Wordless Wednesday: Discover the Dinosaurs

We Love Reptiles!

I’m always amazed at how many interesting people I meet through blogging and Instagram!  A little over a month ago I posted a picture on Instagram of JD visiting a leopard gecko (he really wants a lizard) at our local pet store.  This picture led to some really informative and fun Instagram conversations with Erik from Geckotropolis, a local leopard gecko breeder, member of S.C.H.A.&R . (Southern California Herpetology Association & Rescue) and fellow coffee enthusiast.  Erik was kind enough to mention that the North American Reptile Breeders Conference was coming to Anaheim, and that he and his group S.C.H.A.&R .  would be there also.  So, last weekend we headed to Anaheim for the convention.  We really had a great time, I don’t know who enjoyed it more JD or me!  Thanks Erik!

Grand Park Los Angeles

A couple weeks ago when summer finally arrived to Southern California we needed to find a place to beat the heat, and hubby had a great place in mind!  We headed to Downtown LA, and after a quick stop at Wurstküche in the Arts District for lunch, we made our way to Grand Park.  The park opened about a year ago, but this was our first time visiting it.  It really is a beautiful park and the fountain and wading pool will keep any child (or adult) cool and happy for hours.  Although the park is free and open to the public, the parking can be a little pricey in DTLA, but we are happy to report that parking is available at the Cathedral for $5 all day on Saturdays and Sundays (the park is about two blocks away), or you can take the Metro Red Line! 

About Grand Park

A city’s urban heart is an expression of its people, its diversity, its interests, and its passions.  The new Grand Park, with its majestic views extending from the Music Center to City Hall, provides Angelenos of all walks of life a place where they can come together to celebrate, reflect, and shape the future, in one central gathering place.  Throughout Grand Park, open spaces are available not only for casual sitting and leisurely strolling, but also for civic gatherings.  Grand Park has four distinct areas featuring amenities ranging from a restored historic Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain with a new wade-able membrane pool, a small intimate performance lawn, a community terrace planted with drought tolerant specimen plants representing the diverse cultural make-up of Los Angeles itself, and a grand event lawn.  The new Grand Park allows for a strong visual and physical connection from Grand Avenue via a series of stairs, accessible ramps and sloped walks as well as a new elevator to invite more pedestrians into a vibrant garden environment, a place to come together in a welcoming and distinctly urban oasis.

200 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles, California

Legoland California Hotel

Although our family has not had the privilege of visiting LEGOLAND California (yet), I am super excited about the new LEGOLAND Hotel opening tomorrow, April 5th.  Why, you ask?!  Well, this year we are skipping the birthday party and surprising our birthday boy with a 2 day trip to LEGOLAND, and we’ll be staying at the new LEGOLAND Hotel!

The LEGOLAND Hotel is located right at the main entrance of LEGOLAND California.  All 250 guest rooms are themed, so your family can choose from one of three popular LEGO lines – Pirate, Kingdom, or Adventure; we chose a pirate themed room.  Rooms include two separate sleeping areas, with a queen-size bed for grown-ups and a separate area for up to three little ones, complete with a bunk bed, pull-out trundle bed, and their very own TV!  As a special privilege, LEGOLAND Hotel guests will get entry to select LEGOLAND rides and attractions before the park officially opens.  We booked our room during their spring special, so JD gets to stay, play and eat for free!

We can’t wait to surprise him, especially since he is obsessed with Ninjago (Lego Ninjas) at the moment.  We even managed to find a bakery that will deliver a very special birthday cake to the LEGOLAND Hotel to make his birthday celebration complete! Stay tuned for pictures and a review in May.

San Francisco 2012

We took our road trip to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, and we had an amazing time! We are happy to announce that JD enjoys road tripping just as much as we do, oh and that mini vans are awesome (we rented a Toyota Sienna and I fell in love with it). We were worried that JD would have a hard time keeping up with sightseeing, but he really surprised us. I can only recall using his stroller once our entire trip. He kept up with us the entire time and made friends almost everywhere we went!

I finally had a chance to look through our pictures.  I think we took about 700 or more pictures (definitely more) and I picked about 70 or so and uploaded them to my Flickr account, you can see them here!  I also plan on sharing a few of my favorites on the blog and share the story behind them very soon.

2012 Summer Road Trip

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! With summer ending in a couple weeks we’ve been having fun, and getting things crossed off our bucket list.  Summer has been keeping us very busy, so I haven’t really had time to blog.  Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned this, but I'm currently addicted to my Kindle App (more on that later).  This addiction seems to keep me up reading romance novels, instead of blogging!

One of the items on our bucket list we haven’t crossed off yet, is our summer road trip.  So, we are taking a few days off in the coming week and heading to San Francisco.   This will be JD's first time visiting, and he is so excited to see the “big red bridge”!  I have to admit I'm pretty excited too, I Love San Francisco!

Art Credit: Eggplant Elephant

Underwood Family Farms

Saturday JD's aunties and I (daddy was working) decided to take JD on a little day trip.  While searching the web for fun things to do in Southern California we came across Underwood Family Farms. The Moorpark farm was about an hour away from our home and looked like a great place visit.  Once we arrived we realized the drive was well worth it.  This farm has it all: a farmers market, pick your own produce, an animal center, a playground, pony rides, animal show and so much more! The staff was super friendly, the farm was very well maintained and above all JD was completely entertained.  Weekend admission is $6, but if you decide to visit during the week it's only $3. I personally can't wait to visit again, this time with daddy of course.

OC Fair 2012

I'm finally getting around to sharing some of our OC Fair pictures. We visited the fair a couple weeks ago and had a really great time.  JD loves seeing the animals and we of course love tasting the food!