SA Zoo

 This week's adventure was  a trip to the Santa Ana Zoo. It's close. It's small and easy to cover in an hour or two AND it was FREE! I won 4 tickets to the zoo and had been saving them for summer.
The history of the zoo is kind of interesting to me. In 1949, J. E. Prentice donated 12 acres of his citrus ranch to Santa Ana for a park. With this donation, he stipulated that the city must keep at least 50 monkeys at all times. Prentice loved animals, and always had a fascination with monkeys. He kept several on his back porch at his first home, and he and his wife would feed them and enjoy their antics from their kitchen window.

 The kids read the sign to "swing like a monkey" and took it to heart, especially Abbey. Watching the antics of monkeys really is very entertaining. Mr. Prentice was right. They often behave like siblings, fighting, picking on each other, hitting and screeching.  We observed a variety of animals. We saw a camel (and it wasn't even Hump Day!). I have never seen an anteater up close. They are very odd looking creatures. The kids loved it.

They also have a cute merry-go-round and, at first, the trio decided they didn't want to ride it. Then, they saw the basket that they could spin, much like the Disneyland teacups. The thought of trying to make each other nauseous was too good to pass up! Ugh!
My monkeys enjoyed the other monkeys.
"Good adventure!", proclaimed Jack as we left. Music to my ears!!
Biggsuzi

Almost There??

You see lots of signs along the side of the road when you run races. Some are funny and make you chuckle as you run. Now THIS is a realistic sign for a race. I hate when people shout, "Almost there!" when there are still miles to go. If you have ever run a distance, it gets harder and harder as you chalk up the miles. When you hit the double digits (10 miles) of a half marathon, you know you have the better part of it licked, but you are far from "almost there". You still need to run 3.1 miles and that's a 5K. To some runners, a 5K is the ENTIRE race. Who would tell them, at the start, that they are "almost there"??? Probably nobody. Unless you are standing at the 13 mile marker, don't tell me I am "almost there"!

Now these are pretty funny. Smiling through the pain...cuz I'm almost there!!!

 



Trinity Bat Co Adventure

 These three lucky kids (Jack, his buddy from up north, Dylan and Abbey) got to tour Trinity Bat Co. today. They make wooden baseball bats. Jack had been asking me lately about a lathe machine and how bats are made, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to find out. This photo is of the wood as it comes into them to be made into the bats. It is carefully inspected for any flaws and weighed to get a precise weight for each and every bat made.

 This local company (USA made) makes bats for all ages and levels, even up to the majors. They count Adrian Gonzalez (Dodgers) and Hunter Pence (Giants) among their famous clients. I didn't know that major league guys can go through 200+ bats per year! They showed the kids the cutting of the wood and how it is painted. You can order any color of bat and have it engraved with your name, logo, etc. Jack said the man who was doing the painting was amazing with how perfectly he painted them. They ship a huge amount of bats to Korea and, for some reason, the Korean teams like the color orange and request their bats to be painted that color!
Their motto, "You will always cross home plate with Trinity Bats" is true because, as you enter their showroom, you have to cross home plate! Abbey insisted I take her picture standing right there. Great motto and clever idea.

Thank you, Jeremy, for being such a gracious host. He said they asked really great questions. They each shook his hand and thanked him when we were finished. Proud Grammie moment! As we left and headed to the car, they proclaimed how cool that was and how much they liked the tour. All three chatted the whole drive home about what they had seem and learned.
Another successful summer adventure!!! Isn't the world interesting if you just take the time to look around and learn about things??

Our Weekend

"A picture is worth a thousand words."
This was our weekend, in a nut shell.
1)We were invited to join the hockey team for a BBQ on Saturday. The hosts had a lovely home, complete with an amazing rock slide which the kids went down a bazillion times! Holding onto the sides as they went, they found out later they had scraped up their fingers pretty bad, but it was worth it. Abbey decided she needed a bandaid on every finger. It may have been more of a fashion statement than a medical need!
2) Jack's team won the gold medal for their division. Here he stands between his two biggest cheerleaders. Watching him play, watching his smile, watching the team work so well together, is sheer joy.
3) Maddy headed off to sleep away camp for a week. She and Pa were being extra silly by shaking hands good bye. It was especially silly because Pa helped drive her to camp and they probably hugged ten times after this photo was taken. These two, thick as thieves, as they say. Plus, Pa's humor ranges in the eight year old mentality, so the kids find him extra funny. Me...not so much!!
Not Hawaii, not Europe, not even close, and, yet, such a fun weekend! Guess it's true. It's not where you are, but who you are with that makes life great.

JWA Tour

In our continuing quest for summer adventures, we toured John Wayne Airport today. Being an event planner, I put it out there on Facebook and invited others to join us. As you can see, we ended up with a great group of adults and kids. Fred was our tour guide. He is a darling man who volunteers his time to give these tours, retired military, pilot and sweet, sweet man. We thoroughly enjoyed him and he said we were a wonderful and attentive group. He talked about the history of the airport and all of its name changes over the years (Santa Ana Airport, Orange County Airport and, finally, JWA). We checked out baggage claim and where lost bags end up. Other than on a tour, you hope you never have to go to that counter! The lady at the counter gave each child a sucker.

 The kids had a first hand conversation with the head of the TSA security. They had them walk through the detector machine, explained what they are looking for, scanned a mom's handbag, and told them what they can and cannot bring on an airplane and why. Each kid was given a TSA badge sticker.

Before he said goodbye, Fred took us upstairs to a secret little spot that is perfect for viewing the departure and landing of the airplanes. We saw both up close.

Here's our group, 21 strong, from five years old to, well, old!!! As they say, a good time was had by all! Making an ordinary day extraordinary. What could be better??

Summer Adventures

 Determined not to spend the summer watching the kids "veg" out in front of the iPad, I have been doing research on local "adventures". I read about this cool park in Cerritos that had mini houses set in old English style with slides and climbs inside, a pond with ducks, geese and many turtles. We headed over there to check it out and it was pretty cool. Tons of kids from a summer camp were also there, so we didn't stay too long. Watching the swimming turtles was fascinating.

 We decided to head to another park in Huntington Beach that had beautiful trails and trees. Our blanket and picnic basket gave us a reason to stop and enjoy the area and eat our lunch. The fresh air must have done them good, because all three ate every bite of their sandwich!

We found a playground with play equipment. The trio immediately got involved in a game with kids who were already there. Abbey told me she made three new friends and could name all of them. Two were nice and one was mean, according to her! Their game involved finding sticks and turning them into "guns". Now, I have never bought my kids or grandkids toy guns, but, somehow, that doesn't stop them from creating them. I watched carefully and they had strict rules that you could not actually touch anyone with your stick gun. A good rule, I thought! Lots of running and laughing and tagging ensued. Nobody cried! Nobody got mad! Nobody came and tattled! Maybe the sticks were magic!!!
At the end of the day, I realized we had not spent any money (except gas and lunch from home) and, yet, had a terrific time.
Another successful adventure.