Category Archives: Outdoors

Mormon Battalion San Diego

Posted on August 11, 2012 by admin | Leave a comment

My family and I have been to Old Town for years. But never would I come to Mormon Battalion San Diego until this summer when I dragged myself and the kids outside the Old Town park to see what other places could be out there. And I am very happy that I found it.

The Mormon Battalion

This museum is a place to commemorate the grueling 2000-mile trek to San Diego by Mormon Battalion as part of the Army of the West in 1840s. The history comes alive through the multi-media world at the Mormon Battalion San Diego.

The tower at Mormon Battalion San Diego

Kids love this wagon in front of the museum

The Interactive Tour

Admission was FREE, including free old museum photograph and free gold panning. It opens daily from 9 am to 9 pm. Upon entering the museum, we were greeted by a nice lady (or sister) that told us what the museum for and the interactive cinema tour that we would see soon.

Inside the Mormon Battalion San Diego

There was also a theater room to see a video but we didn’t watch at that time. Instead we went straight to a waiting room while waiting for more visitors to come. The wall on one side in the room was covered by photo frames of the actors and artist involved in the tour.

Actors and Artists from The Cinema Tour

After many people gathered, the sisters introduced us to the tour. And suddenly the people in the photos spoke. And that was the starting point of the tour that has became my favorite. I won’t spill the beans. To sum, I loved it enough to make me came back for the second time.

We stopped in one room with an interactive screen. Nice story and effect

Kids Activities

After the interesting tour, we headed to next room to have our photo taken (below) as the ‘honorary member of the battalion’. The photo can be emailed or printed. I got a print and emailed it as well to my husband who was surprised to see us at the museum.

Honorary Member of the Mormon Battalion

Then, we were directed to the backyard for kids’ activities such as gold panning, water pumping, exploring the brick making and getting water from the well. My kids loved gold panning and water pumping the most.

Free gold panning at Mormon Battalion Museum

mormon battalion san diego pumping water

Pumping water like the old days

After playing with water, we went upstairs to the tower. In the tower you can see the views of the old town park and buildings. Binoculars were provided as well.

View from the Tower

My Review

Overall, it was fun. I am not a Mormon but I really recommend it. The tour is about 35 minutes. Make sure you have plenty of time before coming. Mormon Battalion San Diego is located at 2510 Juan Street. It is east north from the Old Town park and next to the Heritage Park. It’s still in a walking distance from the park. Parking is available behind the museum.

So have you ever been to Mormon Battalion San Diego museum? Feel free to share your experience.

Beach Picnic and How to Build a Sandcastle

Posted on August 3, 2012 by esther | 1 comment

San Diego is blessed with its abundant beaches and having a beach picnic is a must. It’s free and fun for all ages especially if you have friends with you.

Del Mar Beach

Del Mar Beach in Summer

My kids love Del Mar beach just because it has an active railroad crossing. Every so often a train will cross and they will run fast to see what train it is. The beach has a playground, many grass areas with picnic tables & BBQ grills, lifeguards, shower, and restrooms. All of these providing great places for beach picnic. If it has fire pits, then it’s perfect to me.

Del Mar Beach Parking

Parking at Del Mar is quite a challenge. If you’re lucky you can find parking on the street around commercial or residential neighborhood. It’s free. But we like to park in the metered parking lot for public behind (below) L’Auberge Del Mar hotel. Usually we can find a spot there.

It’s $2 per hour so you’ll need lots a quarters if you plan to stay there for many hours. Good thing they have a change machine on site. After 8 pm, it’s free.

Beach Picnic

We visited Del Mar Beach last week and stayed from afternoon till evening. To keep the picnic simple, I just packed:

changing clothes
swimsuits
towels
bucket and sand toys
store-bought pizza, chips and fruit
water
used plastic table cloth (reused one from party, easy to toss afterwards)
a chair
and baby talc (more of this latter).

The weather was warm and great. No wonder the beach was packed but we still could find a spot for our beach picnic. Our friends came along with a picnic umbrella and some sandcastle tools.

