Living An Intentional Life
I have fallen behind in blogging, yet again! Last month I won two sets of tickets to Veggie Tales Live!, so we invited my sister and her family. The performance was at The City Grove in Anaheim. I had never been to the venue, and it did not seem well-suited to a children’s performance. The seats are not sloped in the front and middle sections, so it was almost impossible for the kids to see the stage. My kids did enjoy it still, however. They were singing “Pizza Angel” for a couple of days!
I was fortunate to win tickets to the Christmas train at Irvine Park. We have been to the park several times, but have never done the Christmas activities. 
First family selfie! (D and I now have iPhones, but that is the subject for a different post.) 
The park was glittering with lights! 
We caught a glimpse of Santa, who was at the midway stop along the the train ride. 
The light tunnel is the highlight of the ride. 
We were given activity tickets, so the kids tried their hand at “ice fishing”. They each won a small stuffed elf (given to everyone who tried). 
They also used tickets to decorate cookies. The sign said “These cookies have come in contact with peanuts…”, which is a little disconcerting as a parent of kids with nut allergies. However, I’m pretty sure they were just trying to waive all possible liability. 
Overall, it was a fun evening. I am glad I won the tickets, though, since the prices are pretty steep! ($12 per train ticket, $5 per activity ticket).
Last weekend we went to Dana Point to see its new holiday light show, Illuminocean.
We thought we would have to park at Doheney Beach, but we ended up being able to park for free in the parking lot by Harpoon Henry’s, just off of Golden Lantern. We were greeted by this lit up crustacean, “Sandy Claws”.
The shops have special glasses that they will give out for free (1 per child, 1 per two adults). The glasses make the lights appear somewhat 3D, which is pretty cool. We obtained ours from the coffee/ice cream shop at the bottom of the stairs. 
It was a little chilly, but it was nice to walk along the harbor and breathe in the cool night air. Some of the boats were decorated too. 
This event was fun and unique. We’ll probably visit again in a few more years, since they are planning to improve it to make it even better.
We went to Raging Waters last Saturday, on the second to the last day of the 2014 season. Since cameras and water do not mix, I decided to leave the camera at home. (Thus, the picture-less post). D is a big waterpark fan. We have watched Xtreme Waterparks–his ultimate dream would be to visit Schlitterbahn. Raging Waters is the largest waterpark in California, yet neither of us had been. The impetus for our trip was free tickets courtesy of the OC Register. Actually, we only had two free tickets, so we had to purchase tickets for the kids. I bought those through Goldstar, and printed them out at home.
Even with the two free tickets, it was still an expensive day. We arrived just as it opened, so only the $20 parking lot was open (there is also a $15 lot, which requires a tram ride). We also had to pay $12 for a small locker, mainly to store our wallets/keys. At least we were able to save money by bringing our lunch and eating it in the car. The warm car was actually a welcome respite from the somewhat cool weather that day.
The kids’ favorite ride was Thunder Rapids. We also rode Neptune’s Fury, which was a dark tunnel ride. We also spent a lot of time in the lazy river and wave pool. Hard to believe that our last waterpark trip was when k was 5 and n was 3!
I signed up for a free Indian cooking class in Irvine last Saturday. We do not eat Indian food too much, although D and I enjoy it. The kids liked the chicken curry, but the rice had cashews, so we had to be careful. It is always fun to watch other people cook, but this session was a little long, since everything was made in “real time”. Even though the class was not geared towards kids, I think it was good to expand their culinary horizons. 
She taught us about spices, including Indian gunpowder, which I had never heard of before. We were able to take some spices home.
When I found out that I had won tickets to see the Fresh Beat Band, I thought it would be nice for k and n to watch the show so they would be familiar with the music/personalities when they watched them live. The Nickelodeon show is on Amazon Prime, so they were able to watch a handful of episodes. I watched a couple with them. The acting/storyline is incredibly cheesy, but the music can be catchy, and it is “wholesome” entertainment. There were parts that made the kids giggle so much I could not believe it.
Thankfully, the show started at a family-friendly time of 7 p.m. and ended around 8:15 p.m.
The guy waving, I think his name is “Twist”, or maybe it is “Shout” (I always get those two names confused) is different than the first season. However, I believe the rest of the characters were the same. They sang some songs that the kids knew, including their favorite, “Loco Legs”. Our seats were decent, not great. I was grateful that we were in the shade the whole time, though (pick seats on the right, facing the stage, if you have a choice). There were a lot of screaming pre-tween girls.
During the previews at the concert, I saw an ad that said our concert tickets entitled us to a free ride on La Grande Wheel, which is the big ferris wheel. So, after the concert we made a beeline for the ferris wheel, which unfortunately is at the other end of the fair. (The smart advertising people probably think that by making you walk across the entire fairgrounds, you’re bound to spend more money. We out-smarted them, however, and just went straight home right after!) Savings: $24!
View from the top. The fair looks so different at night. We were even able to catch some fireworks while we were riding, which was cool.
On Saturday afternoon we went to our second Fish Fest concert. The last time we went was three years ago. Looking back, I wonder what we were thinking bringing a two year old and a four year old. Last time we sat in the lawn area. This time we were in the Terrace, which is the section just in front of the lawn (the tickets are the same price). I think I liked having seats better, although it really is just luck as to who you are sitting next to. n ended up on my lap most of the time, so we were able to have an extra seat “space cushion”, if you will.
