I liked riding my scooter in Griffith Park. I liked Adventure City, especially the tree top racers. The tree top racers were awesome. It was a roller coaster--first you went up, up, and then you stopped and curved and go straight and then curved again so you are heading towards the roller coaster start and then curved this way and that way and a few lumps and through a tunnel, then you go in a spiral and back to the start. The first roller coaster was dumb because it was so short and for little kids, but I liked the other one. You can crank and crank and crank and roll (the kid-powered train). The giggle wheel was so awesome. It was just a normal ferris wheel. The magic show was awesome. "You need a purple scarf, and a yellow bandana", and the magician took out a purple scarf and a yellow banana. I liked that part the best.
The magnetic sand (Huntington Library), stick when you put it on a magnet. The aquarium had a gift shop--I want to get the horned shark and the squid. Ooooh, yah, rinky, dinky. I liked the eel because I like eels; I like fish. I like underwater creatures. I like the skates, they were cool.
San Diego--they gave us presents. I got a fire portal copter and a kaleidoscope. And we made stuff out of clay (yesterday at the Kidseum). "Ouch", says Joshua's creature. There was a puppet theater and it came with puppets like and alligator, a dragon and an elephant. There was also a goofy looking mask I tried on. There was also another goofy looking mask with take out ears. Yes, but I tried it on, but I didn't have time to take out the ears because it was time to go. That's why you didn't see it (to Mommy).
Ummm, I don't know. My favorite thing was Adventure City.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Off the Beaten Path in Santa Anna
It is fun to discover interesting, less well known treasures. Though today we went off the beaten path to less well known museums, I would hardly call them hidden treasures, especially the second one. We started off with the Orange County Heritage Museum which has the Kellogg House, a historic house with hands-on activities for the kids, pretty gardens and a nature trail. We had our own private tour of the house (there were no other visitors at the moment) which was fun. The house, which was built in 1898, had several period rooms with things that the kids
could touch. They
played with a telephone, listened to an old record player, and saw some kitchen utensils from the turn of the century. The second floor contained a toy room with many toys that the kids could play with (though Benjamin was disappointed that a train that was off limits), a dress-up room and a school room. Although this museum was fun, it was small, and the Rose Hill Manor Museum that we saw in Maryland was better. I had hoped that we could enjoy a nice, but short, hike in the park, but the nature trail seemed extremely lame.Later at home, I read in more detail the self-guided tour brochure for the Kellogg House. Besides useful information about the house itself, it mentions that the nature trails are not maintained, so we probably just didn't properly explore it.
The other museum I wanted to visit in Santa Anna was the Bowers Kidseum. They have free admission the first Sunday of the month, but we missed it, and it was likely to be extremely crowded. I was surprised by the small size of the Kidseum. It was just a big room with several low tables, a puppet theater and a dress up area. Masks and instruments each covered several tables. In addition, one small table contained a 
collection of toys. The dress up area had a mirror, stage and large collection of clothing, hats and shoes. The museum also had two side rooms--one with an exhibit about languages and another in which kids could make things out of clay. The kids loved the puppet theater and the clay projects, and they enjoyed playing with the other artifacts. Although the kids had fun, I thought that the price ($30 for our family of 5) is too much for what the museum offered.
Swimming in San Diego
Today we cruised down to San Diego to spend time with Aunt Eileen, Uncle Bruce and Marci. The kids were excited to go swimming there, but disappointed about the lack of kids their age. We got there in time for lunch, and then the kids had a blast swimming with Daddy and Uncle Bruce and Laura got to use her Big Bird float. Joshua and Benjamin had races across the pool.
After we had dried off, we went to a playground at the local 5th and 6th grade school. It was a very unusual playground with odd, futuristic things to climb on and spin instead of traditional monkey bars, slides and swings (unfortunately I left my camera at the house, so I don't have any pictures). Laura was determined to climb up to the highest points and then complain she needed help to get down, so she didn't like it when I forbade her to so high that I co
uldn't rescue her.For dinner they took us to their favorite Chinese restaurant by "the swamp" where Marci had recently celebrated her 16th birthday. The kids liked the food, but by this time Laura was so tired that she fell asleep on her dinner plate. She woke up when we picked her up to leave and demanded a fortune cookie. Unfortunately, due to this nap, she stayed awake on the car ride home and kept asking where we were going. She is eager to go back to NJ so that grandma can paint her nails.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Adventure in Adventure City
Feeling guilty that we haven't rushed to take the kids to 
Disneyland (does this mean that they are deprived of an important childhood experience?), I decided to take them to Adventure City, which is down the street from Knotts Berry Farm. Adventure City is a small amusement park geared toward younger kids that was recommended by another mom in Laura's camp. We had an awesome time. Admission for all 4 of us was under $50 (used a coupon in OC Family Magazine), we parked right near the entrance gate and we only needed a moment or two to walk between rides. The lines for the rides were almost nonexistant (though we did have to wait a bit for the Treetop Racers Rollercoaster Ride because we got on line behind a l
arge group).
