Balboa Park

Last Monday I decided to take The Boy to Balboa Park.  My plan was to go to the Model Railroad Museum.  We have been there a couple of times before and it’s always a hit.  This month, though, we can get in for free with our membership to The New Children’s Museum.  My time in this month is running out and I really wanted to make it to the Model Railroad Museum.  Of course, as we were getting ready to leave, The Boy threw a fit and didn’t want to see the trains.  I still, for the life of me, can’t figure out why not.  So I asked him if he wanted to see the fish (our Children’s Museum membership is also good for the Japanese Friendship Garden this month).  He seemed excited about that so we got in the car and headed for the park.  When we got there, he was still adamant about not going to the Railroad Museum so we walked to the Japanese Friendship Garden.  We got there right before a group of two military families arrived, and were greeted with news cameras.  I wasn’t sure what was going on, or what to think, and since we were there at the same time as these military families, the museum people thought we were with them.  When they realized we weren’t, they informed me that the garden was closed and that we would have to come back another day.  So no coy pond today.  Back to the Model Railroad Museum?  The Boy would not have it.  By this time, it had started to drizzle or I would have just gone to the zoo.  Instead, I noticed the free tram stop right near where we were standing so we decided to take a ride.

We were the only ones on the bus so we were able to chit-chat a bit with Rick, the driver.  He even asked me if I wanted to drive!  Sure, he wasn’t serious, but it was still a fun idea.  We had a nice little ride.

When we were done, I finally convinced The Boy that he wanted to see the trains.  So we walked to the Model Railroad Museum and it was CLOSED!!!  Of course.  That seems to be what happens to me.  I need to start checking these things before I go out.  We ended up just having a little picnic and going home.  Even though our excursion didn’t go anywhere near planned, we had a good time.  And we went back yesterday.  But that’s another post.

Peterson’s

Over the weekend, my cousin and I took a trip to Los Angeles to attend a baby shower for another cousin of ours.  I met at Brooke’s house and we drove together.  On our way out of town, she convinced me (which I’ll admit, didn’t take a lot of leg-pulling) to let her stop at Peterson’s Donut Corner.  She assured me that they were the best donuts.  We saw this line and I believed her (not that I doubted before).

It’s not in the greatest neighborhood and it’s not the best looking building.  In fact, you can’t even go in.  You can see the donuts and pastries through the window, but it’s an order and eat outside kind of place.

I love the hand chairs

But they make some dang good donuts.  Brooke said she could never remember if it was the cake donuts or the raised donuts that were so great there, since she always gets an apple fritter.  I’m convinced that raised donuts are always better than cake donuts.  Sometimes I wonder why people ever even buy cake donuts.  But after looking at the cake donuts, I’ll have to admit that I was tempted.

I think I made a good choice with my chocolate frosted raised donut.

Not only was it delicious, it was ENORMOUS!  Seriously, I think that’s the biggest donut I have ever eaten.  I never would have been able to finish a maple bar.  Maybe the next time I’m in Escondido, I’ll have to stop at Peterson’s again and try out their cake donuts.  And it doesn’t even matter when I go.  They’re open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day!  That’s my kind of donut shop!

Heritage of the Americas

A month (or maybe two!) ago we went to the Spring Garden Festival at Cuyamaca College.  Since then, I have been meaning to tell you a bit about the Heritage of the Americas Museum there on campus.  The day of the festival, they were offering free admission to the museum, which we took full advantage of.  The Hubby had been once before, for a professional development class.  He mentioned how he thought we would like it and he was right.  The museum itself isn’t that big, but it houses a lot of interesting artifacts.  Of course you will see a lot of Native American items.

There were a number of headdresses and clothing from different tribes and time periods, as well as art work and animals and bugs.  I loved all of the intricate bead work on many things.

It was also fun to see a real saber tooth tiger skull.

Probably the highlight, though, was this jade burial suit from ancient China.  Incredible!

