Yesterday we went to the OC Fair, mainly because I won tickets to see the Fresh Beat Band, which included free admission to the OC Fair.  Unfortunately, D was not able to take off of work early, so he met us there (he rode the OC Metrolink Express bus).  We went earlier in the afternoon because we wanted to take advantage of the $2 Taste deals they have at various booths on Fridays from 12-4 p.m.  I really liked this concept because it allowed us to try way more things without spending too much (food is really expensive at the fair!)

We started out with a semi-healthy choice: half a grilled corn on the cob.  n said he didn’t want it, but once he tried it, he liked it!  k has always been a corn on the cob girl.  We ordered it dipped in butter, and we sprayed some lemon juice on it and sprinkled on some parmesan cheese.  I think a full cob is usually $4.75, so the “taste” is not that great of a deal, but it did allow for us to just have a taste, which is the whole point.

We never pass up an opportunity to take a picture with cut-out faces…

…or with walking, bespectacled ice cream cones!

Next we had a “taste” of Tasti Chips, which are fresh fried potato chips.  I thought this was a nice portion size, and definitely worth $2.  We sprinkled some seasoned salt on these chips hot out of the fryer.  The kids were surprised the chips actually tasted like real potato—hah.

Look at k eyeing those Tasti Chips!

The kids filled out forms to show they read two books in order to receive three free ride tickets each.  This is a really good deal, since each ride usually costs between $3-$6 per rider.  We redeemed the first three tickets by riding the sky ride that stretches across the fair high above the treetops.  The kids were pretty scared on this ride (the minimum age is 5, so n just made it).  Savings: $12.

I was so afraid n’s flip flops would fall off!

These stilt-walker guys were kind of scary.

Next up—two deep fried Oreos from Chicken Charlie’s.  These were surprisingly good.  The Oreo gets soft and cakey and the batter tastes like a donut.  I thought $2 was a fair price for these and two between the three of us was enough to satisfy my curiosity.

We also had a taste of two drinks: mini lemonade slushie and mini orange julius.  The orange julius is the better choice.  It was a little larger than the tiny lemonade slushie, and had more of an icy consistency.  The lemonade slushie turned into lemonade after about 1.5 minutes.  The guy ahead of me ordered two tastes of orange julius, but for that price you should probably just order a regular size for about 75 cents more!

By this time, we were trying to beat the clock as it was nearing 4 p.m.  I wanted to eat something more substantial so we would have to eat less for dinner.  We went with 1/2 of a “mile-long” hot dog.  The picture showed a hot dog extending far beyond the bun, but our half was just as long as the bun.  The half ended up being the size of a regular hot dog, if not a little smaller, since it was skinny.  However, this was a decent deal, since the full size was something like $6.50!  The bun was also a step us from cheap hot dog buns from the grocery store.  The kids surprised me by letting me add some finely chopped onion at the condiment stand. 

Our final taste of the night was six piping hot mini cinnamon sugar donuts.  I also thought this was a nice deal, since I would not have wanted to order a baker’s dozen (which is a reasonable $5).

Next, we visited the animals.

It was pretty warm, but there was a breeze.

After D came, he bought a slice of pizza and we caught some of the Chinese acrobat act.

Then we used our other ride tickets on the dragon ride (think Teacups).  Savings: $9.

Despite our snacking we still needed something for dinner.  Looking for some non-fried food, we opted for this teriyaki chicken bowl for $8.  Too bad there was not a chicken-veggie option.  It was passable, (Flame Broiler is way better), but it was a good amount and enough to satiate our appetites before the concert. 

Well, we made it through four days of Girl Scout Camp.  Since I was volunteering, n was able to attend as well.  It was hot, and tiring, but also fun at the same time.  The theme for the camp was musical theater.  Our unit was called “Music Man”, and now I want to go watch some musical movies.

The girl with the green face had makeup applied as part of the theater makeup demonstration.

n and his boys’ unit.  I was not too sure how he would do with all of those older boys, but he was fine.  His camp name was “Hoopster”.  He really hit it off with “Captain’s” son, who was nine years old.

I really wanted to know what they were talking about. 

This song leader amazed me.  I do not understand how she could still have a voice after singing at the top of her lungs for four days for five rotations. 

One of the rotations was “Speaker”.  This improv group was impressive, since I know that is something I would never be able to do.

Maybe k or n will have this music director as a teacher at their future high school.

Water game where they had to pass a container of water with hooks.  Quote of the day from one of the girls: “This game would be a lot more challenging if this [water] was hot lava”.  Another funny quote when I asked another girl if she enjoyed playing freeze tag during free time.  “Yeah!  No one tagged me.  I think it was because of a combination of my speed and stamina.”   Haha!

There were also community projects, including making seed balls for the Irvine Conservancy.

I will talk about our hats/swaps in another post, but that was a lot of fun as well.

I’m thinking I will have to volunteer again next year, since n had so much fun!

Tonight we went to a concert at Mike Ward park in Irvine, which is near the Woodbridge Lake.  The city of Irvine puts on a series of concerts every summer, but this is the first time that we have made it.  We brought a picnic dinner consisting of Subway sandwiches (1/2 off, thanks to a coupon in the mail).  We brought chairs and blankets to sit on.  Since there is basically no shade, we should have also brought an umbrella.  (They ask you to take down the umbrellas once the performance starts).  Luckily, we ran into a family we know that had a huge EZ up, so we were able to “borrow” some shade.  We also ran into two families from k’s girl scout troop.

There were some kids activities set up before the concert started.  The kids made musical medals, consisting of paper plates with beans stapled inside to make noise.

