Strawberry Picking at Kenny’s Strawberry Farm

April 4, 2019April 2, 2019 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

I am the type of person who loves to try new things and have new experiences. A sense of curiosity is definitely a trait that I want to encourage in my children, so just about every week, we are going on a new mini-adventure together.

Last week, we headed up to Fallbrook, California to visit Kenny’s Strawberry Farm. Kenny’s is a U-pick farm that operates during strawberry season (normally February through July). This was also my very first time going strawberry picking, so it made the trip extra fun and memorable!

We arrived at the farm just as they were opening, so cars were backed up for a couple of minutes. Once we got onto the property, we pulled our car into the dirt parking lot, where there was free parking.

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Then we headed up to the farm. There is no admission charge and you just pay for whatever strawberries you pick. The boys were each handed a red bucket, which they used to hold their freshly picked strawberries.

2019-03-27 10.13.26 — Helpful farm rules signage

Only a certain rows of strawberry bushes were accessible and open for you to pick from. The rest of the rows were roped off. We were able to stick to just one row to pick from since there were so many ripe berries right there.

If you have never had fresh strawberries straight from the bush, you are in for a treat! They are so sweet, juicy and just plain delicious.

The boys needed my help for a lot of the picking and we wound up getting about one full bucket load of strawberries. After we finished picking, we went back to the front entrance to pay for our strawberries. The line was especially long and we had to wait about 15 minutes to finish paying. The boys were really difficult to handle during this time because getting two year old twins to wait in line is nearly impossible!

Once it was our turn to pay, we handed over our buckets and they are placed into a plastic container and weighed. Be careful that there are only strawberries in your bucket! I found out that the boys were putting rocks into their buckets while we were waiting in line and I missed one of them before we paid. Let’s just say that rock cost us extra!

Once we paid, we headed to the picnic area, where we were able to wash some of the strawberries and eat them right there! They were so good, and the boys loved them.

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What we loved about Kenny’s Strawberry Farm:

Perfect activity for preschool and elementary aged children. The whole process took less than an hour, so it is not a whole day excursion for those who schedule activities around meals and naptimes.
No admission fee. You just pay for what you pick. On the day we went, it was $4 per pound of strawberries
Free parking and not a lot of distance to get from the parking lot to the entrance to the strawberry fields and back, which was great because this is not a stroller-friendly activity.
Picnic area with faucets to wash strawberries.

Tips Before Visiting:

Leave your stroller at home. The rows of strawberries are spaced closely together, so a stroller will not fit in between them.
Bring hat, sunglasses and sunblock. There is no shade covering the strawberry fields.
Cash and credit card are accepted.
Kenny’s Farm Kitchen mobile food truck is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 AM to 4 PM. Menu includes short cake, milk shakes, lemonade and kabobs.
Check their website or social media accounts before going. The farm has been closed several days this season due to weather and lack of supply.

Strawberry Treats At Home

If you find yourself needing to use up your strawberries as the super ripe ones don’t last very long, make something at home with them. I made a delicious strawberry crisp with some strawberries I purchased a few days before going to Kenny’s Strawberry Farm, using this recipe. I even had all of the ingredients needed for this crisp already in my pantry.

So yummy and a perfect spring dessert!

Kenny’s Strawberry Farm
953 Rainbow Valley Blvd.
Fallbrook, CA, 92028
Wednesday-Sunday: 10 AM to 6 PM

Custom College Graduation Invitations and Thank You Cards from Basic Invite

March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Thank you to Basic Invite for sponsoring this blog post.

Can you believe that we will be in April next week? Time flies! If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we recently celebrated the twins’ second birthday. In just a few months, they will be entering preschool, and that makes my heart a little bit sad. And although the days are long, the years seem to be going by so fast! Pretty soon, they will be graduating from preschool, then high school and then college.

Although college seems like many years away, we have already started planning and saving for their tuition fees! Crazy, right? If you know me, I am a planner when it comes to my life and my family, sometimes to my husband’s dismay.