The park has about 10 rides, and in about 4 hours the kids went on every ride at least once, if not 2 or 4 times, and saw a magic show that the kids loved. Joshua's favorite was the Treetop Racers Roller Coaster and the kid powered train. Benjamin loved the Barnstormer Planes and the Rescue 911 ride in which the kids got to sit in emergency vehicles while the moved around on a track. The vehicles had stearing wheels and buttons to make the siren go on. Laura couldn't get enough of the ferris wheel and the free-fall type ride, called Drop Zone. She had a fit that she was too short to go on the Treetop Racers ride with Joshua and Benjamin. Joshua went on a second time, but Benjamin refused. He keeps telling Daddy to go on it, but he doesn't want to try it again himself. I was happy that I didn't have to go on many of the rides with the kids, though I was required to go on a few of the rides with Laura. I didn't particularly like the Balloon Racers, especially after I rode on it while facing the "direction to experience the joy of maximum dizziness", according to the sign. In the future I should pay more attention to such signs. After that experience, I had no desire to go on any more rides. The kids also enjoyed the petting zoo, which had goats, sheep, chickens, a pig and a turtle. I don't know if we would have had more fun in Disneyland, but Adventure City is cheaper and much less crowded and stressful. I am sure that we got to go on many more rides and I was easily able to take the kids myself. After running around in the heat of the summer, the kids love cooling off in the rain tent, an attraction which is not mentioned in their brochure.
Disneyland (does this mean that they are deprived of an important childhood experience?), I decided to take them to Adventure City, which is down the street from Knotts Berry Farm. Adventure City is a small amusement park geared toward younger kids that was recommended by another mom in Laura's camp. We had an awesome time. Admission for all 4 of us was under $50 (used a coupon in OC Family Magazine), we parked right near the entrance gate and we only needed a moment or two to walk between rides. The lines for the rides were almost nonexistant (though we did have to wait a bit for the Treetop Racers Rollercoaster Ride because we got on line behind a l
arge group).
The park has about 10 rides, and in about 4 hours the kids went on every ride at least once, if not 2 or 4 times, and saw a magic show that the kids loved. Joshua's favorite was the Treetop Racers Roller Coaster and the kid powered train. Benjamin loved the Barnstormer Planes and the Rescue 911 ride in which the kids got to sit in emergency vehicles while the moved around on a track. The vehicles had stearing wheels and buttons to make the siren go on. Laura couldn't get enough of the ferris wheel and the free-fall type ride, called Drop Zone. She had a fit that she was too short to go on the Treetop Racers ride with Joshua and Benjamin. Joshua went on a second time, but Benjamin refused. He keeps telling Daddy to go on it, but he doesn't want to try it again himself. I was happy that I didn't have to go on many of the rides with the kids, though I was required to go on a few of the rides with Laura. I didn't particularly like the Balloon Racers, especially after I rode on it while facing the "direction to experience the joy of maximum dizziness", according to the sign. In the future I should pay more attention to such signs. After that experience, I had no desire to go on any more rides. The kids also enjoyed the petting zoo, which had goats, sheep, chickens, a pig and a turtle. I don't know if we would have had more fun in Disneyland, but Adventure City is cheaper and much less crowded and stressful. I am sure that we got to go on many more rides and I was easily able to take the kids myself. After running around in the heat of the summer, the kids love cooling off in the rain tent, an attraction which is not mentioned in their brochure.
Sharks in Redondo Beach
Thursday we met up with Nancy and Eric (7 months) at Redondo Beach to see the SeaLif
e Laboratory and play on the beach. After getting past downtown traffic (one reason I would prefer to living in Binghamton, NY than Los Angeles), driving the rest of the way was a breeze, especially in the carpool lanes on the 110 and 105.
