I don’t want to complain too much, since I know most of the country is freezing right now, but it was a bit too sunny for our Saturday morning outing to San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was just too hot for an enjoyable stroll.

However, we did see a bunny, several small lizards, and this little guy:

The best part was probably resting on a bench under the shade. n liked his snack:

There were a lot of ducks, but I expected to see more birds. Here is one unique one I spotted.

There was also a big one (sorry, don’t know my bird names) that swooped over our heads in a pretty dramatic fashion. Other than that, nothing too exciting. Maybe they are somewhere else for the winter.

It was an easy walk for kids (flat), but we’ll wait for a more overcast non-winter day to go again. At least parking is free (although limited)!

Our new goal is to visit all of Orange County’s Regional Parks. On Saturday we went to Mason Regional Park in Irvine, by UCI. It is not too big, but there are nice paths circling a lake, and a couple of play areas. We brought the scooter and balance bike for k and n to ride. k is still getting used to the bike, but both and she and n have become quite proficient on the scooter. n was going downhill pretty fast on some parts.

Turtle Rock–haha, some Irvine humor

Saturday morning we went to another Native Foods cooking demo. k was able to sit through the whole thing, but n needed to get his wiggles out.

On Monday of our Christmas break, we went to Adventure City, a small theme park geared towards little kids. Tickets are usually $14 per person (kids and adults), which is less than parking at Disneyland. Of course, it is a LOT smaller than Disneyland, but it is also a lot less crowded. We had a coupon from the Entertainment Book, so we decided to try it out. We were also able to get 3 free churros and hot chocolates by joining their e-club.

In all, we spent just over 3 hours at the park. For most of the rides there was no line. I think the longest line was about ten minutes. n was able to ride on most of the rides with us. There are two roller coasters. k went on the tamer one with me, but she didn’t want to go again, nor did she want to go on the scarier one. D and I rode it by ourselves, though, haha. The ride attendants were pretty friendly, too.

n’s favorite ride was the merry-go-ride. There was no line, so we went about five times throughout the day. k insisted on riding on the same horse everytime, though (black, with purple saddle).

k’s favorite ride was the School Bus. As you can see, D enjoyed it too. It made me a little nauseous.

This one made me even more sick! k cried the first time we went on this ride because she didn’t get to ride in the pink one. That was remedied the second time around.

Giggle Wheel

Giggling

Free Churros

Both k and n really liked this Rescue Ride, where they drove and the parents sat in back. I think this was my favorite of the day.

Afterward we went to one our old favorites from when we lived in the area, The Mad Greek. (Thanks Entertainment Book!) Still delicious as ever, and the portions actually seemed to be bigger to me, though I am not sure if I just do not remember. There were a couple of shady characters that came in, but they took their food to go, so it was all good.