I love to plan and create special moments for my whole family and I am sure once college graduation comes around, I will take the opportunity to mark the amazing achievement in a special, personal way.

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Basic Invite is an online company that creates custom stationary for all of your business, holiday and special occasion needs. If you have a loved one graduating in the Class of 2019, Basic Invite has both modern and classic graduation invitations. One of my favorite graduation templates is the “then and now” template! It is so adorable. I would absolutely use my twins’ preschool pictures and senior portraits for these invitations. They also have options for text only, one or more images, foil cards and camo graduation invitations.

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Over 180 Color Options – Basic Invite allows you to change the color of each of the card elements with over 180 color options. You can also instantly preview how your card will look. I love that, with so many color options, you can give your cards the exact look and feel you desire.

Custom Samples – Basic Invite gives customers the ability to order a printed sample of your actual invitation so you can see exactly what it will look like and hold it in your hand before you place your final order. To me, ink and paper quality are so important when creating custom stationary, and Basic Invite is one of the few online stationary shops that gives customers this option.

Over 40 Different Envelope Colors – Basic Invite allows customers to make their invitations stand out even before they are opened. Customers can choose from over 40 different colors for their envelopes, which is another way to really stick to your personal theme and look-and-feel. Another thing I love is that all envelopes are peel-and-seal!

Address Capturing Service – Basic Invite offers an address capturing service that allows customers to simply share a link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other form of social media to request their friends’ and family’s addresses which will be stored in the customer’s account and can then be selected during the design process. Basic Invite offers recipient address printing at no additional cost on all card orders.

Foil – Foil cards are available in gold, silver, and rose gold. Customers can choose flat or raised foil on all of Basic Invite’s foil designs.

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My Experience with Basic Invite

I got to try out the design and printing process with Basic Invite for myself, and I can tell you that it is user-friendly and the final product is high-quality and beautifully made. For the boys’ second birthday, we picked a dinosaur theme since they are obsessed with all things dinosaur. Basic Invite had the perfect dinosaur-themed thank you cards that we were able to personalize and customize to send our guests their thank yous!

Basic Invite has so many college graduation invitations templates. Check them out to see all of their designs. Right now, Basic Invite is offering 15% off orders with the coupon code: 15FF51

Check them out online and on social media at:

BasicInvite.com
Facebook/BasicInvite
Pinterest/BasicInvite
Instagram/BasicInvite
Twitter/BasicInvite

This blog post has been sponsored by Basic Invite.

Upgrading Our Workspace with the AnthroDesk ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat

February 28, 2019February 27, 2019 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

I received this product for free from AnthroDesk to use and post my honest opinions.

Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, I spent my days sitting in an office while staring at a computer screen. Those hours, coupled with daily work commutes have left me with constant shoulder and back pain, along with poor posture. If I ever return to a desk job, the first thing I am going to request is a convertible sit-stand desk.

Luckily, our home office is equipped with an adjustable convertible sit-stand desk. I am sure you know that many office workers have found alternating between sitting and standing to have numerous physical benefits. In our home, this is true, especially when it comes to dealing with chronic back and shoulder pain.

AnthroDesk - ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat

While transitioning from sitting to standing can improve posture and reduce back pain, it can also result in unintended side effects, such as leg or foot fatigue. Adding a mat underneath your desk for standing on can help to make the transition easier.

Use a Standing Mat

AnthroDesk: Standing Desk in the US recently gave me the opportunity to review its ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat for Sit Stand Desks. The ErgoSlant Mat’s ergonomic design helps to improve posture, reduce back pain and counteract the negative effects of wearing high-heeled shoes. What sets the ErgoSlant Mat apart from other mats is that it offers multiple degrees of cushioning depending on how the mat is positioned.

For me, the incline really helped me keep my back in alignment, which is something I am actively working on to improve my posture and keep my back and core healthy and strong.

The mat measures 22” x 34″, which makes it easy to store when your convertible desk is in the sitting position.

