OC Family - Kids. Home. Life.

Monday, August 30, 2010

New haircut. New hope.

Going to the hair salon is like a little trip to the ‘hope store’ for me. I walk in with unrealistic expectations. I make jokes when they ask “what would you like today? “Oh whatever hair cut makes me look like a supermodel. And 40 lbs thinner would be nice” They laugh politely. But I am only half kidding. What? Are you telling me there aren’t any kindasorta totally overweight, nearly 40 super models rockin the runway this season? Whatev. But what happens when I have fresh color, bangs cut professionally (um, meaning not cut in haste as I walk out the door using the old gift wrapping scissors from the craft drawer) and a fresh round brush blow out is nothing less than amazing. I probably look maybe 5% different than when I walked in. But I FEEL 100% better. Suz took this photo on a day I had my hair cut recently. And the iPhone? Oh she wanted to document (for blackmail later I am assuming but I am beating her to it) that I listen to ‘kids; music on my iPhone. Why yes I do thankyouverymuch. Oh and SO DOES SHE. So there. We are even. As even as my bangs. Visit Marcy at her other home Marcywrites.com
Posted By OC Family On 08/30/2010 At 8:16 AM Comments (1) TrackBacks (0)
Disclosure: Bloggers are often provided with free products, services and "experiences" from companies for the purpose of testing and reviewing them in a blog post. Any product mentioned in the blog posts of ocfamily.com may have been offered at no cost to the blogger.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Kids in the Kitchen: Pancake Dumpling anyone?

As we all know. I love summer. And I love my boys being home with me. The other day while at the grocery store, the check out girl said ‘bet you can’t wait for school to start’ and I said ‘nope. I love summer. I like my kids’….naturally she rolled her eyes about as subtly as Snookie gets a tan. We marched out. All three of us with smiles on our faces. On the way home Jack said ‘She thought you were kidding. But you really do like us huh?’And today is a perfect example of why summer with my boys is so cool. Of course life goes on when the kids are home and that means mommy had an important mid morning conference call with Disneyland that could not be avoided. When the boys asked if I would turn on the stove so they could make pancakes I said no. But I gave it some thought…and decided. SURE. It can’t be anymore dangerous than roasting marshmallows at camp right? So I chatted on my call, while my little chefs created behind me. And create they did. They made Banana Pancakes, MnM pancakes and my all time favorite invention EVER a pancake-filled-with-syrup pot sticker.It was inspired. And delicious.See how yummy summer is? hey! come read tons more by marcy here.
Posted By OC Family On 08/21/2010 At 8:38 AM Comments (0) TrackBacks (0)
Disclosure: Bloggers are often provided with free products, services and "experiences" from companies for the purpose of testing and reviewing them in a blog post. Any product mentioned in the blog posts of ocfamily.com may have been offered at no cost to the blogger.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Discovery Science Center Summer Camps

Today is my first day of summer.What? No really. Okay it just FEELS like it. Because from the very moment the last school bell rang on that last day of school I have been on a marathon race. From daycamp to daycamp. To the airport and back. Entertaining guests. To visiting in-laws out of state and all the other craziness a fully scheduled summer looks like. But today we have nothing. And nothing ahead of us for the month of August.With my boys attending all these day camps in Orange County I have become somewhat of an expert on them (in my head.) And boy was I surprised by Discovery Science Center’s camps the boys went to last week. Jack learned some computer programming and walked away having designed (with code!) and entire video game. And Tucker learned by doing (lots of science-y craft projects). But I made a rookie move when I booked these camps. The boy’s classes started and ended at different times. Which meant I had more than enough time to sit around and be bored out of my mind OR hang out inside the museum and partake in the very cool new TinkerToy exhibit. I giggled as I watched my nearly 12 yr old Jack fall in love with this classic toy all over again. (Oh we stopped by the Grossology section. And it was well, GROSS). So next summer (or this summer. There are some sessions left), when you are looking for an affordable, educational and FUN day camp I would highly recommend checking out Discovery Science Center’s offerings.
Posted By Kristen On 08/08/2010 At 3:34 PM Comments (1) TrackBacks (0)
Disclosure: Bloggers are often provided with free products, services and "experiences" from companies for the purpose of testing and reviewing them in a blog post. Any product mentioned in the blog posts of ocfamily.com may have been offered at no cost to the blogger.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Hey lady stop trying to kill my son k?