One big improvement was that Verizon Amphitheater now allows you to bring a 1 gallon plastic bag with food per person, and 1 sealed plastic water bottle (20 oz. or less). This saved us a bunch of money, as we were able to bring dinner (sandwiches) and snacks. We saw a lot of people upset about their blanket policy, however. The security guards were saying the blankets had to be less than 4 feet by 4 feet, which is not stated on the website. Not many blankets are this size, aside from baby blankets, but it is a good rule to keep in mind if we go again.
I will also note that when I saw D put a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt into the car, I made fun of him. However, when we arrived, I realized we had forgotten k’s sweatshirt. I let k borrow my sweatshirt, so I had to take back what I said when D was able to lend me his shirt to wear at night.
As for the show, here are my opinions of the various performances:
Dara Maclean–not really familiar with her. Her voice seemed “off”, not sure what was going on there. Her songs were pretty good, though.
Jonathan Maclean—American sounding guy who claims he is from Sweden. Nice keyboard playing and voice.
Plumb—Wow…they really “pumped up the volume”, and not in a good way. I seriously thought I was going to go deaf. I had to cover n’s delicate ears. I had forgotten about their song called “Stranded”, which I used to like back in the day. The lead’s performance was quite dramatic and engaging.
Graham Saber—Introduced a little hip hop flavor into Fish Fest, which I enjoyed. A little cheesy, and a couple of the lyrics did not seem too “family-friendly” to me.
Tenth Avenue North—They sang a lot of familiar songs, and the lead singer is quite the talker. I was thankful that they were not over-the-top loud in volume even though they had the full band.
Jeremy Camp—My favorite of the night! His set was worth the ticket price alone, in my opinion. He has so many good songs, at the end I was wondering “Why don’t I have any of his CDs?” (I promptly added them to my Amazon wish list). I must admit, I have become a *little* obsessed. I’m planning on checking out his autobiography from the library. His faith in God is very evident and inspiring, and he got quite emotional on stage, remembering his first wife (who died of cancer four months after they got married).
Mercy Me—We made it through the first three songs, and decided to go home since it was getting quite late. They have a lot of energy, but I have never been too into their songs. **(EDIT)** [D would like me to revise this statement and go on record to say that Mercy Me actually does have quite a few songs that we like; I just did not realize they were sung by Mercy Me.] It ended up being a good thing that they were the last act, in that we did not feel bad leaving early and avoiding being stuck in traffic trying to get out of the parking lot.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Rob Wagman, one of the Fish DJs did a little stand up comedy routine that had D chuckling louder than I have heard him laugh in a long time. Although this particular DJ is not my favorite on air personality, I must admit he was pretty funny.
The next day, k said that “The concert was more fun than I thought it would be.” I’m not sure if that just means she had really low expectations, but I am glad that she enjoyed it too.
Just when I thought I had my last visit to Tanaka Farms (at least for a while), k was invited to a classmate’s birthday party there. I would have had D bring her, since I’ve gone way more times than him, but he was scheduled to take to her to an Angels game that night. Going on a Saturday was actually way less chaotic than going on a weekday, when all of the school groups go. The tour was pretty much the same, but we were able to try some corn, straight off the cob, that was really sweet and juicy. I think that was a first.
All of the tour guides we have had have been very good, and this guy was no exception.
I thought it would be a little late in the season, but there were still a lot of ripe strawberries in the field.
Those are some gigantic sunflowers!
I’m always amazed when parents invite their kid’s whole class to their party. The birthday boy is on the very left.
After lunch, we fought some mid-day L.A. traffic to go to the Getty Center. We tried to excite the kids by telling them about the tram ride that you take from the parking lot to the museum.
Looks like they’re having fun.
Since we arrived mid-day, there were no iPods to check out, much to the disappointment of k and n.
I think the garden may be my favorite part of the museum. It was also nice to experience more mild weather after our epically hot weather the week before.
It was pretty crowded, as you can see…
These ladybug-like flowers caught our eye.
This is what we looked/felt like by the end of our day. We only made it through two of the four wings. Going to both the Villa and the Center in one day is a lot, especially with young kids. On the tram ride home, the pre-recorded narrator said something like “we hope that you are leaving the Getty Center recharged”. Drained would have probably been a better word, especially after D valiantly drove us home in more traffic. D and I decided we should return every five years with the kids, which would mean two more times before k graduates from high school. It will be interesting to see how their perspectives/experiences change.
Going to the Getty Villa has been on our “to-do” list for a while. Neither D nor I had ever been, although we had visited the Getty Center pre-kids. Since they offer a deal where you can park at the Villa for $15 and park at the Getty Center for free if you visit the same day, we ambitiously decided to visit both.
There was some sort of Corvette convention in the parking lot. 
We checked out iPod Touches for a free audio tour. This was a big hit with the kids.
We briefly visited the “Family Forum”, which had some activities for the kids. n’s shadow cracks me up.
Of course, D had to get in on the action too.
The grounds were beautiful and there was a lot of Greek art and architecture.
For lunch we ate at Bay Cities Italian Deli in Santa Monica. We ordered one Eggplant Parmesan and one Godmother sandwich.
The bread was super yum—loved the bubbly crust. The ordering system is kind of confusing. Someone pointed D to the pre-made Godmother sandwiches in the back, which saved him waiting in a take-a-number line. I had to wait for the eggplant sandwich in a separate line by the door, though. A bit chaotic, but worth it, and we even found a shady table in front. Two sandwiches were definitely enough for this family.