AnthroDesk - ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat

If you are currently looking to add a standing mat to your office, consider the AnthroDesk ErgoSlant Anti-Fatigue Mat. The mat is currently on sale for $69.99 on the AnthroDesk website.

I received this product for free from AnthroDesk to use and post my honest opinions.

Denver Travel Diary – 2018

December 11, 2018December 11, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Over the summer, my family and I took our first ever vacation! Now, we have done our fair share of traveling since the twins were born, but this was the first time ever for us to go on a trip that didn’t include visiting family. What a different experience it was! No obligatory visits and no one else’s time table, which for our families usually means waiting and waiting for other people.

We spent a long weekend in Breckenridge and Denver, Colorado, and I wanted to share with you some of the family-friendly things we did with our toddler twins. I hope you enjoy reading about our trip to Denver. Stay tuned next week for a look at what we did in Breckenridge.

Things to Do

We visited Denver over the last weekend of July, so the weather was warm and sunny the whole time we were there.

Downtown Aquarium

The Downtown Aquarium is a great place to spend a day with the whole family. The boys absolutely love animals, so they were very interested in seeing everything this aquarium has to offer.

2018-07-31 10.40.17 — Downtown Aquarium – Denver

The aquarium boasts over a million gallons of underwater exhibits, containing over 500 species of animals. In addition to the aquarium, the complex has a Stingray touch pool, restaurant, and activities including face painting, a carousel and theatre.

Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities

Hubby and I visited the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities on our first visit to Denver, back when we were still dating. We absolutely loved it, and when we were planning out this trip, it was one of the first things that came to mind when we were thinking of things to do with the children.

The Arvada Center is located in the city of Arvada, which is about 20 minutes northwest of Downtown Denver. The Center’s facilities include art galleries, classrooms, theatres, an outdoor amphitheatre, and sculpture gardens.

After checking out the galleries, we spent the rest of our visit in the outdoor sculpture gardens. They were so fun for the boys to run around it, and for older kids, there are tons of opportunities for them to climb!

Squiggles, Interactive Sculpture Garden – Bill Gian

2018-07-30 15.45.52 — Arvada Center Outdoor Sculpture Garden

16th Street Mall

Our hotel was located a few blocks from the 16th Street Mall, so we wound up spending quite a bit of time walking around the area. The Mall is mile long pedestrian and transit promenade in the middle of Downtown. Free shuttle buses go up and down the mall. We didn’t take advantage of it since we liked to walk.

The mall has tons of restaurants and shops, as well as movie theaters.

One of the landmarks on the 16th Street Mall is the D&F Tower. The tower is a two-thirds replica of the Campanile of St. Mark’s in Venice, Italy and was the highest building west of the Mississippi when it was built in 1909.

One of my favorite things about the 16th Street Mall was the public art in the alleyways.

Meow Wolf at Next Stage Gallery

Meow Wolf was basically one of the best things happening in New Mexico when I was living there. I found out that Meow Wolf was collaborating on a temporary exhibit, called Special Guest at the Next Stage Gallery, which was within walking distance of our hotel! I immediately added this to our itinerary.

I loved that the kids got to interact with the exhibits and explore in a safe, fun and creative environment.

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Meow Wolf is currently preparing to open a permanent space in Denver sometime in 2020. For more information, visit them online. Until then, Special Guest will be running until the end of this year.

City Park

After arriving in Denver, getting our luggage, getting our rental car and eating, the boys really needed to have a chance to run around since we were immediately continuing on to Breckenridge. We stopped by City Park in Downtown and played in some of there beautiful open fields.

They had a run of the place and had a lot of fun. The park was surprisingly clean for an urban park.

2018-07-28 18.13.12 — City Park – Denver

Sleeps

2018-07-31 20.06.27 — View from our room at the Hyatt Place Denver Downtown

For this trip, we made our home at the Hyatt Place Denver Downtown. This is a great option for families because of the central location, amenities and moderate price.

