Irvine

When I was a teenager, I thought it was my dream to get away to a big city and leave The Vine and its bland houses, man-made lakes, and stringent HOA rules.

HOA rules still drive me nuts on occasion, but it turns out Irvine with kids is as awesome as they say. Mom came back to the house for the first time in approximately 14 years, and Aunt Jimei came with her to run errands. Our former next door neighbor, who lived there when I was growing up, gifted me a Kawai baby grand, which her movers wheeled from her house into my mother’s when she moved out of her house. So on October 12, we came to The Vine for an extended stay to spend time with family, explore Orange County, and resume piano lessons.

By this point in our road trip, Fiona had improved as a traveler quite a bit, and seemed far less perturbed on the ride, as well as upon arrival. She seemed to make herself right at home.

Our first weekend in Irvine, we visited the popular Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch. I’m not typically a big advocate of pumpkin patches, as I prefer to get my pumkins for 1/15th the price at Wal-Mart or a grocery store, as well as avoid battles with Vale about endless overpriced rides, but living rent-free with mom for a month, I’d have felt like a pretty cheap bastard to not spring for a little excess at the pumpkin patch.

Before long, we had a pretty good routine going, with coffee and breakfast in the early morning, followed by some home schooling, then a short playground trip so we could jog on the way and the kids could play until it was time for Everest’s first nap. In addition to Tanaka Farms, our first weekend in OC, we also met with friends for good times at Gamecraft Brewing, which had awesome beers and plenty of games and distractions to keep the kids entertained. This was perfect in a few ways: Everest had her first playdate with peers in a while, and my kids played with the kids of my high school friends, just as I’d always envisioned.