The meters nearby the aquarium were empty the whole day so parking was not a problem, at least on a weekday. The aquarium itself was awesome! The kids loved the shark tank outside, but there were also a few inside tanks--the eels were pretty cool. The highlight of the visit were the outside tanks that require a formal tour, but formal tours were only given in the afternoon once an hour (at least on weekdays). We decided to spend some time on the beach, and the kids and I would try the tour afterwards. Beach access was a little tricky, but we made it and the kids had an awesome time running away from the waves. Lunch was less successful because they couldn't keep their hands sand-free long enough to eat very much. This was Eric's first trip to the beach, so I will have to get his review later.
By the time we left the aquarium, got gas and drove back to Eagle Rock, the library summer program culmination party was about to begin, so we went directly to the library. First we experienced an African storyteller tell us why the sky is so far away.
Then the librarian had a drawing for a bunch of pirate prizes and free books for the kids. Joshua won a small stuffed bear dressed as a pirate and picked Captain Underpants Extra Crunchy Book O' Fun, and Laura won a toucan pinata almost as big as she is and picked a bug dictionary book. Benjamin, feeling left out since he didn't win anything in the drawing, ended up with a flashlight from the reading prize treasure box and a dinosaur book. I was thrilled that the 4 ft long stuffed lions had already been claimed by the time Joshua and Laura's names were picked in the raffle. Then they made treasure boxes (glued small pieces of paper onto a pastic container) and ate plenty of cookies.
The car is always a good place to have fun conversations with the kids. Today's topic was who is Daddy's mother and father and why Daddy's mother is not married ("Because she is not rich", according to Benjamin).
e Laboratory and play on the beach. After getting past downtown traffic (one reason I would prefer to living in Binghamton, NY than Los Angeles), driving the rest of the way was a breeze, especially in the carpool lanes on the 110 and 105.
The meters nearby the aquarium were empty the whole day so parking was not a problem, at least on a weekday. The aquarium itself was awesome! The kids loved the shark tank outside, but there were also a few inside tanks--the eels were pretty cool. The highlight of the visit were the outside tanks that require a formal tour, but formal tours were only given in the afternoon once an hour (at least on weekdays). We decided to spend some time on the beach, and the kids and I would try the tour afterwards. Beach access was a little tricky, but we made it and the kids had an awesome time running away from the waves. Lunch was less successful because they couldn't keep their hands sand-free long enough to eat very much. This was Eric's first trip to the beach, so I will have to get his review later.
Just before 1, we headed back to the car, dumped the beach stuff in the trunk and rushed to the aquarium, a few minutes late to the 1pm. We were disappointed when they told us that the tour had reached capacity and we couldn't join them (but we should line up for the tour 15 minutes early). The kids weren't so excited to wait around for an ho
ur, but they loved watching the sharks in the tank outside the tour area. While I was deciding what to do, a tour guide was reluctantly starting a tour for another family, and I managed to beg our way onto that tour. The tour guide was awesome, extremely knowledgeable about the fish and very good with kids. The kids loved looking into the tanks of lobsters, sea stars, skates and halibut among other animals. The halibut were cool because they started off lying on the bottom, then with a puff of sand, they would be rapidly swimming around the tank. The kids were excited to be able to touch some animals, including one tank with sharks. Windows in the sides of some of the tanks made the tour friendly for even the very little ones (like Laura).
ur, but they loved watching the sharks in the tank outside the tour area. While I was deciding what to do, a tour guide was reluctantly starting a tour for another family, and I managed to beg our way onto that tour. The tour guide was awesome, extremely knowledgeable about the fish and very good with kids. The kids loved looking into the tanks of lobsters, sea stars, skates and halibut among other animals. The halibut were cool because they started off lying on the bottom, then with a puff of sand, they would be rapidly swimming around the tank. The kids were excited to be able to touch some animals, including one tank with sharks. Windows in the sides of some of the tanks made the tour friendly for even the very little ones (like Laura).By the time we left the aquarium, got gas and drove back to Eagle Rock, the library summer program culmination party was about to begin, so we went directly to the library. First we experienced an African storyteller tell us why the sky is so far away.
Then the librarian had a drawing for a bunch of pirate prizes and free books for the kids. Joshua won a small stuffed bear dressed as a pirate and picked Captain Underpants Extra Crunchy Book O' Fun, and Laura won a toucan pinata almost as big as she is and picked a bug dictionary book. Benjamin, feeling left out since he didn't win anything in the drawing, ended up with a flashlight from the reading prize treasure box and a dinosaur book. I was thrilled that the 4 ft long stuffed lions had already been claimed by the time Joshua and Laura's names were picked in the raffle. Then they made treasure boxes (glued small pieces of paper onto a pastic container) and ate plenty of cookies.The car is always a good place to have fun conversations with the kids. Today's topic was who is Daddy's mother and father and why Daddy's mother is not married ("Because she is not rich", according to Benjamin).
