Legoland CA

A couple of weeks ago J and her Girl Scout troop went to Legoland CA. She had gone once when she was about four but this would be Max’s first visit (16 at months old).

What I love about this theme park is that we rarely heard whining about how long the lines were, and we had about 12 kids under the age of 9 (not including the babies in our group)! The park wasn't overly crowded but as many schools have been slowly closing out their school year it definitely wasn't a “slow” day. One of the main contributors of happy kids in line was that there were Lego play areas in the middle of where the line snaked around. Kids could enjoy building models while parents made their way thru the bulk of the line, and one could easily keep an eye on the kiddos. This allowed the grownups to engage in conversations or enjoy the intercut scenery with minimal “I’m bored” comments from the peanut gallery.

In every themed area there is also a play yard of some sort where children are encouraged to explore and burn off some of that energy. One of our group’s favorite was the Pharaoh’s Revenge, where kids could shoot foam balls out of cannons and climb around the hut. Caution it gets loud in there, so if you are sensitive to loud booms and shrieks keep an eye from outside.

Juliana and her friends had a blast running from one ride to the other, many times without needing an adult/ older sibling rider. This park is really geared towards the 6-12 age group or those who are really fascinated with Legos.

I remembered when we came with Juliana at age 3 ½-4 she was very limited on what she could ride based on height and age requirements. We encountered this same issue with Max, there wasn’t much all inclusive family friendly rides. Below are the rides and my 3 star rating on how family friendly and inclusive they are for ALL members of the family.

***LEGOLAND Express- Fun Town

***Fairy Tale Brook- Explorer Island

***Coast Cruise- Miniland USA

**Mia’s Riding Camp- (stand next to your little rider)- Heartlake City

*Cargo Ace- (not all adults will be able to fit alongside of their little flyer)- Land of Adventure

As you can see out of the whole park there was only 5 rides spread out far and wide that Max could enjoy.Wwe relied heavily on the play areas to keep him entertained while everyone else was on the other rides.

This visit we stopped at the Knights Smokehouse, members of our group had the chicken tenders, pulled pork, beef brisket and ribs. Everyone said that the food was tasty, although one said that their German salad was WAAY to sour to be enjoyable so be warned.

While you are there you must try their Apple Fries! Yumm they coast around $5 and make a tasty treat.

There was an incident in which we spoke to management about- more on that later, but we had that conversation away from the kids and all in all they had a marvelous day!

DIY - Lego Tees

Tackle It Tuesday:

DIY Special Occasion Tees:

My daughter's Girl Scout troop is going to Legoland and I thought it would be cute for them to have a special tee for their outing.
What you need:

• Blank white T-Shirts from the Children's Place that came out to about $3.50 after sale and coupon discounts
• Avery T-Shirt Transfer Sheets about $7 (note* I tried Target's Up& Up brand first but they didn't work as well)
• Home computer & ink jet printer (laser jet wont work)
• Iron
• Hard flat surface (not recommended to use ironing board)

I scoured the internet for a Lego mini fig head, copied pasted on a simple MS Word doc, added their nicknames in Lego font (also found online). Since transfer sheet packet came with only 6 sheets and I needed to make eleven tees; I put two per sheet and cut them after printed for transfer. 

Iron on for about 60 seconds and wait for it to completely cool. Then simply peel off!

To make our Lego fig more feminine I hand sewed on a cute bow  and voila ! They were a hit with the girls who looked great on their outing!

  

Cutting for a Cause

KEARTH radio station has teamed up with Locks of Love, Supercuts, and Girl Scouts for the 5^th annual Locks of Love week. Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that assists disadvantage youth dealing with illnesses that cause hair loss hair pieces.

A couple months ago J mentioned she wanted to cut her hair short; and a few days later I saw an email that Locks of Love week was coming up. I mentioned it to J if she wanted to participate in this event and she graciously agreed. This is J’s second donation, and this time she was really excited about being able to help.