I think the kids enjoyed the museum and it was a great way to teach them a little bit about our American heritage, but they may have been too young to understand much, but I guess most museums would be like that with a two-year-old and a five-year-old.  I would definitely go back and would love to spend a little more time really learning about the things they have on exhibit.

Oh, and just a note: like most museums, don’t forget to turn off your flash if you want to take pictures.  I didn’t even think about it until I was reminded by one of the workers.

Giveaway Winners

Because I was feeling generous, all six people who commented won!  You should have an email from me in your inbox with your free redbox code.  Don’t forget to use it by the end of the month!

GIVEAWAY!!

Today is your lucky day!  I’m having a giveaway!  Okay, it’s really not all that exciting, but I have a few (at least 3, but maybe as many as 4 or 5) codes for free Red Box movie rentals.  I just happen to have them and they expire at the end of the month and really, I don’t watch that many movies so I’m giving them away!  All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what adventures you would like to see me take with my kiddos in the San Diego area.  Tell me your favorite place to go or somewhere that you have never been and might like to go.  And if you don’t live in San Diego, that’s okay!  Comment anyway (even if you don’t have a suggestion)!  I’ll pick the winners on Tuesday, probably around 9 p.m. San Diego time.

Coyote Music Festival

Saturday was the 3rd annual Coyote Music Festival at Cuyamaca College.  Since The Hubby is one of the main guys there in the music department (and the main music tech guy), he has to be there.  It’s an all day festival showcasing local bands.  It’s put on by music students in a music industry seminar class to help teach them the logistics (among other things) of running a festival.  Every year they get a bit more publicity and every year the bands seem to be better.  I always go with the kids.  It’s free and it’s family friendly.  We’re never there the whole day.  That’s just too much for them, but we do have a good time.  Saturday we caught the last two bands.  They were both great and the kids loved it.  As we were leaving for a birthday party that same afternoon (before we went to the festival) I told The Girl that the Coyote Music Festival was that day, and that we would go as soon as the birthday party was over.  She got so excited she could hardly contain herself.  She loves to run up near the stage and bust a move.

More than the music this year, the kids were excited about The Rocking Horse Guy.  He is the owner (and builder) of the biggest rocking horse in the world and he lives right here in El Cajon!  He’s even in the Guinness Book of World Records!  He travels all over the country with his huge rocking unicorn, giving kids (and adults alike) the ride of their lives!

We had a great time chatting with him and rocking out.  The Girl was a little nervous in the beginning when she got on the horse and The Boy wouldn’t even get close, but by the end of the festival, the three of us were up and riding together.  What a fun treat!

Cinco De Mayo

See that hazy area? That's Mexico.

In honor of Cinco De Mayo yesterday, I decided to take The Boy to Mexico.  But before we crossed the border, I realized that Cinco De Mayo is celebrated nationally in the USA, but it’s only a holiday in the state of Pueblo in Mexico.  It’s not a national celebration.  Okay, that’s not completely true.  I was never planning on going over the border (Ashton and I don’t have passports and I’m actually kind of scared of Mexico), but the part about the holiday itself is true, according to Wikipedia.  Anyway, I did want to go to the San Ysidro Outlets and for all of my intents and purposes, I think San Ysidro is basically Mexico.  Like I said, we went for the outlets.  I bought two pairs of shoes for The Boy a couple of weeks ago when we were in Ontario, but neither pair fits and he doesn’t like them either, so we needed something different.  The closest Stride Rite Outlet was in San Ysidro.  So we went.  And I had success.

Then we stopped at The Children’s Place Outlet where we scored these $2 aviators.  I couldn’t get over how cute the little guy was in them, even if he did have his pacifier in his mouth.

Now, about the mall.  The mall itself is actually quite nice.  There are some really great outlet stores.  Both times I have been there, I have been very happy with the results of my trip.  It’s clean and everything is really nice.  I’m sure I’ll go again, even thought every time I go, I feel like I’m driving into Mexico.