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Children's Garden at Huntington Library
Today we checked out the Huntington Libra
ry (actually the gardens more so than the library). I definitely prefer art museum that have interesting gardens--it is relaxing to break up the quiet, somber atmosphere of the museum with airy, cheerful gardens. Visiting the Huntington was great, especially with Nitin who gave us an awesome tour. We took a quick look in the museum at the Blue Boy painting, and the docent standing in the gallery gave the kids an awesome mini-lesson about the painting. I also enjoyed seeing the inside of the building and the beautiful antique furniture on exhibit.
By this time Joshua was complaining that I hadn't yet p
roduced the fun that I promised, so our next stop was the conservatory which had lots of hands on activities. The kids favorite activity was looking through the microscopes to see different kinds of leaves close-up (see photo). Then we continued on to the children's garden which had plenty of water play areas, plant tunnels to run through and water spraying areas. Joshua loved playing with the magnetic sand (see photo) and the musical instrument which kids can drop rocks through to make music. Laura and Benjamin loved splashing in the tables filled with water and the small rock-filled stream. If I were to go back again, I would definitely have my kids wear water shoes--I suspect that kids are not allowed to go barefoot.
Of course as soon as they stopped playing, they realized that they were hungry and we rushed home for lunch. By this time, Laura was in first place for the dirtiest kid award (see photo)! As we walked back through the conservatory, the kids were enticed first by the bug-eating plant exhibit which had microscopes for up close views and movies of the plants in action. Joshua started searching around for bugs to feed the plants. I liked the exhibit with the dead pitcher plant that identified the bugs it ate from the undigested remains. We also discovered the fish tank in the rainforest and the under
water camera which has a control to move it around. When we were finally ready to leave, the walk to the entrance gate and then to the car seemed three times as long as going (perhaps because the kids were now tired and walking really slowly).
On the topic of fun conversations with the kids, Joshua started off explaining reasons why we probably don't have a car without a top: 1. Because most of them only seat two people and 2. Because people who don't wear a seatbelt might go flying out. Benjamin then explained that only the states on the edges have beaches (so California and New Jersey have beaches, but Pennsylvania and Ohio do not; New York does, but not near us).
Benjamin: I liked the magnet thing. Yes, yes, yes (he enjoyed playing in the water).
ry (actually the gardens more so than the library). I definitely prefer art museum that have interesting gardens--it is relaxing to break up the quiet, somber atmosphere of the museum with airy, cheerful gardens. Visiting the Huntington was great, especially with Nitin who gave us an awesome tour. We took a quick look in the museum at the Blue Boy painting, and the docent standing in the gallery gave the kids an awesome mini-lesson about the painting. I also enjoyed seeing the inside of the building and the beautiful antique furniture on exhibit.By this time Joshua was complaining that I hadn't yet p
roduced the fun that I promised, so our next stop was the conservatory which had lots of hands on activities. The kids favorite activity was looking through the microscopes to see different kinds of leaves close-up (see photo). Then we continued on to the children's garden which had plenty of water play areas, plant tunnels to run through and water spraying areas. Joshua loved playing with the magnetic sand (see photo) and the musical instrument which kids can drop rocks through to make music. Laura and Benjamin loved splashing in the tables filled with water and the small rock-filled stream. If I were to go back again, I would definitely have my kids wear water shoes--I suspect that kids are not allowed to go barefoot.Of course as soon as they stopped playing, they realized that they were hungry and we rushed home for lunch. By this time, Laura was in first place for the dirtiest kid award (see photo)! As we walked back through the conservatory, the kids were enticed first by the bug-eating plant exhibit which had microscopes for up close views and movies of the plants in action. Joshua started searching around for bugs to feed the plants. I liked the exhibit with the dead pitcher plant that identified the bugs it ate from the undigested remains. We also discovered the fish tank in the rainforest and the under
water camera which has a control to move it around. When we were finally ready to leave, the walk to the entrance gate and then to the car seemed three times as long as going (perhaps because the kids were now tired and walking really slowly).On the topic of fun conversations with the kids, Joshua started off explaining reasons why we probably don't have a car without a top: 1. Because most of them only seat two people and 2. Because people who don't wear a seatbelt might go flying out. Benjamin then explained that only the states on the edges have beaches (so California and New Jersey have beaches, but Pennsylvania and Ohio do not; New York does, but not near us).