We loved how convenient the location was. This hotel has great freeway access and is within walking distance of the 16th Street Mall. We were playing it pretty easy this trip so we did not mind that the majority of eateries along the 16th Street Mall are national chains. We just wanted convenience since we were traveling with the twins and another family as well.

Pros: indoor pool, fitness center, high quality hot breakfast buffet included with your stay, free wifi, location, clean. Our room also had a nice view of Downtown Denver, which the boys loved.

Cons: Parking fee. Pack n Plays provided, instead of cribs.

2018-07-30 16.44.03 — Enjoying the view!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip to Denver. Let me know if you have any favorite things to do in Denver with kids! Our stay was so short that we weren’t able to even scratch the surface!

Tips for Visiting Disneyland with Twin Toddlers

December 4, 2018December 4, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

We recently had the chance to visit Disneyland in Anaheim, California as invited audience members for the 2018 Disney Parks Holiday Special tapings. I wanted to share my thoughts on things we did to make our visit to Disneyland with twin toddlers enjoyable. While we spent the majority of our time waiting for and attending the taping, I still think many of our experiences could be helpful for a variety of situations.

2018-11-15 09.09.30 — Visiting with Mickey Mouse

2018-11-15 10.50.25 — Cameraman set up for filming on Main Street

Tip 1: Stay overnight

Since we live an hour-plus away from Anaheim and we were visiting on a weekday, we decided to stay overnight in Anaheim the night before our visit to Disneyland. The great thing about Disneyland, compared to Walt Disney World, is that there are a ton of hotels that you can stay at that are within walking distance to the park entrance. This time we stayed at the Fairfield Inn Anaheim Resort, which is a 6-minute walk from Disneyland (no joke)! Another great thing about staying off property was that we were able to leave our car there even after check-out time, we just had to pay the parking fee for an additional day, which was less expensive than Disney parking.

Tip 2: Get to the park early

Disneyland has added additional security measures in recent years, which makes getting into the park a little more time consuming. My recommendation is to get there early. If your toddlers are like mine, they are up and ready to go around 7 AM! You never know how long getting through security and the gate will take, so get there early and start your day of magic!

Tip 3: Take advantage of the Baby Care Center

The Baby Care Center is located on Main Street and has so many amenities for parents with infants to toddlers, including high chairs, toddler potties, changing tables and nursing rooms.

Tip 4: Get Fastpasses

Unfortunately, Disney does not offer Fastpasses for the majority of the little kid-friendly rides in Fantasyland. Making our kiddos wait in lines for at least 45-minutes sounded like torture for all of us, so we took advantage of one of the rides that did offer Fastpasses. We got Fastpasses for “it’s a small world” Holiday, and it was so worth it!

2018-11-15 13.32.33 — “it’s a small world” Holiday

I love “it’s a small world,” but it is honestly one of my favorites during the holidays.

For a current list of rides offering Fastpasses, check here.

Tip 5: Pack you own food

We didn’t have the chance to plan or meal prep for this visit to Disneyland, but hopefully, we can next time. While there are some good food options at Disneyland, when you are desperate to find food for your hangry toddlers, you might find yourself in long lines for mediocre and extremly pricey food!

Tip 6: Keep the kiddos occupied

Mickey’s Toontown is a no-brainer for letting your high-energy toddlers run around and have fun! There are lots of places where they can explore hands-on.

My sons loved Goofy’s Playhouse. Goofy’s backyard has a toddler play area with a slide and play structures, including a giant watermelon and pumpkin! Goofy even came by to visit with guests while we were there!

Goofy’s House

Tip 7: Make memories

I discovered that the memories you make are not necessarily the ones that you expect. My husband was very adamant about having our sons participate in character greetings, while I was thinking, they will never remember this! Little did I know, that meeting Mickey and Goofy were their favorite events of the day! Plus, we will forever have these photos of them!

Waiting for the parade was rough because we had over an hour before the thing actually started. There was a lot of juggling kids, getting up and walking around, and generally trying to get through it! Once the parade finally started, they loved it for the first 30 minutes or so, but little brother wound up falling asleep in my arms!