Activities

Beside chatting and playing with the water, we surfed, collected sand crabs and built a sandcastle.

Mama…..it’s cold!

The kids got a bucket of sand crabs

How To Build A Sandcastle

My friend taught us how to build a simple castle. I just knew that you needed more than just a bucket and a shovel to make it look good…:-)..

These are what you need to build a sandcastle:

bucket
shovel
paint brush
scrapers or something flat like blunt knife
sculpting tools
lots of patience 🙂

Step 1: Dig a hole with the shovel and make a heap of sand. This pile will be the foundation for the new sandcastle.

Step 2: Shovel some sand into a bucket full of water. Take the wet sand out with your hands and make two sand towers.

Build towers for the sandcastle first

Step 3: Shape the towers with the scraper

Shaping the sandcastle tower

Step 4: Brush lightly the surface to make it smoother.

Step 5: Sculpt the towers. Take your time to carve the sandcastle.

Sculpting Sandcastle

Step 6: Add more structures (such as wall or smaller towers) if you want. Repeat step 3 – 5.

Adding a Sandcastle Tower

The builder left to surf, leaving us with the tedious task..:-)

The tiny blocks on top of the walls were cut and arranged alongside the wall.

Step 7. The final Sandcastle.

The fantasy sandcastle

One tip for beach picnic I learnt somewhere is to clean your sandy feet with baby powder. Just rub the feet with the powder until they are smooth and clean from the sand. It worked last time to limit the sand getting into our car.

So have tips or trick you have for beach picnic? Feel free to comment.

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Posted in Outdoors, Summer, Things To Do

Tagged beach, beach picnic. build sandcastle, del mar, sand crabs, surfing

Stargazing in San Diego

Posted on July 30, 2012 by esther | 1 comment

From sea to the mountains to the outer space, San Diego is blessed with a lot of opportunities to spend the summer. One activity is Stargazing Party hosted by San Diego Astronomy Association or SDAA in couple places in San Diego.

SDAA hosts many events throughout the year, for example, Stars in the Park, Stars at Mission Trails, Camp with the Stars and many more. For complete schedule, visit SDAA website.

Star Party at Sycamore Canyon

We went to the Stars at Sycamore Canyon one Friday night. The SDAA holds a monthly Star Party on the third Friday of every month at the Sycamore Canyon/Goodan Ranch Open Space Preserve at the Hwy 67 Staging area. Located at the east end of Poway, this venue offers a pretty dark sky for being only 19 miles, as the crow flies, from downtown San Diego. There are no homes or business directly around the viewing area and the panoramic view of the city below is amazing.

To access this venue, use the park entrance on Hwy 67, ½ mile south of Scripps Poway Parkway. Continue through the gate and up the dirt road about 1½ miles where the Rangers will direct you where to park.

Our Experience

We arrived around 8pm. Parking was easy. From the parking, we walked a short distance to the location. There were many visitors and SDAA volunteers already preparing their big and small telescopes. Perhaps there were 6 or 7 volunteers at that time, each with a telescope. One came with a computer attached to it so it could pinpoint which stars or nebula to see.

I was not allowed to take photos with flash so I’m sorry for the blurry photo. The reason was the flash would make the eyes hard to see in the dark.

When the sky started to get really dark, then we could see some space objects. First it was Saturn. It’s always lovely to see this planet, white with rings around. Afterwards, the volunteers showed us some constellations such as Scorpion, Hercules and some nebula such as Messier 57 and M13

Photo Source: Weasner.com

A little history about Messier (from Wikipedia)

Charles Messier (26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 “Messier objects”. The purpose of the catalogue was to help astronomical observers, in particular comet hunters such as himself, distinguish between permanent and transient visually diffuse objects in the sky.

The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets, so he compiled a list of them, in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain, to avoid wasting time on them.

Photo source: Live Science

Above is the photo of M13. Messier 13 or M13 (also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster) is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules.

This is a fun and educational activity for all ages. The kids as well as the adults loved looking through the telescope, curious on what they would see. But we didn’t stay until the end because the kids got sleepy. The stargazing probably finished around 10.30pm.