Benjamin: I liked the magnet thing. Yes, yes, yes (he enjoyed playing in the water).
Monday, August 10, 2009
Birthday Party BBQ
Dave enjoys using the nice BBQ on the patio, so we invited some people over for dinner. I wanted to invite Nancy, Blake and Eric over for dinner, because Nancy and Blake made us an awesome dinner when we were here 5 years ago. Then at the last minute Dave decided to include some people from Emcore (who didn't come) and some former graduate students from University of Cincinnati (who did come). Much of the day was spent shopping, cleaning and preparing for the BBQ. In the morning we attempted visit #2 to the Audubon Center at Debs Park, but we found out that it is closed on Sundays.
Since we've been staying in the neighborhood of Eagle Rock, I thought it would be neat to visit the actual Eagle Rock. We went north on Figueroa under the 134, and then drove around looking for a sign for the park. As we were about to give up, I noticed the big towering rock just off the highway with some picnic tables in front of it. The road widened slightly by the picnic tables, and two other cars were parked there. So we parked and got out to admire the huge rock and imagine that we could see an eagle in it. I've heard that the view from this park is spectacular, but, we found out, not from the picnic table area. We then started up the narrow path, but as the steep drop off one side of the trail seemed dangerous with the kids (especially with a 3 year old who likes to do her own thing), we gave up on the hike after a few minutes.
The party in the evening was fun. Dave enjoyed making dinner on the barbecue, and we admired Eric's newly acquired crawling skills. Laura kept calling it a birthday party.
Monday morning I took the kids to the Shane's Inspiration playground
in Griffith Park. It has a small tricycle area in which the kids enjoyed riding their bikes and scooter. Laura kept stopping at the gas station and the general store. The kids also enjoyed the playground and the huge sandbox. After trying out a metal slide, Laura explained to me that some slides get hot and some don't. Eventually the kids were ready for lunch and we managed to leave.
In the afternoon we went to a LACMA-sponsored workshop at the Arroyo-Seco Branch library in which the kids used pencil and pastels to draw a neighborhood. Benjamin drew an airplane over LA with buildings and people hiking on a green hill (Griffith Park). Joshua drew a general landscape that might be seen from the plane complete with the plane's shadow on the ground.
Tuesday morning, Joshua woke up and said that he wanted to go to the "3rd science museum that we went to", by which he meant the La Habra Children's Museum. So, we went back there where the kids spent much of the time playing in the theater. Afterwards, we swung through Alhambra to pick up Daddy and see a Swazzle puppet show (Joshua's request) at the Arroyo Seco Branch library.
Since we've been staying in the neighborhood of Eagle Rock, I thought it would be neat to visit the actual Eagle Rock. We went north on Figueroa under the 134, and then drove around looking for a sign for the park. As we were about to give up, I noticed the big towering rock just off the highway with some picnic tables in front of it. The road widened slightly by the picnic tables, and two other cars were parked there. So we parked and got out to admire the huge rock and imagine that we could see an eagle in it. I've heard that the view from this park is spectacular, but, we found out, not from the picnic table area. We then started up the narrow path, but as the steep drop off one side of the trail seemed dangerous with the kids (especially with a 3 year old who likes to do her own thing), we gave up on the hike after a few minutes.
The party in the evening was fun. Dave enjoyed making dinner on the barbecue, and we admired Eric's newly acquired crawling skills. Laura kept calling it a birthday party.
Monday morning I took the kids to the Shane's Inspiration playground
in Griffith Park. It has a small tricycle area in which the kids enjoyed riding their bikes and scooter. Laura kept stopping at the gas station and the general store. The kids also enjoyed the playground and the huge sandbox. After trying out a metal slide, Laura explained to me that some slides get hot and some don't. Eventually the kids were ready for lunch and we managed to leave.In the afternoon we went to a LACMA-sponsored workshop at the Arroyo-Seco Branch library in which the kids used pencil and pastels to draw a neighborhood. Benjamin drew an airplane over LA with buildings and people hiking on a green hill (Griffith Park). Joshua drew a general landscape that might be seen from the plane complete with the plane's shadow on the ground.
Tuesday morning, Joshua woke up and said that he wanted to go to the "3rd science museum that we went to", by which he meant the La Habra Children's Museum. So, we went back there where the kids spent much of the time playing in the theater. Afterwards, we swung through Alhambra to pick up Daddy and see a Swazzle puppet show (Joshua's request) at the Arroyo Seco Branch library.
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