Vintage Store

The San Bernardino County Museum is offering a widee range of fun activities and workshops to avoid Summer Brain-Drain.
This Friday July 16 they are having Painting Made SImple: watercolor (10:00 am, 1 and 3)
Saturday July 17 you can do Lettering Art (9:00 am to noon and 2 to 5) This workshop is geared towards kids 12 and up.
Sunday July 18 will be Photograply Made SImple: Landscapes (1 and 3 pm)

All of the workshops are included with paid admission or membership.



The Lewis Family Plahouse in Rancho Cucamanga presents Peter Pan Saturday July 17 and Sunday July 18th.
Childrens of all ages can enjoy the magic of Peter pan and Tinkerbell leading the way to Neverland, where they will have wonderful adventures fighting the villan Captain Hook and his band of Pirates.

The Lewis Family playhouse is located in the Victoria Gardens Shopping mall, where you can enjoy the whole day. There is a little train or you can take a ride on the garden trolley


The life house theater presents the family fantasy "The little Marmaid" on weekends until August 8th.
Friday: 7:30 p.m., Saturday: 2:15 & 7:30 p.m., & Sunday: 2:15 p.m.

The story is an adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale about a mermaid's battle for the future of the undersea kingdom


The Temecula Children's Museum offers a hands workshop (Pennypickle's workshop) on inventions,gadgets and experiments for children.
it is located at 42081 Main Street, Old Town Temecula, CA 92590 Check their website for hours!

Check Lakeshore stores for free crafts every Saturday from 11:00 to 3:00
This Saturday July 17th you can make a Sandy Beach Scene.

LOS ANGELES All Aboard the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad.

One of my son’s favorite rides is at Griffith park and is the Los Angeles Live Steamers Raildroad.



It operates almost every Sunday (weather permitting )from 11:00 to 3:00. The ride is free but they do encourage to make a donation since everyone there is a volunteer.


The train takes you over bridges, through tunnesl, you will pass a mine and so much more. It is really a fun place to take the kids and it is right next to the Walt Disney Barn, that is open every third Sunday of each month (separate post on the Walt Disney Barn and travel town next)





Pictures are not allowed during the ride, so I don't have pictures to share you will have to see for yourself!


The eagle recovers around a mark!

ORANGE COUNTY Little Corona del Mar Beach Tide pools

Beautiful kid friendly little beach with lots of rocks to climb and tide pools to explore. If you have never been and you like nature, I highly recommend you to go!
Great activity for summer time!

We parked on the streets and walk down to the beach, it is a little steep but you get to enjoy spectacular views.





We brought a tent and had a picnic, made sand castles, climbed the rocks,looked at the shells and even got to see a wedding!

If you visit the beach at low tide and want to climb the rocks, remember to bring your tennies or water shoes!



It is important to read all the signs! We noticed that people were letting their kids play in a stream of water that clearly said it was drainage from the residential area.

Also be aware that The City of Newport and the State of CA are trying to preserve the tide pools for everyone to enjoy, so there are rangers to police the area. The State rangers will write tickets for disturbing or removing any indigenous material, if you happen to go on a weekend they will give you a brouchure with the rules:
1.Never remove animals, shells rocks or plants from the tidepools.
2.Never pick up animals, observe them where they are.
3.Walk gently, taking care not to step on plants or animals
4.Never turn over rocks

There is all kinds of marine life and you could see depending on the season:
The sea life that you can expect to find includes:
Barnacles, Limpets, Hermit crabs, Opaleye, Black Turban snails, Sea Anemone, Chiton and mussles.

Los Angeles Angeles Flight shortest railroad in the world!

Last April we were headed to LA to go to the LA Times Festival of Books in UCLA and we decided to make a stop to take the shortest railroad in the world!!

For only 25 cents per ride ($1.00 for five rides per person) you can take this historical ride that was closed for nine years!








It is really fun to take this quick historic ride from the bottom of Hill Street to California Plaza where you are welcomed by the ticket office and then a wonderful view of sky scrapers and a fabulous fountain.



