize the cross. I know we always look for the hidden Bible verse printed under the cups and fries.
Standing in line to order. Each person could order a hamburger or cheeseburger, fries and a drink!
