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Wednesday, January 4, 2017

it really does rain (and snow) in southern california

our friends invited us to join them for winterfest at the orange county fairgrounds just before new year's.  since we'd never been, we jumped at the chance to not only spend time with our buddies, but to check out an event that they said was lots of fun.

it happened to be a rainy afternoon, and so we packed up a bunch of extra clothing, dressed in layers, and headed down to costa mesa.  i would imagine that an event like this during winter break would be pretty popular, although it wasn't too hard to find parking and buy tickets.  we delicate socal flowers always think we're going to melt in the rain.




our friends are ballers, so we were pretty excited to join them in one of the VIP cabanas that they'd rented out for a few hours.  it was really nicely decorated, and even had a heater in the corner.



oh, and we had a special food and drink menu that we could order from.  super attentive service staff wandered by on a regular basis and asked if there was anything we needed.


well, of course we did.


the food was actually pretty tasty, although the philly cheesesteak and prime rib sandwich looked like the same thing.


being VIPs, the kids were able to strap on skates and participate in as many sessions as they wanted.  each one was 45 minutes and they would clear the ice for a few minutes between each session.  the bean and her friends all started out using the beginner stands, but eventually they left them behind and started skating without assistance.




 they did a special tree lighting ceremony too, complete with fireworks and a snowfall.


quick group pic before we had to leave the cabana for good.


 during a potty break, the kids managed to find an arcade game that had free plays in it.


they passed on the giant rocking horse...


...but let us take pictures of them inside the giant ornament with the penguin.


they had a blast going down the ice slide a few times:


and then capped off the evening with some snow play.





as we headed out, it started raining again and so we passed on walking through the festival of lights.  we got a peek at the lights from the parking lot though, and then we parted ways.


it was a super fun time, and definitely on the list for another visit next year!

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