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Joie De Viv

finding the joy in every day

SoCal Family Fun Night: Chinese Lantern Festival

November 14, 2018 ·

I’ve been gone a minute, I know.  This Kindergarten Life is no joke!   I am very much looking forward to a family fun night for some quality time this weekend at the Hanart Culture’s Chinese Lantern Festival coming to the Pomona Fairplex!  This is the first year the festival is making its way to California and I know it is going to be a wondrous experience for the family.

I’ve long wanted to take the kids to a lantern or light up the sky festival, but they’re always too far and/or too late with little ones.  Not to mention, it’s rather scary to light flaming lanterns with toddlers afoot!

The Chinese Lantern Festival is perfect for families and friends of all ages and sizes!  Most of the 1000+ lanterns are lit up with LED lights, producing bright, beautiful sculptures to safely enjoy.  This year’s theme is “The Wild” and showcases various animals from all continents of the world, some even from the past!  Totally “Instagram-worthy!”

Lanterns have evolved from Buddhist traditions in China, to a treasured and modernized art form excited to be shared with other cultures around the globe.  Lanterns are now synonymous with joyous occasions to celebrate with loved ones.  The festival is not just limited to lantern displays, however!  There will be an immersive multicultural experience that include Chinese folk artists demonstrating crafts, twice-daily live Kung-Fu Martial Arts performances, Dinosaur Rides and a children’s play area, an artist’s marketplace, and a variety of Asian cuisines to choose from.

**DISCLAIMER: My family is invited to this event free of charge, but all opinions and enthusiasm are 100% my own!**

 

INFO:

WHERE:

Pomona Fairplex

1101 McKinley Ave.

Pomona, CA 91768

 

WHEN:

Beginning November 15th – January 6, 2019

Thursday through Sunday (including Holidays)

5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. (No admittance after 9:20 p.m.)

 

TICKETS:

Tickets can be purchased at the event or online prior to your visit at https://www.chineselanternfestival.com/tickets. I highly recommend doing this for significant savings!

  • Tickets are $27 at the door or $21 online for adults, $23 at the door or $19 online for
    senior citizens, $19 at the door or $15.50 online for children ages 4-12 and free for children ages 4 and younger.  No pets allowed except service dogs

 

  • Tickets: You may present a printed ticket, or show us on your mobile device your electronic ticket.

  • Refund Policy: Refunds up to 1 day before event.

  • Fairplex Parking: $12/car

  • Weather Conditions: Rain and strong wind can affect everyone’s plans. When rain or high wind comes, patrons will be allowed to use their tickets for another time.

  • *** WITH SOCAL FIRES GOING ON, ADVISE CHECK @chineselanternfest and www.chineselanternfestival.com TO CONFIRM BEFORE EVENT.***

Connection and Updates:

  • Insta: @ChineseLanternFest
  • Facebook: Facebook.com/ChineseLanternFestival
  • Twitter: @LanternFests
  • #ChineseLanternFestival

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Baby/Kids, mom life, So Cal Kids Activities, Southern California kids activites, things to do with kids, travel, Uncategorized Tagged: art, baby, california, china, Chinese, cultural, culture, display, event, experience, Fairplex, family, festival, folk, folk art, friends, gram, hanart, holidays, instagram, instagrammable, kid-friendly, kids, lantern, lanterns, Los Angeles, multicultural, nightlife, Orange County, Pomona, SoCal, toddlers

SoCal Kid Spot: Great Wolf Lodge & Tips

March 11, 2018 ·

A couple of years ago, Great Wolf Lodge opened a new location in Garden Grove, CA, JUST down the street from Disneyland! We have just spent our second “staycation” at the resort, and I hope I can share some of our experiences and tips we’ve found with other families who are considering this super fun family attraction!

The 105,000-square-foot indoor water park is exclusively for hotel guests and boasts over 600 suites. Our first trip was for Kaitlyn’s 4th birthday. We booked a standard suite and invited family to come along. We were able to purchase guest visitor passes for $50/pp and kids with 4 little toddlers, 3 of whom did not require a wristband. Despite their young age (3 under 3), the kids all had a blast! This year, we booked 2 suites for both families and the kids (5 under 5!) – and again all throughly enjoyed the park!

For the toddlers, we’ve always packed their Puddle Jumpers, because they are all familiar and comfortable with them. The resort does provide complimentary life vests and suggest all children under 48″ wear them.

The water park itself is indoors, heated to a comfortable 84F, with water temp at 82F. Fresh, dry towels are limitless – my how this was important with so many kids! The large number of employees and life guards on watch was reassuring as well.  With our group’s young ages, we typically spent a lot of time in the Cub Paw Pool.  Even our littlest (10 months) enjoyed the shallowest of waters, with a beach style-slope entry, water fountains, water tables, and the tiniest of slides.  The older toddlers also loved the slides in the Cub Paw Pool and overall semi-freedom of being able to bob, walk, and paddle in the shallow waters.  Our toddlers also LOVED Fort Mackenzie and all the water slides it offered. Even our 2 year olds could slide down solo, with a parent waiting at the bottom.  The lazy river and wave pools were also a huge hit with the older toddlers, accompanied by adults of course.  The adults took turns supervising little ones and going on the big slides for some thrills as well.