The parade was probably a little bit of sensory overload for them, but it is certainly something hubby and I will remember!

Tip 8: Keep your expectations reasonable and be flexible

We kept our expectations low for our trip to Disneyland. We just wanted to see the parade and go on maybe one or two rides, and make it home at a reasonable time. This was very doable for us and we did not feel the need to “do everything.”

I hope these tips help you if you plan on making a trip to Disneyland! The Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade will be airing on Christmas Day: Tuesday, December 25, 2018 (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. EST, 9:00-11:00 a.m. CST/MST/PST). We will be watching to see if we see ourselves!

Thanksgiving 2018 with Chinet

November 27, 2018November 26, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Thanksgiving is always such a hectic time of year! This year, it was especially so because we had visitors from out of town for over a week to entertain, and I somehow was given the responsibility of organizing Thanksgiving dinner for everyone!

To my surprise, I received a VoxBox from Influenster and Chinet earlier in the week, which made our Thanksgiving table a little prettier and clean up a little easier!

Thanksgiving with Chinet Cut Crystal Collection

The VoxBox included plastic cups, cutlery, dessert plates and stemless wine glasses, all from the Cut Crystal collection. I love Chinet products because even though they are disposables, their plates, cups and other items are sturdy and classy!

Chinet Cut Crystal cups, cutlery, dessert plates and stemless wine glasses

Throughout the week, I did my Thanksgiving meal shopping and picked up a lot of pre-made items from the HoneyBaked Ham store. Additionally, I baked two pies on Wednesday night.

2018-11-21-14-58-39 — Let the pie baking begin!

2018-11-21 16.56.22 — Let the pie baking begin!

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Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Moms Meet WOW Summit 2018 – Blogger Day Recap

November 20, 2018November 20, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Earlier this month, I attended my first ever Moms Meet’s WOW Summit Blogger Day. I decided to attend the summit for a number of reasons, including the location. The Summit was being held at the Hyatt Regency Orange County in Garden Grove, California, which is about an hour away from us. I also found this event to be smaller than other mom blogger events, which I thought would be beneficial, and finally, I have been working with Moms Meet for about almost a year now, and I love working with them!

Moms Meet focuses on “better-for-you” products, which I am all about!

Arrival and Registration

I headed up to Orange County just as the event was starting, as I had to wait for my nanny’s shift to begin. Hubby would be in charge of the kiddos for the rest of the weekend while I spent the weekend away.

I got to the site just before 10 AM and headed straight to registration to pick up my badge.

Speakers and Workshops

Despite my late arrival, I was able to attend the majority of the sessions that I was interested in. So many women were there to share their knowledge and experience with other women. That is community over competition!

2018-11-02 11.23.28 — Mastering the Media Kit session from Saarah Samadani of beautymomme.com

2018-11-02 12.23.27 — Balancing Romance and Motherhood Panel

In addition to the speakers, there were four different workshop sessions to attend. I loved that the conference repeated the same workshops twice so that you could attend two different workshops!

Food

There were several breaks during the day to eat and network. Table 5 Pizza hosted the Blogger Lunch and Alove yogurt and NestFresh eggs hosted the afternoon tea and coffee break.

2018-11-02 11.47.36 — Table 5 Pizza Blogger Lunch

2018-11-02 14.19.58 — Alove Yogurt and deviled eggs from NestFresh

Exhibit Hall

The daytime activities were rounded out with time to visit the exhibit hall. This is one of my favorite parts of these types of conferences because I love learning about new products and brands.

Many of the brands that I had previously worked with for MomsMeet were represented, like PlusCBD Oil and Malaysian Palm Oil.

I also learned about many other brands such as Sambucol, Wild Planet, Good Catch and Hippo Sak. One of my favorite products that I learned about though is OCHO Candy. OMG their chocolate bars are addictive!

I got to sample products, talk to brands, network and take products home with me!

Goodies and Gift Bag

Now, let’s talk about goodies! This first picture is just the goodies I got from walking the exhibit hall. Before leaving the conference, I also picked up my WOW Summit gift bag which was loaded with products as well.

Seriously, these blogger conferences are the only places I go where I arrive with 3 bags and leave with 6 bags!

2018-11-03 11.23.06 — Goodbye, WOW Summit!

WOW Summit Blogger Day was so educational both in terms of learning the blogger business and learning about new-to-me brands and products!

Next year’s Moms Meet WOW Summit will be held on September 27 and 28, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. For more information, visit MomsMeet.com

To read my previous Moms Meet reviews, visit:

Happy 1st Blogiversary!

November 13, 2018November 12, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Today marks my one year blogiversary! My first blog post on SoCalTwinMommy.com was published exactly one year ago today!

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting me and following along on our adventures here on the blog and Instagram.

It all started with my first blog post: Free Hanna Andersson pajamas on the #hannajamstour

Since then, 43 other posts have been published, which is an average of 3 to 4 posts per month.

Looking to the Next Year

I love sharing our life with you guys on this blog.

Over the next year, I hope to:

Continue to post at a minimum of once per week
Transfer relevant content from my previous blog to this platform
Go self-hosted
Provide more content that you want

That leads me to this question, what do you guys want to see more of on this blog? I would love any feedback you can give!

Thank you again for reading along!

2018-11-11 13.17.22-1 — Happy First Blogiversary!

Irene

Celebrating Halloween with Twin Toddlers

November 6, 2018November 4, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Today, I am looking back at the twins’ second Halloween. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, and as you know, I love creating new traditions with my family, involving them in activities and making memories together. This year, I planned out, sourced and created our family Halloween costumes, we painted and decorated pumpkins together, we went trick-or-treating at a local shopping center and spent Halloween day playing at Kid Ventures.

Continue reading for all the details on our Halloween 2018. Since I did not start this blog until after last Halloween, I also wanted to share with you a look back on the twins’ first Halloween.

Pumpkin Painting with Toddlers

Pumpkin carving is one of my favorite fall activities. I have made it an annual tradition in our home since I was a young adult. I’m sure there were years, here and there, where we missed pumpkin carving, especially when we were in graduate school or traveling, but it has been a consistent activity for years.

This year, we tweaked our pumpkin carving tradition so that we could enjoy it with the twins without worrying about the mess or the safety of trying to carve pumpkins while getting our twin toddlers involved.

Earlier in the month, we purchased four pumpkins during our visit to Bates Nut Farm. Unfortunately, one of the pumpkins developed mold, so it had to go before we got the chance to paint it. When it was time for our painting activity, we were left with only three pumpkins to decorate.

I purchased some last minute supplies from Target, including kid safe paint, paint brushes and googly eyes. The pumpkin decorating supplies were pretty slim picking since it was the weekend before Halloween.

I also had some leftover tablecloth from a previous party that we used to cover the kitchen floor and smocks from Ikea that are perfect for arts and crafts with the twins.

We noticed that older brother was a little bit more adept and focused when it came to painting the pumpkins, but little brother had a lot of fun too!

Overall, I would say our pumpkin painting activity was a success and they even turned out pretty nice!

DIY Halloween Costumes

We decided to go as our own little zoo for Halloween this year. I purchased a lion and a giraffe costume from Carter’s for the boys and sourced my and hubby’s costumes from our closets and Goodwill.

I found the perfect khaki dress for myself and a khaki dress shirt for hubby from Goodwill. They were $4.99 each. To complete our zookeeper uniforms, I found the logo for the San Diego Zoo online and then re-sized and printed them onto iron-on t-shirt transfers. Finally, all I had to do was figure out the placement for the transfers and iron them on. Super simple!

Then, we were able to finish our looks with items already in our closet. I added a brown belt and black flats, and hubby wore brown khaki pants and a hat. I think our costumes come out so great, especially considering the cost!

Trick or Treating at the Village at Pacific Highlands Ranch

On the Sunday before Halloween, one of our local shopping centers held a trick-or-treating event for the kiddos and we decided to make that our Halloween activity for this year and skip trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

This year, the boys were able to walk to the stores by themselves and carry their Halloween buckets by themselves. We led them to each store that was participating, but they could find the person giving out candy, pick a piece and put it in their bucket.

Lion costume from Carter's — Lion costume from Carter’s

They totally got the concept, but at 19 months old, they still don’t know what candy is.

We went to the majority of the stores that were participating before we got exhausted and took a break in Starbucks.

When we got home, the boys played with the candy for a little while before we took it away from them. Most of it wound up being shared with hubby’s co-workers the next day!

I had so much fun trick-or-treating with the boys because I could tell they were having fun and got the concept of it all. Plus, they were so freaking adorable in their costumes!

Halloween Day at Kid Ventures

On the day before Halloween, I got an email that Kid Ventures was offering 50% off admission for those dressed in costume on Halloween Day. Since we needed something to do anyway, I decided to take the boys there for a few hours. Kid Ventures is one of the local indoor play gyms for younger kids, and I had never been before and wanted to check it out.

The twins had a blast and could have stayed there much longer, but we had to attend a birthday lunch.

Kid Ventures was also doing some activities throughout the day, but the boys were more interested in playing and running around.

Trick-or-treating – Halloween 2017

Last year’s Halloween was very different from this year’s mostly because the boys and I were still living at my parents’ house in Los Angeles, while hubby was living and working in San Diego and would come to visit us on the weekends.

My parents and I took the boys trick-or-treating on Halloween night at Del Amo Fashion Center, near their house in Torrance. They were only 8 months old at the time, so they had no idea of what was going on. When I look back, I cannot believe how little they were! We stopped by only a handful of stores, ate dinner and headed home with our little astronauts!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our Halloween! I cannot wait to see how grown up they will be next year. Now on to planning for Halloween 2019!

Read about our visit to Bates Nut Farm here

Fit Foodie Festival and 5K 2018 – Race Recap

October 30, 2018October 30, 2018 socaltwinmommyLeave a comment

Some of you might not know this, but I have been running for the past 6 years. Having my sons put a bit of a gap in my running, but I finally laced up my running shoes for a race last weekend.

Over the past 6 years, many of my personal goals have been centered around running. My most recent goals actually included my twins (sort of). Before the boys were born, I had the goal of completing a half marathon while pregnant, and this year, I had the goal of completing a race with my sons in their jogging stroller.

I am proud to say that I achieved that goal!

Last Saturday, hubby, the boys, our BOB Duallie Stroller and I headed down to Liberty Station in Point Loma for the Fit Foodie Festival and 5K.

Arrival and Pre-Race

We arrived at Liberty Station around 7:15 AM, and there was plenty of parking! We loaded up the stroller, and then headed down to the festival area. I still had to pick up my packet since I skipped packet pick up on Friday night, as I did not want to drive down during rush hour traffic with the boys in tow.

The lines were a little lengthy but moved quickly. After I got my bib and got situated, hubby headed back to the car to try to take a nap, and I wandered around the festival. Many of the booths were already set up and handing out samples. I was lucky because I could stash so much stuff in my stroller. We had food samples, drinks and snacks for the boys and hooded sweatshirts in there!

Another difference between this race and other races that I have run is that since it was a 5K, I didn’t really feel the need to go to the bathroom before the start. It would have been hard for me to do anyway, since I’m not sure how I would keep an eye on the boys while I was in the port-a-potties!

We took part in the pre-race warm up and then headed to the starting area. Participants with strollers were told to line up in the back, which I did. The start was a wave start, so we wound up being in the 8th wave.

2018-10-20 08.03.38 — Getting ready to start!

Fit Foodie 5K

2018-10-20 08.10.38 — Almost at the front of the start

Running with a stroller proves to be quite difficult when you are doing a road race. The beginning mile of the course had lots of narrow spots so it was basically impossible for me to run. This section was by far the worst in terms of bottlenecks. It was so narrow and it irritates me so much when walkers insist on starting in early waves and block the entire path. Anyway, I was super frustrated that I couldn’t run or pass people.

A fun element of the Fit Foodie 5K is that the race features snack bites at each mile, but since I was running with the stroller and did not want to stop a bunch of times on the course, I skipped the first and last bite and all of the water stations.

The first bite was a donut, the second was a brownie, which was yummy, and I did not see what the third bite was.

I did not get to take in much of the course as I was more concerned with no running over walkers and trying to make my time goal. There were some pretty spots along Point Loma and we passed this neat ship. Excuse my ignorance, but I’m not sure what ship it is.

2018-10-20 08.33.57 — Navy Ship? Not sure!

One of the best things about the course in my book was that it was super flat. There was just one spot where we ran over a bridge and back over again that had an incline. My biggest con for this course was the narrow spots and difficulty in passing people.

0035312_063161ba-69e3-4bbe-bd7f-bdcea204a335 — Finish Line Photo by RaceWire

My official chip time was 37:51

I started my running app early and stopped it late, so my time on the app was 38:21. I was more interested in my split times though. As you can see, we definitely suffered from the blockage of walkers and narrow course because each mile got faster as we went. I also met my time goal of 12:30 per mile! Woohoo!

Mile 1 – 13:06
Mile 2 – 12:20
Mile 3 – 12:17 *fastest mile*

As we approached the finish line, I saw hubby on the sidelines and he met us when we crossed. I loved it! My fellow runners get how romantic this gesture feels! I was handed my avocado medal and then another volunteer handed me two more for the twins. So glad that they got medals too! They were amazing troopers through the whole race.

Festival

After we finished the race, we headed to the festival. There were cooking demos and lots and lots of food and a beer garden. We visited some of the booths that I had not already visited before the race.

2018-10-20 07.46.24 — Cypress Grove Cheese

By this time, many of the lines were super long and we wanted to take the boys to the park before brunch, so we only went to booths with no or short lines and we also did not see any of the demos or visit the beer garden.

If I do this race again, I will allow for more time to spend at the festival.

Post-Race Brunch

We had brunch planned for 10AM with my brother’s family, so we had to bow out pretty quickly. We headed to the park and then to Swami’s Cafe in Point Loma.

2018-10-20 10.37.23 — Swami’s Cafe in Point Loma

I ordered the chilaquiles, and they hit the spot! After brunch, it was time for naps all around!

2018-10-20 10.45.41 — Chilaquiles at Swami’s Cafe

Swag and Medal

I had lots of food samples to try and share! In addition to the booths, finishers also got a tote bag full of samples and coupons as you cross the finish line! Yum!

Overall, this was a great, fun race to do to meet my goal of running a stroller-friendly race with my twins! I might even consider doing it again next year if this race returns to San Diego!

What we loved about Kenny’s Strawberry Farm:

Tips Before Visiting:

Strawberry Treats At Home

My Experience with Basic Invite

I received this product for free from AnthroDesk to use and post my honest opinions.

Use a Standing Mat

I received this product for free from AnthroDesk to use and post my honest opinions.

Things to Do

Downtown Aquarium

Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities

16th Street Mall

Meow Wolf at Next Stage Gallery

City Park

Sleeps

Tip 1: Stay overnight

Tip 2: Get to the park early

Tip 3: Take advantage of the Baby Care Center

Tip 4: Get Fastpasses

Tip 5: Pack you own food

Tip 6: Keep the kiddos occupied

Tip 7: Make memories

Tip 8: Keep your expectations reasonable and be flexible

Arrival and Registration

Speakers and Workshops

Food

Exhibit Hall

Goodies and Gift Bag

Top 5 Posts

Looking to the Next Year

Pumpkin Painting with Toddlers

DIY Halloween Costumes

Trick or Treating at the Village at Pacific Highlands Ranch

Halloween Day at Kid Ventures

Trick-or-treating – Halloween 2017

Arrival and Pre-Race

Fit Foodie 5K

Festival

Post-Race Brunch

Swag and Medal