A couple years back I started subscribing to the OC Register only on Sundays for two cents a year.  I thought that deal couldn’t be beat.  One day I answered the phone and someone from the Register asked if I would like to be upgraded to seven days a week, no charge.  It sounded too good to be true, and the person assured me that there were no strings.  A few weeks ago, I saw an ad in the paper that seven day subscribers can get free tickets to Angels’ baseball games.  Again, it sounded too good to be true, but I signed up.  So, this is how k and n were able to watch their first baseball game for $15 total (including $10 parking).  (There is a $5 service charge).

Looking at the seating chart, I was not sure which seats to pick (only certain ones are eligible, of course).  I ended up picking a row of just four seats in section 135.  I thought that would be good so we wouldn’t have to climb over people to go to the restroom, etc.  It was also ground level, so it would be fairly close to the action.

This is the section that fans hang out in before the game to catch practice balls and try to get autographs.  Not bad, right?  Except this was our view to the right:

Talk about obstructed view!  (To be fair, there was a warning when I picked the seats, but I thought it was going to be a measly pole, or something).  Basically, we could not see center field or left field.  We also could not see the water fountain, and one of the jumbotrons.  Lesson learned, I guess.  It turned out friends of ours were also there that night, so we ended up sitting with them for the last two innings.  (They had a much better view). 

Right in front of us was a family with two kids around k and n’s ages.  The kids turned around and started chatting up k and n.

The night we went there was a cow milking contest (in honor of some Dairy Association) and it was Big Bang Friday, so there was a fireworks show immediately after the game ended.  The fireworks were pretty spectacular.  We had a good viewing location right by the flag poles on the outer ramp.  During the finale, my entire field of vision was filled with the bright lights from the fireworks.  The kids really liked them too.  If we don’t end up seeing fireworks this year during 4th of July, I won’t even be sad, they were that good.  Oh, and the Angels lost to the Chicago White Sox, by the way.  It almost seemed like an afterthought, though, since this was just all about the “experience”.     

On Saturday we made a visit to the Tustin police station.  According to our blog, the last police open house went to was in Cypress, four years ago.  So, I guess this was n’s first police station visit.  I like that I am able to look up past things we’ve done through our blog.   

There were many similarities, including free hot dogs.  There were also free popsicles from a new business in town, Archie’s.  It is an ice cream store that is supposed to open next to Trader Joe’s next month.  They were also giving free ice cream bars at the library today for the summer reading program kickoff.  They’ve certainly been creating some goodwill in the community!

Even though D wasn’t too keen on the idea, we took a tour of the police station, just as in Cypress.  The factoid that stood out to me most was that the chief of police has his own bathroom connected to his office.  Impressive.

When I asked the kids what the favorite part of the day was they said it was the bounce house.

We’ll have to visit the fire station next.

There was a good turnout and we are very thankful for those who protect our community. 

I am happy to report that our camera has been fixed.  Having the Canon repair center located in Irvine is very handy.  Thanks to my Dad for telling us to look into our credit card’s extended warranty policy.

On Saturday we purchased an annual family pass to the Discovery Science Center.  What sold me is that it can be used for a number of other museums if you live more than 90 miles away.  Since we are planning to visit some in Northern California this year, the pass is definitely worth it.  There are different rotating exhibits throughout the year.  Right now, there is a Dora & Diego exhibit.

The kids had fun on the climbing walls.

The big kid had fun too:

D tried out the “bed of nails”.  He said it hurt his feet.

I liked how with the pass, you don’t feel bad not spending too much time in one visit.  We will definitely be back!

After church this morning we checked out the Bowers Kidseum. Today was a Target-sponsored free admission day (first Sunday of every month). Last time we went to the Bowers Museum we didn’t go to the Kidseum, so I wanted to see what it was all about.

The exhibits are designed to be very hands-on, which is good for kids, of course.

The museum is quite small, and I think we saw everything we wanted to see in literally less than 15 minutes. I would not recommend paying the separate $6 admission fee, but admission is free to those who have a ticket to the Bowers Museum. In that case, it is worth stopping by.

Since admission was free at the Bowers Museum today too, we checked out the new Sacred Gold exhibit.

Interesting tree outside.

In the courtyard, they were setting up for a Japanese Cherry Blossom festival. That would have been interesting to attend, but we were too early and didn’t feel like sticking around.

Happy National Sourdough Bread Day!

Last week, k and n had a big “first”: First movie in a movie theater. Mazda has a cross-promotion going on with The Lorax, so they reserved an entire theater at the Spectrum for Mazda employees the night before it was officially released.

The movie was in 3-D!

The kids stayed up for the whole movie, which was surprising since it started at 7 p.m. on a Thursday night (7 p.m. is usually their bedtime!) D was able to get tickets for my parents too, so that was nice. It was a cute movie, not sure exactly why it is rated PG (it’s supposed to be due to language). There were definitely a couple of parts that were a bit frightening for k and n, but nothing too bad. (I did have to cover their eyes during the previews, though). k does a hilarious imitation of the Lorax flying. I calculated that paying to see this movie would have cost us $60! That is crazy-town. When we see our next movie in the theater, it will probably be here.

For some reason, I think my first movie in the theater was a double feature of a re-release of Snow White and Tron. Is that not random? I looked up the years they were released to see if this is possible, and they were a year apart, so I’m not sure if I’m just imagining this. D can’t remember his. Out of curiosity, what was your first movie theater movie?

This morning we went to Chino Hills State Park. I caused a bit of a mix-up because I didn’t realize that the address listed as the entrance is not really family-accessible. D was able to ask some friendly walkers for directions, so we found our way to the entrance off of Carbon Canyon. There is a new Discovery Center which is a nice building, but not open to the public. (There are nice restroom facilities available, however). We had a sneak peak of the facility via a friendly park ranger who helped us plan our hike.

Someone still likes to be carried.

Some more pictures of locks for you, Erin. I’m not sure why, but rows of locks fascinate me. I think I’m going to start a flickr set!

I wonder if Taylor said “yes”?

We were headed back to the car when an exuberant dog ran up to k and n and pounced on them. They are not used to dogs, and it was quite frightening for them. They were in tears, and n was knocked over! Actually, it was scary for me too, since I wasn’t sure what the dog was going to do to them. The owner was quite apologetic, but I really wish she had kept him on a leash. Hopefully the kids are not scarred for life! Also, there were a lot of bicyclists on the trail, so we had to be on the lookout. I think we may have been better off at the adjacent Carbon Canyon Regional Park, which we passed by on our way to lunch.

Speaking of lunch, we ended up at a mini chain called Senor Baja. They are known for their fish tacos, and we could see why. At $1.89 each, they are reasonable, but on Wednesdays they are $1, which would be a real bargain! D said if there was one by his work, he would eat there every week. So, maybe it’s a good thing there is not one too close by. We also tried the carne asada taco, but the fish taco stole the show.