Now thru June 7^th you can go to any participating Supercuts and get a free haircut with your donation (minimum 10 inches and other minor requirements apply). Also while supplies last you receive a FREE Paul Mitchell brush (while supplies last). Now you are able to donate at any time, but one of the great things about this promo time is that Supercuts takes care of collecting and shipping your donated hair.

J is a Brownie Girl Scout and her 12 inch donation earned her a special patch to add to her vest. When asked how she feels about her donation J responded: “Good, I think kids who lost their hair might feel better if they had hair.”

Medieval Times

Have you been to  Medieval Times? Last week was our first visit to to the Buena Park castle and it was a pretty good experience.  
Our Purchasing Experience: The price to go to is a bit steep starting at $61.95 for adults and $36.95 for children, but there is almost always some sort of discount offer available. Be sure to check out their social media outlets for exclusive offers. You can purchase your tickets at their box office, over the phone or online. We purchased our tickets online with the Kids Eat Free promo. Afterward we saw many different offers on social media that possibly would have been better (they were not) and I called to see if we could update our discount code. I found out I would be able to and receive the difference via gift shop credit. I also figured out they don't respond to any social media messages like other vendors/brands/company; so if you need assistance use their website contact us form or call your castle directly. 

Our Check in Experience: Their website says that doors open 75 minutes before your show. Word of caution, arrive early! Their parking lot isn't really big and part was closed off for construction, and although we did not encounter parking issues since we were the first show of the day if you are the second show keep in mind guest parking will overlap. We arrived 60 minutes before our show and there was a line. It took us about 20 minutes to check in and get our assigned seating and paper crowns. You can bypass this by upgrading your seats and it comes with a couple other perks. Also the reason for the long wait is the shuffle of taking souvenir pictures with the King, Princess, Knight or whoever they have posing. If you are not interested in purchasing that photo just skip ahead to move to the great hall.


The great hall is basically a giant gift-shop. You can purchase all sorts of souvenirs from crowns to swords, shot-glasses and even a suit of armor! Everything is a bit pricey but a must is purchasing a cheering flag. There are two different flags available in all of the knights colors from $2-$5. You can also check out the horses which are beautiful, grab a an alcoholic libation at the bar, visit the torture museum,and watch the knighting ceremonies. 


After getting through the check in process and taking the kids to use the restroom and get washed up we really only had enough time to buy our flags and head to our door to find our assigned seats. So if you are interested in checking all that stuff out make sure you are there early, upgrade your seats, or check it our after the show.

Stock photo

Our Dining Experience: The food wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but not terrible. You start off with a bowl of tomato soup and garlic bread.  Dinner is roasted chicken, potato, corn on the cob. Dessert is a fruit pastry, and two rounds of soft drink beverage. There is a vegetarian option for those who prefer it. It is stadium style seating with bar/counter top table. There isn't very much leg room so those who have long legs may find it uncomfortable for an extended period.

Our Show Experience:
It starts out with a demonstration of the beautiful Spanish horses. Followed by a "Tournament of Skill." The acting is well... lets just say its great for the kids and those with imaginative minds. But in all honesty if you are not willing to play along and get into the atmosphere this is not the place for you. We cheered for our knight and booed our competitors. Waved our flags high when our knight won, and we were ecstatic when my niece was chosen to be the Queen of the tournament. I mean just look at my daughter's face, I don't think she could be happier if she would have been chosen herself! 

 All in all it was a great first visit. Quick note kids under 3 are free with paying adult, sitting on adult lap and eating off adult plate. Our server was nice and gave us an extra slice of bread to dip in the tomato soup for the baby. I recommend visiting at least once with school aged children; and although we had a great time I don't see us visiting again for another couple years when Max is a little older and can really appreciate it. But he did love the bang and clashes of the sword fights.

