More Summer Outings..

Is it possible to have too much outdoor fun?  No way, not for the Kurani family! Although looking back over the week we had I understand why I'm so tired today.

First stop was the Huntington Beach Adventure Park.  I got the idea for this excursion from a friend of mine, Brenda Ponnay aka Secret Agent Josephine.  She has a great blog and is a uber-talented gal.

Opening up the place

We showed up right at 10am when it opened (ok, maybe we were 10 minutes early), you know cause that's the way I roll.  Admission was only $3. and let me tell you that this may be the best $9 I spent all summer.

Huckleberry Finn anyone??

There is a medium size pond with a bunch of rafts the kids can take out.  Now, before anyone gets too excited let me say that at the deepest point the water came up to the kid's thighs.  So not too deep, but deep enough for fun.

Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Watch me!!

Besides rafting, the Adventure Park also has a building area.  A serious building area - you know like where they hand out nails, hammers and saws. 

Building a shelter, we may be moving in :)

Son 1 was in heaven, he got busy collecting wood and finding extra nails to use.   The kids only get issued 3 nails and if you want more you have to turn in either trash or old, bent nails.  The quest to get more nails seemed to be half the fun.

Lunch break

I brought a chair for me and a picnic lunch for the kids.  I ended up moving my chair around depending on what the kids were doing.

At 11am they opened up the "Mud Slide".  Can I just say that this slide is aptly named and a whole bunch of fun - for the kids at least.

Daughter and Son 2 covered in muddy water

Luckily I had read the website information on the park and came prepared.  Because this is what the kids' shoes looked like when they changed.   Disgusting.  The park recommends you bring extra clothes and wear old shoes.  Yep, that was some good advice.

Shoes ready for the trash

I would go one step further and wear clothes that you can throw away when you get home, because honestly I don't think these clothes will ever be clean again.

Mud slide casualties - those are white socks and shorts

But honestly the HB Adventure Park is all about having old fashioned fun and getting dirty. Something we don't always get enough of.

Right next to the Adventure Park is the Huntington Beach City Library - and what a library it is.  We stopped in to use the bathrooms (the ones at the Adventure Park are Porta-Potties) and looked around.  I didn't get a chance to look at their programs but it would be worth going back and spending some time there.

Circular ramp - Central Library was built in 1974

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Conservancy.  The driveway is easy to miss as there isn't much of a sign and only a small building on site.  Small packages can be deceiving though, because the visitor center was packed full of interesting exhibits for the kids and had the added bonus of being free!

Sea bird exhibit

Outside there are 2-3 miles of trails to explore.  We didn't get to walk the whole thing because Son 1 and Daughter went on strike, much to the disappointment of Son 2.  We are going to plan a second trip here with Nadim on a weekend.

Wetlands trail

The Santa Ana Zoo was also on our hit list this week, but to be completely honest it was the most expensive thing we did and the most boring.  Not a good combination really.  Admission was $10 for me and $7. for each kid.  I would have liked the zoo more if the tickets were half the price.

Bald eagle nest

We did enjoy seeing the Bald eagle nest and the Bald eagle.  The nest was huge!  The Pampas grass exhibit was one of the nicer ones along with the collection of primates.  We saw the whole Zoo in about an hour and then spent an additional 45 minutes at the playground - yep, $31 was too much.

Lamas, emus and camels - oh my!

The Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary on the other hand was great and it was free!!  The drive was a bit long but very beautiful.

Ready for some adventure!

The Nature Center was loaded with hands on science and nature activities.  The microscopes were particularly popular with Son 1 and Son 2.  Daughter was happy with the giant basket of animal puppets and coloring sheets.

Looking at a moth's wing

We started out on the Chaparral trail and headed up to a view point.  Along the way we saw a coyote and raccoon tracks along with a whole bunch of scat (otherwise known as poop). Who knew poop could be so exciting?  I guess I'm to blame since I'm the one who purchased the scat identification chart.  Yes there really is such a thing :)

Son 1 wanted to keep on hiking into the wilds of the Cleveland National Forest, but there was more to see back at the Sanctuary.

Water break

Once down the hill we wandered the trails in the Sanctuary itself and saw an abundance of wild life.  There were bird and squirrel feeders set out to draw animals and the most exciting thing we saw was a covey of quail and a woodpecker.  This was hands down the best outing of the week.

How much longer??