I am not sure how I forgot to post photos of my son with SCORPIONS all over him. But somehow it slipped my mind. Could be the effects of trauma.

The other day while visiting this place, we came across this old school house that had the most curious cabinet filed with well, curiosities. Quickly a woman dressed as some kind of Indiana Jones counter-part encouraged my kids to open all the drawers and to TOUCH EVERYTHING including the many live THINGS on the shelves. That exploration resulted in Jack holding a REAL giant fish eyeball up to his own. Yeah I nearly puked, but calmly said (after the photo of course) “how about we put that back. I mean we don’t want to damage it”. Then before I could react the Ms. Indiana Jones sister was putting live scorpions ON MY CHILD. Look closely, there is one on his hat climbing on his cheek.

This was followed by cockroaches, worms and many more creepy things.

Naturally, my boys thought this was the best part of their visit.

The real comedy came when I tried to strike up a convo with Ms. Indiana Jones lady, thinking she was just ‘in character’ I asked her if she had any pets at home. Granted not the best question, but I was trying to be SOCIAL with a lady who was trying to make me scream. To my surprise she said ‘oh I have all these things at home too. I am off to Borneo next week to find more specimens.’. SO it turns out she was not IN character.

SHE IS THE CHARACTER.

Now that is authenticity people.

{More by Marcy}

Posted By OC Family On 08/02/2010 At 8:22 AM Comments (2) TrackBacks (0)

Disclosure: Bloggers are often provided with free products, services and "experiences" from companies for the purpose of testing and reviewing them in a blog post. Any product mentioned in the blog posts of ocfamily.com may have been offered at no cost to the blogger.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Peanut's 60th Celebration!

As a child, I was fairly totally certain the character on Peanut’s cartoons was named FOR ME. Now I know that idea would seem crazy to most kids. But I was far from ‘most kids’. I was weird. So I walked around thinking Charles Schulz somehow created the character Marcie for ME. And I had plenty of reasons. First the resemblance. It’s uncanny. And she was the ‘comedic foil’. I always wanted to be the comedic foil. Or even comedic plastic wrap. I wasn’t picky. Says Wikipedia: Marcie is a bespectacled fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic stripPeanuts. She serves as comedic foil and best friend to tomboy Peppermint Patty, plays a supporting role in some of Snoopy's heroic fantasies, and displays a romantic interest in Charlie Brown, who seems to love her back. Marcie made her first named appearance on July 20, 1971 That’s right folks. She made her debut when I was one year old. Coincidence? I think not.So when I heard it was the 60th anniversary of Charles Schulz Peanuts…I knew I wanted to help in the celebration. So I stopped by Knott’s this weekend to take a peek at good ol’ Knott’s Camp Snoopy. I went hoping to I was looking to find Charlie and yes, of course my beloved Marcie. Right away I saw a clear bias. Lucy had her own stage….. and Snoopy had his own ice show. We took a break and asked these two Knott’s regulars where all the Marcie merchandise was, but they were pretty clueless.This house looked promising. We knocked, but no answer. Where was Charlie? Where was Marcie? Jack went to jail to see if maybe Marcie was hiding in there….. We found the very huggable Snoopy and eventually a few small Charlie Brown items. But clearly Snoopy is the rock star in the Peanut’s Merch gang. Well happy birthday to the whole Peanut’s gang. And especially MARCIE. I have loved you all, all my life. Charles Schulz’s cartoon strip, written for adults about children has a longevity that reaches past generations with universal themes of disappointment, failure and friendship. And of course the love of a silly dog.Next week I will be interviewing Jill Schulz (Charles youngest daughter) about the Peanut empire and what lies ahead. If you have questions you would like for me to ask- please leave in the comments here. Things I learned researching this post: There is a Charles Schulz museum that looks really cool. This is the official online place to still read the comic strip. There is only one figurine of the Marcie character. And I must own it now. Have you not been to Camp Snoopy? It is a big part of Knott’s Berry Farm (which you know from THIS and THIS) I am a huge fan. MORE MARCY
Posted By OC Family On 07/26/2010 At 11:25 AM Comments (2) TrackBacks (0)
Disclosure: Bloggers are often provided with free products, services and "experiences" from companies for the purpose of testing and reviewing them in a blog post. Any product mentioned in the blog posts of ocfamily.com may have been offered at no cost to the blogger.