I really recommend this. What about you? Have you ever been to a star party?

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Posted in Outdoors, Summer, Things To Do

Tagged astronomy, san diego, sdaa, star party, stargazing

U Pick Blueberries in Temecula

Posted on July 7, 2012 by esther | 1 comment

What one activity you can do in summer? U Pick Blueberries! That’s what we did on one afternoon at Temecula Berry Co. The blueberries farm is located in Temecula, about 48 minutes up north from Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, CA.

To avoid the hot weather, we arrived around 4.30, late afternoon. The farm closes at 6pm everyday. There were plenty of parking spaces and not too many people. It was easy to spot the u-pick blueberries farm with its 2 red barns.

Each kid had a small bucket for picking. After you pick the blueberries, they will be put in a pint-size plastic container, just like the cherry tomatoes clam container you usually find in a grocery store. Each pint is $5. One full small bucket can fill about 2 pints.

After getting the buckets at the front desk, we headed to the farm and walked to the farthest rows of bushes since these were less picked and had more blueberries. To get good blueberries, lift the branches, get down, pick the dark blue ones (the red and green are sour and not ripe yet). Also avoid blueberries with shriveled or cracked skins.

We got 2 pints in total. After paying and washing the blueberries, we ate almost all of them. They were very good, plump and sweet. The kids loved picking and eating the blueberries. They ate like they were in a race..:-)..

Temecula Berry Co also sells Honey and no-preservative Blueberry Jam for $5 per small glass container. You can visit their website at www.temeculaberryco.com.

So have you tried blueberries picking yet? Share your story with us.

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Posted in Outdoors, Summer, Things To Do

Tagged blueberries, farm, san diego, summer, temecula, things to do, u pick

Celebrating 4th of July 2012 in San Diego

Posted on June 30, 2012 by esther | 1 comment

With 4th of July 2012 approaching in less than a week, I’d like to give you two links to some wonderful posts by SocalSavvymom.com about San Diego Independence Day 2012 celebrations and fireworks.

If you’d like to know where to see 4th of July celebration and fireworks in San Diego, click here.

If you’d like to read a list of events happening on 4th of July weekend in San Diego, click here.

We plan to celebrate the Independence Day 2012 at the Old Poway Park and watch the firework at Rancho Bernardo Middle School, which is just 2 blocks from our home!

Here’s what happening at the Old Poway Park for 4th of July celebration.

Bring your family and friends and celebrate our country’s independence “turn-of-the-twentieth-century-style” at An Old-fashioned Fourth of July. Display your patriotic spirit and enjoy some good old-fashioned fun!

Listen to live musical entertainment

Ride the steam train

Watch train robbery reenactments

Take your picture with Uncle Sam

Create your own patriotic arts and crafts

Play old fashioned games

Check out iron working demonstrations

See model trains and an antique quilt display

Shop at the authentic arts and crafts market

Stop by the Heritage Museum or Nelson House

Eat ice cream, apple pie, roasted corn on the cob, hot dogs, and more delicious treats

Here’s what happening at Rancho Bernardo Fireworks

Fireworks & Evening Entertainment
Please come join us for our Fireworks and Evening Entertainment at the Bernardo Heights Middle School! Presented by the Rancho Bernardo Recreation Council. Suggested Donation – $20 per family/$5 per individual

6:00 p.m. – Gates open
6:30 p.m. – Evening Entertainment with Grammy Award winning artists Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek (Set 1)
7:30 p.m. – 2012 RB Idol Winners Perform &
8:00 p.m. – Evening Entertainment with Grammy Award winning artists Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek (Set 2)
9:00 p.m. – Fireworks Bernardo Heights Middle School

So do you have a favorite place to celebrate and see 4th of July fireworks? Please share your story in the comments. Thanks!

1 Comment

Posted in Outdoors, Summer, Things To Do

Tagged 4th of july, fireworks, independence day, poway park, rancho bernardo, san diego

San Pasqual Battlefield Historic Park

Posted on June 29, 2012 by admin | 1 comment

san pasqual battlefield historic park San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park was set aside to honor the soldiers who fought in the battle between the U.S. and Californio forces on December 6, 1846 in the midst of the Mexican-American War. The park is due for closure on July 2012; that’s what motivated me to explore this park one Saturday morning.