We made a point to attend their famous Bedtime Storytime in the main lobby. We had missed it on our first trip because we were still playing in the water. Plan accordingly if you want to attend this FREE nightly event. We set enough time to get up to the rooms, shower, get the kids in PJs, and scope out good seats. The kids got a kick out of going downstairs and seeing everyone else in their jammies as well. The stage involved moving characters, screens, a live storyteller, and a large character for meet-and-greet afterwards. If your child is timid, it may be better to choose a spot further back from the stage.

To save some serious dough, book a weeknight stay. The second best alternative, as we have done both times – book a Sunday/Monday stay. Groupon also regularly has deals for Great Wolf, so be sure to check it out. You are allowed to use the waterpark as early as 1pm on the day of your stay, with check-in typically around 4pm. You can also pre-check in and they will send a text to let you know when your room is ready. For the day of checkout, check out is at 11am. You may pay an additional fee for a later check-out if space is available. You are also able to use the water park the FULL day until closing, on your check out day. Plan ahead and pack a change of clothes and toiletries. There are showers and changing rooms in the water park.

We have yet to try the interactive MagiQuest game that is a huge hit with the resort, but we did see many groups throughly enjoying it! Be warned though, if you decide to partake, from my “interviews in the elevators”, the game requires a lot of elevator trips, and approximately 6 hrs to complete in entirety. It is also not free. I heard it cost about $40 ($20 per wand, and $20 for the game). It was conclusive by all participants we saw, that they thought it was completely worth it! When our kids are old enough to enjoy, I am sure it will be an activity we do as a family!

Additional Tips:
* A refillable souvenir cup for drinks can be purchased for $14.95 plus tax and includes free refills for the duration of your stay.
* Dunkin Donuts (on main lobby level) also has a refillable coffee cup for $9.95 plus tax.
* Guests celebrating birthdays can request a special “wolf ears” headband, as long as available. Our first year, they were all out. All children guests receive complimentary wolf ears.
* There is a Target within 1/2 mile down the street for anything you may need or forget.
* McDonald’s is across the street.
* The Great Wolf “story” and an accompanying episode can be found in animated version on the in-room tv station.
* There is a refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker in the room. We also received a couple of free bottles of water.
* Though the signs state no outside foods can be brought in, we never had any trouble with the snacks and milk we packed for the kids.

* GWL provides a limited number of complimentary shuttles to and from Disneyland Resort.

 

Years ago, we never would have thought we would have needed or found a reason to stay locally at an indoor water park.  However, Great Wolf Lodge really has become such a treat that we’ve all fallen for.  Have you stayed at a Great Wolf Lodge?  Please feel free to share any of your tips as well!

***ALL OPINIONS AND TIPS ARE MY OWN.  NO COMPENSATION WAS PROVIDED FOR THIS REVIEW.***

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Filed Under: Baby/Kids, mom life, review, So Cal Kids Activities, Southern California kids activites, things to do with kids, travel Tagged: Anaheim, california, disneyland, great wolf lodge, review, Southern California, staycation, things to do with kids, vacation, water park

Italy: Venice +

October 15, 2017 ·

Probably the most memorable trip (especially to other young parents), was our first trip as a family of 3.  We took a 3.5 month old Kaitlyn to Italy for a week, followed by a 1 week Mediterranean cruise.  The trip was spearheaded by my mother, who thought nothing of traveling with an infant.  Of course, as first-time parents, we had ALL the concerns in the world.  Turns out, it was a really awesome trip to look back upon.

Travel:  From California, we ended up with a 1-stop flight with a lay-over in Chicago.  Door-to-door travel time was almost 17 hrs.  I won’t even sugarcoat it in the least.  The trip going there was really difficult on me.  Mainly because Kaitlyn had never been a good napper as a baby.  She would sleep in increments of less than 20 minutes at a time, and always wanted to be bounced.  It could have been her acid reflux, but I had to baby wear her almost the entire time, and spent as much time as allowed on the plane walking and bouncing up and down the aisle.  Luckily, she was a bit of a flirt and loved to interact with the flight attendants.  We did not purchase her a seat, but we did bring her car seat with us and gate checked it along with the stroller. I felt much safer having the car seat on the taxi van ride to our hotel as well.

My how photo qualities look so bad so fast.  4 years ago and the pics look so old. haha. She slept a total of 1 hour on the 9hr leg of our flight.

On the taxi van & after finally arriving at the hotel, seemingly stuck in the baby carrier position.

