Inland SoCal Moms | Things To Do In Menifee

Recently when I asked my husband what there was to do in Menifee, his response was “nothing”. Which seems to be what most of our friends and neighbors seem to believe as well. But with a little digging I found that there was plenty to do, whether you wanted a free experience or you didn’t mind shelling out a few bucks.   Some of the things to do are not technically in Menifee but are so close you might as well consider it!

Here are just things to do in the city of Menifee.

Visit the Library! Visit the Library! I cannot say this enough times. It is AMAZING what is available for FREE to our entire community. We have two libraries!

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Photo Credit: Riverside County Library

Sun City Library –  Located at 26982 Cherry Hills Blvd. Sun City Library has FREE WIFI, several family storytimes and you can read to a therapy dog on the first and third Thursday of every month. There is something for every age group including Yoga and Meditation for the not so young and Anime Club for the teens. There is so much more to do that I couldn’t list it all.

Paloma Valley Library  – Located on the Paloma High School Campus at 31375 Bradley Rd.   The Paloma Libary has preschool story times, family game night, a chess club and elementary and middle school tutoring. ALL ARE FREE!

Menifee Valley Flyers – Even if you don’t have an RC plane, you can still learn how to fly one. Menifee Valley Flyers has a field located off Menifee Rd. in between McCall and Simpson. The cost for membership is $25 dollars plus the cost of insurance. There are instructors that can teach you to fly or you can bring your own plane. They also have flights over Heritage Lake 3-4 times a year and night flying too!

Menifee Lakes Country Club  –  Menifee Lakes Country Club  is open to the public and has lessons that are available for adults and for children as well. In the summer there are clinics for students at a discounted rate. Menifee Lakes Country Club has a practice range, a 27 hole golf course and a grill and cocktail lounge where they have karaoke and live music.

California Golf and Art  – California Golf and Art is an 18 hole, 72 par championship course in Sun City, CA. Located at 26583 Cherry Hills Blvd. SCGA’s “Youth on the Course” Participating Facility (which apparently means $1-5 dollar course fees for SCGA youth members!)

Menifee Parks - Take your kids to the park. Fly a kite, swing a swing. For just a moment remember life through the eyes of your child. Wheatfield Park is our family favorite because in addition to the play structures and basketball and baseball courts there are also tennis and racquetball courts. If you don’t have a kid, take your dog to a dog park, we have two. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? Menifee seems to have two of everything! Aldergate park is located on Menifee Rd. and the other dog park is E. L. Pete Peterson Park on Murrieta Rd., Menifee has many parks and if you take a look at the city of Menifee website you will be able to view them all.

Chinese Bistro – Have you ever eaten inside of a train? Chinese Bistro is located off HWY 74. My kids enjoyed the atmosphere and I was pleased to be eating authentic Chinese food on real china. Not Styrofoam. It was delicious and a unique experience for the whole family.  This is a great place for train enthusiasts!

 

Inland SoCal Moms | Encouragement For Moms – Over The Hill

My first born, Noah, was a dream child. Load him in the car and not only would he sleep the entire ride, but he would stay asleep for hours in his baby carrier. All our trips were planned around his nap and sleep schedule, so we figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to travel ten hours north when he was three months old.

 

Inland SoCal Moms

We traveled during the day as we headed up north. I sat in the back with Noah, read him books, fed him, and played with him; however, on the way home, we decided to travel during his bedtime, knowing he would sleep the entire way home (did I mention he slept twelve hours at night?).

Suitcases filled the trunk of our little hybrid car, so Christmas presents had spilled over into every part of the back seat that Noah didn’t occupy.

“I think it’s too cramped,” I argued with my husband, Jeff, the expert packer.

“It’s fine.” Jeff smiled. “He’ll sleep the whole way and you’ll sit in the front with me.”

Sure enough, we had only been on the freeway fifteen minutes when I saw Noah’s little head bob. He fought it for a while, but soon he was in a sound sleep.

My husband and I enjoyed adult conversation and listening to “our” music. The minutes turned into hours. One stop for gas and Noah slept on. As we began up the Grapevine, I was thankful he was sound asleep…

It started as a whimper. Jeff’s reassurance that Noah would fall back to sleep was interrupted by screams from our little guy.

“It’s okay, Noah.” I turned around in my seat to reach the top of his head. “It’s okay, Baby.”

The screaming intensified.

“You’ve got to pull over!” I told Jeff.