The park is located just east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park, at San Pasqual Valley Road, 8 miles east of Escondido on Highway 78. It overlooks the historic site of the bloodiest battle fought in California during the U.S.-Mexican War. Driving along highway 78 is nice because there are many beautiful sceneries of farms, vineyard and some ostrich farms. Along the way, you can find a farmer stall that sells local fruit, vegetables and ostrich eggs.

san pasqual park museum

san pasqual historic park monument at trailhead

There weren’t many people when we came to the visitor center/museum.

The man who worked there was very nice and told us in details about the history of the battle.

Entering the museum you can read the history since the time when the native Indian still lived there until the battle of San Pasqual took placed.

Outside the museum, a big monument honoring Kit Carson and Edward F. Beale was standing high up, marking the start of the Nature Trail.

This 0.25-mile trail loop takes about 20 minutes round trip, which was easy for my kids. I suggest to wear long pants and closed shoes as the bushes can be prickly.

In the middle of the loop, near the top of the hill, you can see the beautiful scenery of lush and green san pasqual valley, surrounded by the hills. It was the place of San Pasqual battlefield.

The other trail, Battlefield Monument Trail, was closed because it wasn’t maintained and the bushes had grown and closed parts of the trail. People often got lost because of that.

san pasqual battlefield park

Next to the visitor center, the San Diego Archaeological Center is dedicated to the curation of historic artifacts found in San Diego area. The building is next to the parking lot of the visitor center. You can walk to get there.

In the center, you can find some artifacts dated from hundreds to 10,000 years ago exhibited in the museum. Beside looking at the old artifacts, kids can also do some hands-on activites in the museum such as classification with beads and broken china, looking at stones with microscope and making your own bracelet and brooch.

san diego archaeological old artifacts

san diego archaeological old toothpaste

Next to the center is the San Pasqual Old Indian Cemetery.

According to the park ranger, the biggest cross marked the place where Felicita was buried.

Felicita was the daughter of a Kumeyaay Chief named Pontho. She and her clan lived in the nearby San Pasqual Valley. Her Kumeyaay name was Hal-ah-wee. When she was 12, a priest from Mission San Diego de Alcala baptized her with the name Felicita, which in Spanish means “happy little one.” She and several of her family were in a San Pasqual village when the Californios and Americans fought the Battle of San Pasqual in December 1846 during the Mexican War. Felicita and her father assisted the American soldiers after the battle.

san pasqual historic park monument burial

Leaving the park, we stopped for a few minutes at the Big Stone Monument, located in the park property.

To reach the monument, just drive west until you can see a big stone wall with a placate on it.

This monument was erected to remembering the 18 US soldiers that dies during the battle. These soldiers were actually buried on this site.

Don’t forget to stop at the local product stall to see this amazing Ostrich eggs. This stall sells fresh ostrich eggs and empty ones as well as fruits and vegetables that are grown locally in San Pasqual.

san pasqual ostrich eggs

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Posted in Outdoors, Summer, Things To Do

Tagged escondido, indian, ostrich farm, place to visit, san diego archaeological center, san pasqual battlefield park, san pasqual historic park, things to do

Del Mar Fair 2012

Posted on June 16, 2012 by esther | 1 comment

San Diego County Fair or a.k.a Del Mar Fair 2012 has been open since June 8, 2012. It’s located on Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar, CA 92014. Open every day from June 8 to July 4 2012, except Mondays (except July 2nd).

del mar fair from top view

Del Mar Fair Tickets

Before going there, I asked my kid to finish reading 10 books so he could earn a free admission ticket. Normally this ticket is $7 for ages 6-12 and free for 5 and younger.

Just download a reading certificate to keep track the books your kids read, have a librarian signed it and bring the certificate to the admission gate. That’s all you have to do.

For adult tickets, I went to Albertson to get them at $11 each (instead of $13 at the gate).