PINCHme

Freebie Friday

I don't know about you but I LOVE getting samples in the mail. There is something about the travel sized item that I cannot resist. Plus I love trying new stuff, so if I get new products to sample its a double win for me. I want to tell you about a site that will send you samples for FREE and all you have to do is sign up (don't worry they are totally legit and won't fill your mailbox with spam), and review the product your tried. That easy.

PINCHme allows you to choose from available items to sample and they will send them to you for free! After you receive your box filled with the goodies and coupons you chose, simply try them out and log back into your account to submit your review. Its all very easy.

Here is some of the stuff I received to sample and review:

Samples are not always available and they do go fast so keep an eye out for when samples are released and log on as soon as soon as they are released for most variety. But if you do miss it, try again next time or take advantage of any coupons the manufacturer may offer. A new program rolling out is a offers Pinchers a chance to pick their boxes before anyone else but this service is set to costs $3.99. I don't know how well this will go as they are FREE samples. but some people might like the opportunity to pay a small fee to try out different stuff before purchasing them at the store. Maybe PINCHme will offer additional goodies to make it worth the fee. I suppose I will have to check it out. Stay tuned for my follow up.  Happy Pinching!

Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links of One 24/7 Mom blog. I may have received products/services for review purpose and may have been compensated for this post. I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. Vendors have not influenced the editorial nature of this post. 

Max's Baptism

Last week we baptized our son into the Catholic faith. It was a momentous and joyous occasion in a parent's life. For those of you who are not familiar with Catholicism, there are seven sacraments one receives. They are blocked in three categories; Sacraments of Initiation, Healing and Service

 Baptism is the first sacrament of initiation into the Catholic faith. It is a decision made by the parents and Godparents to raise the child in the house of God, as he grows up he will have a couple opportunities to accept and confirm this decision for himself. 

There are some important symbolism involved with a baptism. One is the white garment which symbolizes purity. Oils of Catechumens and Sacred Chrism are placed on the forehead, chest and back to symbolize the anointment of the Holy Spirit that the person baptized is called to be Priest, Prophet, and King just as Jesus was. Water is used to cleanse and wash away Original Sin. The Lighting of the candle is the done at the end of the ceremony from the Paschal/ Easter candle to remind us to of the Light of Christ to shine bright within us so the whole world can see. 

After the ceremony at the church we celebrated at a family member's house. Our theme was Anchored in Christ and here are a few pictures of our event. 

A huge thank you to some of our vendors

Two Angel Kisses - cake, cookies, & cake pops

Paperlette Designs- ship centerpieces 

Red Ink and Paper-  photography

Disney Family Museum

Magical Monday:


Earlier this year we spent a couple days up in Northern California, and if you haven't been I highly suggest going for at least a day or two. We were there helping my best friend move back down to Southern California so our time was a bit pinched. However we did manage to squeeze in a day in the bay city and check out some local attractions. 

One that can not be missed by any Disney loving fan is a trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I could spend all day there. It truly is an awesome collection of memorabilia and history.

Concept art, awards, equipment, family treasures. It really brings out the spirit of Walt. There are several hands on pieces, such as adding audio to an animation. No easy feat. And talking with animatronic parrots, quite entertaining. The concept model of Disneyland on display is ahh inspiring. 

One of my favorite parts of the museum was the observation deck. Check out that view! But that's not the reason why I love that display. In that area is a special bench, to all you Disney fans you know what I am talking about. When his daughters were young, Walt Disney would take them to the carousel at Griffith Park. While they rode the ride, he would sit on a park bench and watch them. He said that one one of those visits the idea of Disneyland came to him. The idea of a magical kingdom that has brought so much joy and  wonder to generations for the past 60 years just poof manifested itself to this great man in such a simple way. Now no one know for sure which bench exactly it was, so you will in counter some debate on which is the true "Disney Bench"  but in any case here is one of the original benches form the park. 
Who knows what dreams were thought up here, all I know is that: 
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney