Family Fun Day March 2013

Sitting in the main courtyard of the San Juan Capistrano Mission

Dan has been super busy with his work studies lately but was able to take a break this week and we decided to have a family fun day in San Juan Capistrano.  It was a beautiful, sunny and mild day for our trip.  We started at the San Juan Capistrano Mission where we explored the ruins of the old church, touched and looked at lots of flowers and plants, and ran in the grassy courtyards.  Dan was able to get some great "door" pictures for a future homemade stationary project.  We were also able to feed the koi fish in the ponds and it was hilarious to watch Lena's reaction to the fish.  She at first loved seeing them swim around but when they would surface and suck the air she would get scared.

Lena and I are standing inside the old church which was destroyed in 1812 by an earthquake.

Lena, checking out the original adobe brick and stone walls.

Lena checking out the giant koi fish.

She was freaked out by their wide, gaping mouths.

Dan doing his best to get Lena to look at the camera.  Ha!

After the Mission we had lunch at our favorite Mexican joint across the street.  They had remodeled and it was fun to watch the trains go by while we ate our delicious lunch on the patio.

Mexican lunch!  Pasole for Dan...Chicken flauta for Elizabeth...

Chicken and fries for Lena!  The girl cannot get enough chicken!

Following our lunch we walked across the train tracks to Zoomars petting zoo where Lena was in animal heaven!  We fed and petted the bunnies, guinea pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, and llamas until our heart's content and then took a dive in their new corn pit where you can "swim" in dried corn.  Since we scheduled our trip on a Monday we practically had the place to ourselves.

Piles of guinea pigs and bunnies to pet!

Feeding the sheep and goats...going fine until...

...we were outnumbered and they attacked our food supply!

Fun in the dried corn pit!

Feeding the lamas with Daddy.

Lena was shy at first but got really friendly with the animals after awhile.

She was equally as fascinated with the straw as she was with the bunnies.

Chasing down a victim...eh hem... a bunny.

After a thorough hand washing we walked over to the nearby park to play on the slides and swings.  Lena can't seem to get enough of the park slides lately and she is finally learning to climb up and slide down by herself which is awesome!

Lena loves going "weeeee" on the slide!

Swings are a newer attraction for Lena.

She was so funny and kept wanting to slide forward to  sit  like this in the swing.

On the way home Lena fell asleep pretty quickly after a full and exciting day.  Dan and I stopped at one of the nearby cheese stores to pick up a few favorites to add a nice finish to our family fun day.  I picked two Cypress Grove Farms cheeses (Lamb Choppers and Midnight Moon) and Dan picked out a stinky truffle cheese and and nutty aged Italian cheese called Piave.  It was such a satisfying day together as a family.  We did this same trip with my nephews  when I was pregnant with Lena and I remember thinking with anticipation how fun it would be to do this trip with our own kids one day.  God is good and we are so blessed.