Parking

Free parking offered at the nearby Horsepark. There will be free shuttle buses that carry people to or from Del Mar Fair to Horsepark. I highly recommend people to use this free parking facility. When we came we only waited for a few minutes for a bus to come. And no long line. There is often long line on weekends or holidays.

waiting shuttle bus at horsepark to Del Mar Fair

When going home, just go to the same bus stop for Horsepark and wait for the bus.

Safety First

When arriving, we just went straight to the admission gates. Have your bags ready for checking at the metal detector gates.

Also it’s a good idea to get the kids band at the information booth right after the entrance once you get in. On the band you may write your name and cellphone number in case the kids get lost. Wrap it around your kids’ wrists.

del mar fair kids safety wristband

Another thing suggested by the drive, take the photos of your kids on your smartphone or camera, just in case something happens.

Time

We went at a perfect time on Wednesday almost noon time. It was cloudy and there weren’t many lines and crowds. We got in and out pretty fast. There were more people in late afternoon.

Another reason we chose Wednesday is on that day they have Pepsi Pay-one-price Ride day. It means you can buy a $30 wristband at the fair or online that allows you unlimited access to all rides in Fun Zone and Kiddieland, except the arcades. This really offers good value especially for the kids and the accompanying adult because usually we end up spend many tickets.

Wristband can be purchased online and redeemed at special booths at the fair.

Rides

All rides are divided into 2 areas, the Fun Zone for adults and the Kiddieland for kids. Most rides require certain height (sometimes age) to be able to ride on alone or with an adult. So mom and dad you have to get some tickets too or get your wristband.

All rides need coupons with different amount. The Giant Ferris Wheel needs 6 while the small one only 4 coupons (maybe, sorry I don’t remember). Compare to buying coupons, I find that purchasing a wristband saves more money. The coupon adds up quickly. Each is 75 cents.

Tips: there are many ticket booths scattered around in the Fun Zone or Kiddieland. So if one booth in front of you have a long line you can go and find another one that’s empty.

Grand Ferris Wheel always at Del Mar Fair giant slide ride for kids

canoe ride small for kids at Del Mar Fair 2012 photo with alien

Foods

Del Mar Fair is widely know as the home for the wackiest foods you have to try. From chocolate covered bacon to totally fried frog legs are available for you to choose. There are so many fried and grilled foods.But my dear husband decided to cook for us that day to eat there so we can save some money.

There are also many mouth-watering sweet treats such as potato donuts, funnel cake (just knew they have red velvet funnel cake there, which I really wanted to try), whipped cream puff, ice cream and many more.

Concert

Del Mar Fair has tonnes of shows and concerts, which we didn’t care to go last time because we thought we went there just for the rides. We would come back later for the show.

One show I was happy to be able to see is Bandaloni, the One Man Band. There was this one man with a bunch of instruments attached or wired to him so he could play a full music alone. This man was so amazing and talented that I simply couldn’t imagine how he could do it.

We spend our whole afternoon there just for the rides. To visit all booths, shows and rides, we need at least 2 days. Usually on July 4th, there are a lot more going on plus they have Fireworks (for about 30 minutes the last time we went). So on that day you can spend your whole day there until evening. But beware, the parking can be chaotic too.

So have you been to Del Mar Fair? What is your favorite food, ride or show? Do share your story.

1 Comment

Posted in Outdoors, Summer, Things To Do

Tagged del mar fair, fair, places of interest, things to do

Category Archives: Outdoors

Mormon Battalion San Diego

The Mormon Battalion

The Interactive Tour

Kids Activities

My Review

Beach Picnic and How to Build a Sandcastle

Del Mar Beach

Del Mar Beach Parking

Beach Picnic

Activities

How To Build A Sandcastle

Stargazing in San Diego

Star Party at Sycamore Canyon

Our Experience

U Pick Blueberries in Temecula

Celebrating 4th of July 2012 in San Diego

San Pasqual Battlefield Historic Park

Del Mar Fair 2012

Del Mar Fair Tickets

Parking

Safety First

Time

Rides

Foods

Concert

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