Last was a trip to M and M Nursery.  I've been to this Nursery before, like about 20 years ago, but I hadn't realized that they turned into sort of a niche nursery with their fairy garden angle until I read about it on another friends blog Suffle' Girl and decided to check it out.

Fairy garden display, I love the living roof

If you love Story Book Land and Casey Jr rides at Disneyland (which I do) then you will LOVE M&M.  Even the boys got into it.

Checking things out

M&M has a beautiful display of fairy gardens and bonsai, trust me that if you take your kids you will wind up with a fairy garden of your own.

Daughter's favorite garden

We did.  We came home with some plants and have started our own fairy garden in the backyard.  I'll post some pictures of it another time.  Inside their store, M&M sells all the miniature buildings that really turn the garden into something special.

Son 2 and Daughter checking out the largest garden

How's that for some summer fun??  I don't think we could have done any more - well and remained sane that is.

Let me know if you try any of the places I've mentioned out :)

Have a great week!

Summer Outings..

.. a whole weeks worth of them :)

Summer is my favorite time of year, not because my children don't bicker constantly, they do - but because its time for me to play teacher.

I love exposing my kids to new people, places and things.

So I've come up with a loose schedule for the summer where the the kids and I alternate who gets to pick the outing.

Here is what we did this week :)

Chuck E Cheese - ok, so I hate this place and really it has no redeeming qualities.

Token bank

But the kids chose it so what am I going to do??  I spent $30. on tokens and set them free.  The tokens lasted about an hour,

Las Vegas for kids

then we traded them in for about $2.98 worth of crappy toys.   On the positive side, we've done Chuck E. so no need to go back the rest of the summe - yes!!

Prizes we redeemed about 1000 tickets for

After Chuck E. Cheese we all needed some fresh air and where better to find some fresh air than the summit of Turtle Rock?

I chose Turtle Rock because I love hiking and it was free!  Something to consider with a large family like mine.

Heading up to the never ending staircase

This hike can be quick or pretty long, its up to you.  We headed up the face of the hill, the kids love scrambling over the rocks.

The kids and I heading up

Once we got to the top all of Orange County was at our feet, talk about some great views.  We hiked down the ridge a while then looped back.  There is a nice playground at the foot of the hill, so the kids played a bit and then we headed home.

SoCal at our feet

Next up was the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach.  The kids were free and it was $12 each for Nadim and I to get in.

The kids were not excited to see the museum until we pulled into the parking lot and they saw the sculpture outside.  Yes, that is indeed a very large un-nuetered male dog peeing on the side of the building.  The boys of course LOVED it.

"Bad Dog" sculpture outside the building

The Museum was Nadim's idea and he did a great job of making the art inside interesting and relevant to the kids.

My favorite art installation

The OCMA has a great collection and the museum is small enough that you can see everything without the kids going nuts.

Very, very detailed painting

The kids favorite's were the pieces that were performance art based.  The best one was entitled "Open Doors", be sure to check that one out if you take your kids.

Modern tapestries

Finally we visited Sherman Gardens and Library in Corona Del Mar, Son 2 wanted to see some animals - he is my scientist.

The kids were free and my admission was only $3. The Gardens don't open until 10:30 but we showed up at 10am and wandered in.  They were nice enough not to kick us out :)

Heading inside

The gardens are beautiful.  They don't seem to get many children visitors as all the staff were oohing and aahing over the kids.

Heron sculpture

The whole site is about 2 acres and there is a lot to see crammed into the fairly small space.  Take your time and pay attention to all the small details.

Koi pond

The kids loved the koi and the turtles best.  The staff told us that there are also 5 tree frogs by the koi, but we didn't see them.

Turtle pond

We headed into the library last.  In the car on the way over I had discussed what a Resource Library is with the kids and we guessed what kind off books might be in there.

Resource Library

No we didn't find any Sponge Bob or Fancy Nancy books, we did find some phone books from 1910-1940, Sunset magazines from 1911 and other old, old books.  There was even a journal from one of the Father's who came up and founded some of the California missions.

Looking up "posterior"

Son 1 found this dictionary and thought is was hilarious to look up "posterior", you know another word for butt, and leave the dictionary open to the page.

Definition of posterior

The kids liked Chuck E Cheese best (no surprise there) but running a close second was the Sherman Gardens and Library.  Who knew??

Keep me posted if you try any of these outings (well, I don't really care about Chuck E Cheese :) and let me know how it went.

Have a great week!