About Mexico, I don’t claim to be an expert by any means.  In fact, I’ve only ever been there once.  I was in college and my mom and I were in San Diego for a few days on vacation visiting family.  The two of us and my aunt and cousin took a trip to Tijuana together.  We parked on the US side of the border and walked over the bridge and through the border crossing.

I have heard that that is the way to do it.  It’s much faster to walk across the border, depending on the day and time, but the San Ysidro border crossing can get quite congested and on a normal day at rush hour, it’s common for the border wait time to be two hours.  If you’re looking to take a day trip to Tijuana, the best form of transportation may just be MTS.

There is a train stop right there at the border where you can get off the train and walk across the bridge and in to Mexico.  I prefer to look at Tijuana from a distance and honestly, it’s right in the back yard of the San Ysidro outlet mall.  I can handle that.

Play Town

A while back I purchased a Groupon for admission for both of my kids into Play Town (in El Cajon).  I have been wanting to check it out for a while, since it’s so close and I was pretty sure that my kids would love it.  They loved going to Kidsville when it was in Poway, but now that it’s not there anymore and only in Carlsbad, I’m not willing to go there just to see if it’s as great as it was before.  The main reason The Girl loved it there was because they had “a whole room just for trying on clothes!”  She can play dress-up at home.

Anyway, I was excited about the prospect of Play Town, especially since we live so close.  The adventure was definitely a success.  We went right after school on a Friday and the place was empty.  After staying for a couple of hours, it got a bit busier, but it wasn’t bad at all.  It was quite clean and there were lots of fun things for the kids to do.  The highlight for both of the kids were these little cars that go down a slide-like rollercoaster.

There was also a large play house, lots of cars to ride around in, a motorhome, a bounce house with slide, air hockey, a play structure, a Thomas the Train table, and a myriad of other toys that stimulate the imagination.

For parents with babies, there is an enclosed area where they can play and be safe.

Other kids are told to keep out of the infant area.  For the parents, there is free wi-fi.  There are picnic tables where you can sit and eat or chat.  Bringing your own food into Play Town is allowed and they have high chairs for smaller kids.  They also have a snack bar where you can purchase food.  Be warned, however, that there is no drinking fountain so I would suggest bringing water bottles (or they have them for sale at the snack bar).  There is also a party room and Play Town can be rented out for private parties on the weekends.

The ages of my children are 5 and 2 and they both really enjoyed it.  The bounce house and the play structure were definitely for the older kids.  I ended up climbing up into the bounce house to go down the slide with my 2-year-old and I definitely won’t let him go up in the play structure again until he’s ready to come down the slide by himself.  It’s built in a way that makes it really difficult for adults to get up and rescue small children who don’t want to come down the slide.  All in all, it was somewhere that I would definitely take my kids again.  They had a great time.  Oh, and don’t forget your socks!  They’re required for kids AND adults.

Kids Bowl Free

I have a feeling we’ll be frequenting Mira Mesa Lanes this summer.  I just signed our family up for Kids Bowl Free.  We have a bowling alley right down the street from us and I’m kind of bummed that they’re not offering the deal, but I can handle Mira Mesa.  I even upgraded to the family plan, paying $25 for 4 more adults to bowl as well (and I got a $25 restaurant.com gift certificate, but you better hurry if you want that).  We all get two games per day all summer.  You do have to pay a shoe rental fee, but that’s it!  We went to a birthday party at Mira Mesa Lanes back in January and had a great time.  The kids absolutely LOVED it!  It was a bit tough for The Boy (he’s only 2) to get the ball all the way down the lane, but he got the hang of it by the end.  Also, they didn’t make me rent shoes for him because they didn’t have any that fit on his fat little feet.  They were pretty accommodating.  Unfortunately, the only two bowling alleys offering this deal in all of San Diego County are Mira Mesa Lanes and Kearny Mesa Bowl so it might be a bit busy.  I’ll let you know once we go.  But for now, dust off those bowling shoes and I’ll see you at the lanes!