“I can’t pull over.” His voice was calm despite the chaos.  “We’re on the Grapevine. There’s no where to pull off.”

Noah’s face grew bright red, his pajamas now damp from tears. As soon as I placed a pacifier in his mouth, he spit it out.

“It’s probably just his ears popping,” Jeff said, as if knowing why my son was so upset would make it better.

I stared at the stack of presents in the back seat. There was absolutely no room next to him, but there was space on the floor beside his seat…

“What are you doing?” Jeff turned as I unbuckled my seat belt and made my way toward the back seat.

“Just drive.” I was in no mood to argue. My baby was hurting and I needed to be next to him.

Somehow I squeeze my bottom above the floor between Noah’s infant seat and the mound of presents. I kissed his tears away and held his little hand, singing Hush Little Baby, Jesus Loves Me, and other songs I knew he loved. It took several songs to calm him down, but when he did, he squeezed my finger. He sighed, sucking on his pacifier, and stared into my eyes. He wasn’t happy, but I could tell he knew everything would be okay because Mommy was there.

That’s our job as moms, to be there in the tough times. I was there when he needed his forehead glued at 18 months and when he had an awful throat infection at two. I carried him into the doctor’s office when he had the flu at five because he was too weak to walk. When the doctor told me he would either be well in 24 hours or in the hospital, I took him home, fed him ice chips, and prayed that this too would pass. And it did. I’ve been there for all the wins and loses for soccer and Bible quizzing. I’ve held him as he cried when one of his best friends moved across the country.

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Of course, I could never forget the times my baby girl, Becca, needed me. At 15 months she fell off the back of the couch (which she loved to stand on). I held the ice on the goose egg in the middle of her forehead. My heart broke when she received second degree burns on her hands from pushing on the burning hot front door one summer, but I held her and kissed her as we waited for the burn medication to work. When she broke her toe at nine years old, she kept a stiff upper lip when she chose me over her father to take her to urgent care. I was also beside her the next day, a smile on my face though fear filled my heart while she got a blood test because the doctor was afraid of an infection entering her blood stream. When the girls next door teased her, I hugged her and told her all the wonderful things about her. On her first week long trip to see Grandma and Grandpa up north, I called her every night so she could tell me about her day. By the third night she was happy instead of homesick.

The only given in motherhood is your child will suffer at some point. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. In my thirteen years as a mom, I have suffered a lot of physical pain myself; however, I would rather suffer any day of the week than see my kids suffer. Why do moms feel this way? Because we can’t take their pain away. That cold December night when I squeezed in a spot much smaller than my backside, I didn’t take my son’s pain away. I couldn’t. But I showed him I cared. I was there, holding his hand, wiping his tears. It didn’t feel like enough, but it was all I could give. The truth is, when we pour out all our love on our kids, it is enough.

We made it over the hill. Once again Noah was sound asleep and I joined my husband in the front seat.

Jeff shook his head. “I don’t know how you fit back there. I packed it so good, there wasn’t any extra room.”

“My baby needed me, so I figured out a way.” I relaxed in my seat. “That’s what moms do.”

Things to do in Redlands with Kids

Redlands is quickly growing as a destination for entertainment in the Inland Empire. From old traditions and glimpses of the past to new places to explore, there is a wide variety of activities for children in Redlands.

Photo Credit: Skytown Indoor Trampoline Park

Photo Credit: Skytown Indoor Trampoline Park

Skytown Trampoline Park 

Skytown has several trampoline areas including a foam pit, dodgeball court and a balance beam. It requires everyone to sign a waiver and children under 18 must have it signed by a parent (available on website). Special events include Toddler Time on Thursday mornings when everyone has to abide by more gentle bounce rules and ‘Kosmic Kingdom’ Friday and Saturday nights with jumping to music and lights.

 

‘The Y Circus’ is the destination to learn how to juggle, ride a unicycle, swing on the trapeze, make balloon animals and other circus performer skills. The circus was founded in 1929 and started giving performances several years later.  Every May the gymnasium of the YMCA hosts performances for the group, which has had students and alumni go on to perform internationally.
Formerly Pharoah’s Lost Kingdom, the park has been resurrected into a water park with extra features to provide fun for the whole family. Water park amenities include a lazy river, giant slides, wave pool and a kiddy pool. Splash Kingdom also has go karts, an arcade and other attractions and a sports bar upstairs. Season passes and family discounts are available.