If you have a little train aficionado, He or she will love this interesting ride!!
But plan your visit carefully because this little train is in downtown Los Angeles and during weekdays traffic can be a challenge!

SAN DIEGO The Reuben Fleet Science Center

Another wonderful place to visit in San Diego is Balboa Park and within Balboa Park the Ruben Fleet Science Center.
I would describe the center as nourishment for the imagination. My son was able to become fully engaged with the experience by exploring science with hands on exhibits.

The museum is pretty small, even thought it is divided into two levels. But because of the hands on experience we spent a lot of time in there.

If you are going on a week day morning be prepared to share the experience with kids on school field trips. The large crowds of school kids may make it more difficult to enjoy all of the activities and exhibits not to mention the parking can be a challenge while the school field trips are in progress.

What we did to avoid ‘sharing’ the exhibits with that many kids, was to first take a ride around Balboa Park in the free service Trolley, then we had a wonderful picnic outside the museum and then we were ready to go.



We had been at the Reuben H. Fleet 2 years ago when my son was 3 and although he had enjoyed it, this time at 5 years he not only enjoyed it but I could see how the exhibits were making him ‘think’ and how at the time he was ‘playing’ he was learning important concepts.





There are pendulums, gyroscopes, wind tunnels, sound exhibits, magnets mechanisms, wooden blocks ..... you name it! A very diverse and definitely hands-on.











Within the museum they have Kid City specially design for kids under the age of five. This area has computers, a little grocery store with shopping carts and conveyer belts that they need to move mechanically to make the food go from side to side and the most amazing and interactive ball exhibit.





We really enjoyed the museum, and I highly recommend it for people with small children.

SAN DIEGO USS Midway Navy Aircraft carrier

Recently we went to San Diego and there is so many things to do in San Diego that is hard to choose, but this time we chose to do things we had not done before.
We all know how great Sea World and the San Diego Zoo are, but San Diego is so full of amazing things to do, that we could spend months there and don't get bored!



The Midway provided us with a wonderful opportunity to combine fun with learning a liitle bit about history.
The self guided audio tour gave us an insight of how life was aboard this impressive carrier.

It is amazing to explore the different exhibits took us inside the crew’s sleeping quarters, the engine room, the shop, the ready rooms, the jail, post office etc.
It is so interesting to see how the crew of an aircraft carrier manages to live in such a small space.



If you have little kids, I would definitely advise you to spend more time in the flight deck experiencing first hand the different planes and helicopters and less time in the lower levels going through the maze of sleeping quarters that in my opinion offers less of an adventure than the feeling of being a pilot and exploring all the controls.

The lower levels are difficult to navigate with kids because there are a lot of very narrow staris as well as the hall ways. We had to go up, We had to go down and then back up quite a few times and with little kids (4-7) that are walking it could be hard to enjoy because they will get tired soon and if you have smaller babies or toddlers you will be very tired from carring them around.

The best part for us, was definitely the flight deck where you can climb-aboard aircraft and cockpits and the flight simulators.

As we were leaving we stopped to get some brochures and the person behind the desk realized our son had really enjoyed his adventure aboard the Midway and he gave him his very own ‘wings’ which made the experience even more ‘memorable’.

It was a wonderful experience!

Like Roller coaster ride

I am a SAHM to a wonderful five and a half year old son. These past years have been definitely the best of my life yet nothing could have ever prepared me for it.
I started late in life, I first went to college, started two careers, had a business and travel a lot, but nothing, nothing I did before could prepare me for the ride ahead.

In making friends with my son’s friend’s mommies that are much younger than me I realized that it doesn’t matter how old you are when you start motherhood, we all start in the same place. We all need to learn step by step.
Like a roller coaster ride, you don’t know what it is like until you do it yourself, nothing can prepare you for it.

Most of my friends say I always know about everything that is going on for kids and that we always go to the best places, so I decided to share what I have learned about activities for kids in Southern California.



I will share the little things I have learned that might help make your ride a bit easier, a lot of fun without spending a lot.

Happy Independence day America!

Today we celebrate the birthday of a great Nation, today the United States of America celebrates 234 years!