We also had time to cross the bridge to see the lake.

Contemplating how deep the water is.

Enjoying a drink from the “Water Monster”.

Conductor Carl St. Clair teaching the kids how to conduct with straws.

This is how n likes to eat Oreos.

Irvine Mayor Steve Choi declared July 27 to be “St. Clair Day”.  This will be Mr. St. Clair’s 25th year conducting the Pacific Symphony.  We only made it through the first three songs because there was so much talking beforehand. 

Conductor k.

There was an opera singer for the Carmen songs.  I my new zoom!

Interesting sky on the way home.

It brings joy to my heart when I see k and n playing together and really enjoying each other’s companionship.  Lately, they have had a renewed interest in playing with their “babies” and our play food/kitchen.  D and I had a good laugh when we came across this feeding setup.

This is one of the most busy weeks of our summer: VBS.  I am an assistant teacher for first grade, and the kids are in the K and 2nd grade classes.  The theme is Son Treasure Island.

Here are the crafts from today.

k’s craft (top) & n’s craft (bottom).  There are rotations throughout the morning: Classroom, Assembly, Crafts, Storytelling (small groups), Snacks, Rec, Missions, Assembly, Classroom.  It is a packed schedule!  I hope we make it through this week without any meltdowns.  Next week is girl scout camp!

As mentioned earlier, we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield on the way home from Napa.  We were without a camera, so this will be purely narrative.

The kids started to get excited when the GPS told us to turn onto “Jelly Belly Way”.  Outside of the factory, there were various vehicles wrapped in bright Jelly Belly ads.  The first tour started at 9 a.m., and we were able to join the first group of the day.  The tour was free, and quite interesting.  I always like to see how things are made.  Our tour guide Brianna was quite energetic and added fun to the experience.  At the different stops we were handed various samples of jelly bellies in different stages, and watched informational videos.  No pictures were allowed during the tour, so at least I didn’t miss out on that picture taking opportunity.  They have quite a few Jelly Belly portraits, which are mosaics made of Jelly Bellies, including the famous one of Ronald Reagan.  At the end, we were each given a mini bag of Jelly Bellies, which was a nice treat! 

After the tour, the gift shop is a must stop.  There is a tasting station where you can ask for three different flavors at a time (and get back in line if you want to try more).  They had a lot of unusual flavors, including the Harry Potter ones, which included Barf, Pencil Shavings, and Canned Dog Food.  (We weren’t curious enough to try them).  We did however, buy some bags of Belly Flops, which are the jelly beans that do not meet the uniform standard.  (Whoever thought of bagging them and selling them as Belly Flops is a marketing genius!)  They also had a promotion of Buy 3, Get 2 Free.  We could not pass up this deal, so we ended up buying some to give away as presents. 

All in all, I am glad we made the stop.  It was a little out of our way, and forced us to deal with rush hour traffic on the way home in LA, but it was worth it.  Again, k and n said it was “more fun than they thought it would be”, which either means it was lots of fun, or they just do not have high expectations of our outings. 

Our new camera, the Panasonic Lumix ZS25 came in the mail yesterday, so I started experimenting with it today.

It is with great sadness that I would like the announce that our camera, which has played an integral part of this blog, is no longer working.  Its tragic fate was due to my unknowingly putting an open bottle water in my purse while my camera was inside.  Coincidentally, both the first and last pictures taken with this camera were in Napa.  These were some of the first pictures taken with my camera, back in 2010.  It is amazing to think about all of the moments this camera has captured of our family.  Our camera was actually on its second life, since we had it repaired under warranty after Utah (sand).  I’ve been doing some research, and I think I know which camera I will buy next.  Thankfully, prices on digital cameras have gone down a considerable amount since four years ago.

In the few days that I have not had a camera, I feel lost.  I was not able to take more pictures of the kids with D’s parents, brother and sister, which I meant to do on Sunday.  I was not able to record our visit to the Jelly Belly Factory on Monday.  I know life is about experiencing things, not recording them, but I fear that these experiences will be lost without pictures.

OK, enough about that.  I was relieved that I was able to rescue all of the pictures in Napa that I took before our camera’s demise.  These are pictures of our lunch at Mustards Grill and our dinner at Bistro Don Giovanni on Saturday. 

After golfing we drove north on Highway 29 to Sterling Vineyards.  I thought this would be a fun winery to visit for the kids since it has a gondola ride.  D was also excited to add it to his list of “1,000 places to see before he dies”.

Fittingly, they had this chalkboard sign at the entrance.  D wrote “I want to run a sub-4 hour marathon” even though he has already done that.  When we returned someone had written “+1” next to it.  D also wanted to write “I want to visit Sterling Vineyards”-haha- but we had to go.  n wrote “Lim. WOW”…not sure what that means.

Yes, we have a ham on our hands.

The gondola takes you up the mountain and offers a beautiful view.

Lots of lilly pads.

We made it to the top.

There is a nice self-guided tour which includes tasting stops.

n making a face after smelling Grandpa’s wine.

What was described as “fruit popsicles for children” actually ended up being Otter Pops for $1 each.  The kids didn’t seem to mind.

On the way down, k and n rode with Grandpa and Grandma.

Although D did not drink much in total, he ended up not feeling well in the afternoon and got sick.  (I’m allergic to alcohol so I did not partake).  This was the first time D has had such an adverse reaction.  We deduced that it must have been because he did not have much food in his stomach at the time.  Nevertheless, this was one of the more impressive wineries that we have visited and I would recommend it for families with kids.