Where to Celebrate Lunar New Year in San Diego 2016

Firecrackers, dragon dancing, special sweets and of course lucky envelopes. I cannot wait! I've been getting the house ready with red and gold Tet decorations. There is a dragon hanging from the walkway leading into the kitchen and a pair of golden monkeys sitting on the mantle in the living room. Between preparations for Parker's birthday party and Lunar New Year I'm feeling very festive!

Below is a list of Lunar New Year celebrations in San Diego (and a couple in Orange County). Happy Year of the Monkey to all my readers! I hope this year brings you good health, love and prosperity. 

[Monkey by Zen Brush spotted on Etsy]

Lunar New Year at Seaworld
Saturday, January 30 - Sunday, February 21
Seaworld San Diego
Admission: Free for those born in the Year of the Monkey (1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1980, 1992 or 2004). Must have valid ID. Only valid February 6-8.
https://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/pages/year-of-the-monkey

House of China Year of the Monkey Celebration
Sunday, January 31
Jasmine Seafood Restaurant
4609 Convoy Street A 92111
Admission: $50
http://www.houseofchinasd.com/

San Diego Library Lunar New Year Celebrations
Wednesday, February 3
4S Ranch Library
San Marcos Library
http://www.sdcl.org/signature-series.html

Barnard Community Chinese New Year Celebration
Saturday, February 6
Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy
2445 Fogg Street 92109
Admission: Free. Carnival ride tickets are an additional cost.
https://www.sandiegounified.org/schools/barnard-asian-pacific-language-academy/lunar-new-year-community-celebration

11th Annual San Diego Tet Festival
Friday, February 12 - Sunday, February 14
Mira Mesa Community Park
8575 New Salem Street 92126
Admission: Free. Carnival ride tickets are an additional cost.
http://www.sdtet.com/

34th Annual San Diego Chinese New year Food and Cultural Fair
Saturday, February 13 - Sunday, February 14
Downtown San Diego
Third Avenue and J Street
Admission: Free
http://sdcny.weebly.com/

If you are willing to drive about an hour north, you can find large lunar new year festivals in Orange County.

2016 OC Tet Festival
Friday, February 12 - Sunday, February 14
Mile Square Park
16801 Euclid Street 92708
Admission: Free
http://www.octetfest.org/

Tet Festival
Friday, February 12 - Sunday, February 14
Admission: $5 for 1-day admission. $13 for 3-day admission.
OC Fair & Event Center
88 Fair Drive 92626
http://tetfestival.org/

Now that you've read the list, where will you be celebrating the Year of the Monkey?

Disney Parks with a Toddler Part 3

I'm going to keep the word count low on this post since this is part 3 of my Disney Parks with a Toddler series. You can read part one and two by clicking on the links.

Last week I went on my first long work trip coordinating two fun product launch parties in Los Angeles and San Francisco. After a week of traveling and working 12+ hour days, I took the first flight home and Tuan, Parker and I drove straight to Anaheim to use up the last day on our passes. I have to say that they SoCal 3 day/3 park special Disney offered was a great investment and I really enjoyed all the time we spent at the parks. It felt like a mad dash to fit in the last day before June 6 but we did it! I guess the best part of not being able to do everything in the park in one day is that there was always a brand new experience in store for Parker on our subsequent trips.

[Parker's first time on the Little Mermaid Ride was very exciting. Short, fast moving lines, fish, bubbles and ducks. Those are all of his favorite things.]

[Tuan picked up the same Mickey shirt Parker has on our last trip. This time around they were shirt twins and Parker kept poking the Mickey on daddy's shirt.]

[Our first time watching the Aladdin show. It was great! Parker freaked out when he saw the giant cave head though.]

[The Aladdin show is 45 minutes long. Apparently that is too long for Parker because he fell asleep during the show.]

[I broke all the rules and ate this glorious carb overload pretzel with Tuan. At least we shared it!]

[The Play Parade was a big hit. I had no idea the floats shot water at the crowd. No one seemed to mind though since it was a warm day.]

[Balling his fists in excitement. He danced the whole time.]

[We left the park and went back to our hotel after the parade because we could not handle the millions of high school kids who were there for Grad Night.]

We decided to have dinner outside of the park and went to Umami Burger located in the Anaheim Packing District. This was our first time visiting and I was a little skeptical since one of the Yelp reviews I read said the place was not kid friendly. Whoever wrote that review could not have been more wrong. We were seated promptly, our waitress brought over a high chair, coloring page and crayons for Parker and we had our food in 10 minutes. 

We are definitely going back to experience the Packing District in its entirety. It's too bad we were there the day before the grand opening and did not have a chance to taste the offerings of all the other vendors. 

[Truffle fries]

[Tuan's "manly burger"]

[After dinner we went to Joe's Italian Ice for dessert. The nice employee gave Parker a free mini cone of soft serve and he loved it. He loved it so much he ate the entire thing, cone and all. It was a hot mess.]

[Tuan's mango tango and my bada bing cherry]

[Enjoying the fireworks in our pajamas from our room. Parker kept saying "OOOhhh". It was so cute.]

[Can you spot the hidden Mickey?]

[Unlike last time, we came prepared for pool time on this trip.]

[Bundled up like a burrito. I think he's still on the fence about whether or not he likes swimming. Hopefully that changes once we start swim lessons later this month.]

Want to see more of our day to day adventures?

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Snapshots from the weekend

 

[Our first time having brunch at Cafe Chloe - Review to follow.]

 

[I ran in the San Diego Hot Chocolate Run and Tuan made these amazing shirts to support me.]

 

[Big boy was offered crayons for the first time at Snooze. Crayon eating ensued.]

 

[Went to OC to celebrates my sisters' birthdays. Ended the day at the Garden Grove Park with the whole family. More photos to follow.]