San Bernardino County Museum

The San Bernardino County Museum is home  to large collections of land birds, sea birds and their eggs on the top floor, including a California Condor. The basement has local mammal and reptile life displayed as well as bison and a polar bear and a large geological collection. There is also a locomotive, mining equipment and gardens. The museum rotates exhibits with local focus and has regular family events.

Braken Bird Farm

The farm breeds and sells hundreds of bird species, bird care supplies and food. The farm is free to stroll through and includes a variety of animals outside including camels and cows. The bird farm houses an aviary with free-flying birds in it for visitors. Leave with some wild bird seed to feed backyard birds.

AK Smiley Public Library Young Reader’s room

The Young Reader’s Room in A.K. Smiley Public Library has computers, books, and puzzles to occupy children. The library hosts several half-hour storytime including evening preschoolers and Chinese and Spanish. There are two ‘tiny tots’ storytimes on Thursday mornings.

Empire Bowl

The bowling alley has a small arcade and a diner and has open bowling daily with couch seating by the lanes. Thursday and Saturday nights they have a family special for up to five people and includes shoes and a pitcher of soda, and Saturday mornings the bowling alley hosts three juniors’ leagues. There is also a small bowling shop on the premises.

Inland SoCal Moms | Encouragement for Moms – Chauffeur

I used to feel bad for those moms who were their kids’ personal chauffeur. I could never understand why someone would do that to themselves…until it happened to me.

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For years I avoided having my kids on any elite or travel team for sports. In fact, when my son was going to try out a few years ago, I broke down and cried to my husband at the thought of weekly travel games and practice three times a week. I could handle taking him five minutes down the street for practice and games, but 30 minutes to an hour away, forget about it. Besides, he had his heart set on Teen Bible Quizzing and that was only a monthly commitment. Of course it seemed the wiser choice.

Little did I know the weekly practices for quizzing would be an hour away and quiz meets would range from San Diego to Fresno to Prescott, AZ. Add to this my daughter’s monthly Children’s Bible Quizzing and her new found passion for being in dance productions which requires practice on Saturdays. Did I mention my husband works retail so he can’t get Saturdays off? I had become that chauffeur I never wanted to be.

By Friday I had already dreaded the trip to San Diego at 7 a.m. the next day, leaving Noah’s Quiz meet at lunch to rush Becca home for dance, go to a dinner social, and then driving to the other side of town to pick up my son from my brother’s house because luckily he works in San Diego and could bring Noah back up north since I had to leave the meet early. I thought of the back pain I’d have to endure, how exhausted I would be, and how cranky the kids would be after a busy day.
“What have I gotten myself into?” I sighed as I fell asleep Friday night.

My negative thoughts began again when the alarm went off at 5:45 a.m.

“I’m too tired for this!” I thought, rubbing my eyes. But then I remembered, I went to bed at 8:45 p.m. Even with frequent bathroom trips in the night, I had gotten over eight hours sleep.

I put off waking up the girl as long as possible. I dreaded the thought of her crankiness, so I made her breakfast and woke her fifteen minutes before we had to leave. By the time we walked out the door, she was giddy about her brother’s offer to read to her in the car.

“This is going well,” I thought, sipping my coffee on the drive down. “It’s going too well.” Disaster was undoubtedly around the corner.

Amazingly enough, the day continued without a disaster. In fact, when I got over myself and my busy schedule, it turned out to be a blessed day. I had the opportunity to watch my son put to use all he had learned, as well as display a good attitude when he answered questions incorrectly. To see him smile whether he was right or wrong blessed my heart as we have been working on that for years.

Then the blessing of singing along with my daughter on our ride home came, along with watching her in her first “real” dance role. It wasn’t a dozen young girls running aimlessly around the room, but six young ladies working on a choreographed dance. All I could think of as she danced was how fast she is growing up – and I almost missed it. Not because I wasn’t there, but because of my attitude.

It seems like yesterday that they were just babies, yet in four short years my son will be driving. Then the pressure will be off me, but I will be missing out. I’ll miss out on them telling me about their day on the way home from class, I’ll miss watching them excel in their activities, and frankly, miss just being with them.

I never wanted to be that mom that complains of driving her kids everywhere, so I’ve decided I will no longer complain. I’ll continue to rack up 100 miles in one day, 300 over a weekend. I’ll plan and arrange drop off, pick up, and call on extra support from my family and friends to make it work. I’ll cherish the talks and activities, the silliness and the craziness. And at the end of a long Saturday, I’ll ice my back, put up my feet, and be grateful for the time I have with my kiddos, even when it’s in the car driving from here to there.