Woodbridge Park Concert Series: Pacific Symphony

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.

Feeding Time

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.

VBS Week

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!

Jelly Belly Factory

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. 

Back in Business

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

A Fond Farewell (to Our Canon S90)

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. 

 

Sterling Vineyards

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. 

Golfing on the Fifth of July in Napa

Since the kids did not sleep a wink in the car on the way to Napa, we did not try to stay up for the fireworks at the nearby Vintner’s Golf Club.  However, on Saturday morning, we went to the golf course for k and n’s first try at golfing.  Grandpa and Grandma bought them kid-sized golf clubs and they were ready to hit the driving range.

They also practiced putting.  Both of the kids enjoyed themselves, but I think n liked it more overall.  D was also able to brush up on some of his skills since he may be playing for a work function in a couple of months.  They even returned to the golf course on Sunday when D’s brother and sister came over. 

Fourth of July in Napa

We just returned from visiting D’s family in Napa.  The kids had so much fun that they did not want to leave.  We left early on Friday morning.  In the late afternoon we took a short stroll through Yountville.

The French Laundry garden had new additions since the last time we visited—animals!  Goats, chickens, and bees, to be exact.

These goats are fed “farm to grass”—carrot tops and red potatoes.

Bee hive

Next was a return stop to the park, which has a lot of cool, different features.

Dinner was at Pacific Blues Café.  Even though we have been to Napa so many times, there are always new-to-us places to try.

It is a relatively casual spot, so it is good for families with kids.  It was nice to eat out on the patio under the shade of the umbrellas.  D and I split the hamburger and cobb salad, both of which were solid choices.  k and n split the kids’ chicken tenders (and shared some of the other dishes as well).

Afterward we made a stop at nearby Kollar Chocolates for gelato.

The service was not the friendliest, but the kids enjoyed the gelato.  n was being particularly possessive over it.