Gear:  Speaking of car seats and strollers, I researched what combo to bring for our trip endlessly.  Venice is a city of canals, with tiny pathways and endless bridges. Many sites and people giving advice will have you think it’s easier to just baby wear the whole trip and skip a stroller. phish!  I am SOOO glad we had a stroller.  The baby was completely flipped upside down with the time change, and almost entirely SLEPT all day during our first week abroad.  It was hot and humid enough without having a 10lb furnace attached to me all day.  It was so good to have our trusty infant car seat with stroller, to have her sleep in while we were sightseeing.  The stroller itself is important though.  We had the UppaBaby Vista, which was wonderful to steer and use, but too heavy for all the ups and downs of the canal bridges.  I bought a Snap ‘N Go stroller that was compatible specifically for the trip.  It was super light weight, had a large storage basket, and cup holders.  It worked perfectly for our needs.  If baby/toddler is out of the infant car seat stage, I would opt for a lightweight travel/umbrella stroller with the ability to recline.

Up the Rialto Bridge

Down the Rialto Bridge

The Rialto Bridge

Also as a FTM (first time mom), I had a lot of worries about the baby’s crib.  We owned a travel crib and after reading many scary posts about terrible hotel cribs, we hauled our own.  At our particular hotel in Venice, they already set up a super clean and nice pack and play, and with the cramped space of Venice hotels, we never even used our travel crib.  It did get used on the second part of our trip though.

TIP:  If you are concerned about hotel cribs, you can contact the hotel and ask them to email you a picture of their cribs.  We have done trips with and without bringing our own crib, and I will say, I have been worried enough to purchase a pack-n-play when the hotel crib did not live up to my standards.  Later on, I learned to just check with the hotel on their specific cribs to save time and money.

Of course I already mentioned the baby carrier and despite my complaints about the heat, we really couldn’t have done the trip without my baby carriers.  At the time of having Kaitlyn, we were using the Baby K’tan and Ergo with an infant insert.  By my second baby, I had fallen in love with the Solly Baby and still loving our Ergo (and added a new style as well).

In the Ergo w/infant insert (newer style models do not require inserts, I believe)

Baby K’tan soft wrap carrier

Venice:  When people said the Italians LOVE babies, they were not kidding!  Everywhere we went in Venice, Kaitlyn became a little star. Men, women, other children.  The culture just embraces and adores children and babies.  I felt very welcomed and safe.  Especially as a FTM, I was a bit nervous about breastfeeding before our trip.  I quickly became so comfortable finding a stone step, doorway, or bench to nurse.

A whole week in Venice, you ask?  My family (whom we were cruising with), all parted ways to traipse through multiple cities in Europe, while we hunkered down in Venice.  They were all as free as birds in my mind.  Typically, J and I would have filled up our itinerary with days of seeing and doing as much as we could, but parenthood changes things, especially in matters of travel. I worried we’d be bored, but actually, the slow pace of the tiny city matched our pace very well.  Kaitlyn’s schedule was so opposite of our time zone.  While she would happily sleep all day, she was up ALL.NIGHT.  And this is where I will state my advice on traveling with little ones (and will repeat over and over): have very low expectations.  Traveling with littles ones is training and learning for both parents and kiddos.  It WILL get better. It WILL get easier. But man oh man, the first 5 days of our trip were a blur and torture every night for me.  J got to sleep at night.  I got to stay up and entertain our bouncy, trounce, flouncy, pouncy, Tigger of a babe.  I don’t think this is entirely normal though, as I had mentioned, Kaitlyn would only nap in minutes at a time.  So I would spend 3 hours trying to get her to nap for 8-12 minutes.

Luckily, by the time we’d usually be up and ready to go out for “the day”, it would be late afternoon after the local’s siestas and great sunset viewing time.  We could enjoy wonderful Italian dinners and walks at night, when the heat had simmered down.

Side Note:  Sadly, we never did a gondola ride because I was concerned how many mosquitoes there were.  If we go back now that the kids are older, I would for sure make that a must-do!

We also managed to do some day trips while in Italy.

  1. Isolas di Murano and Burano
  2. Verona

Kaitlyn’s first train ride!

 

Overall, Venice was a wonderful first trip as a family.  We set our own pace, gave ourselves time to get accustomed to traveling with a baby and really enjoyed the culture!  I can’t wait to go back with both kids one day!

Filed Under: travel, Uncategorized

Travelogue

October 15, 2017 ·

We’ve started the Fall off with a bang; almost 2 weeks in the PNW, home for a short bit, and off to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a week (where I am actually posting from now).  I hope to share with you some of our adventures and tips for traveling with little ones!  I often get asked about traveling with the kids, especially as I have done quite a few trips on my own.

With my previous site now defunct, I’d also love to recap on our family trips here, if not just for my own memories.

Hasta Luego!

Filed Under: Baby/Kids, mom life, travel Tagged: travel, travel with kids, traveling with kids

Welcome!

Hi! I'm Vivian, and this is my creative space to share snippets from our life in Orange County, CA and some of my favorite things!
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