Pretend City

 Tawni and I took the boys to Pretend City in Irvine on Thursday (7/26).  Like the museum in Portland, this is a "please touch" place where they travel through a full city including the grocery store, bank, farm, house, theatre, beach, fire station, ocean front, Daphes' Cafe, dentist, doctors, library and an art studio.  All three of the boys LOVED it!  Tawni did a great write-up of it on her blog with details about each area--check it out!

 entrance with the "Reese" dog statue

 the grocery store

 weighing the produce was a big deal!

 The farm was Andrew's favorite (we went back several times). There were oranges and apples to pick off the trees and strawberries to pick out of the vines.  Lettuce grew out of the ground and the dirt bed had carrots and potatoes to "dig" up!

 I should have taken the big camera, but the constant blur of Andrew shows how much he moved.

 Sam with his pickings!

 In the construction zone with his safety jacket and Craftsman hat!

 Fire station!

 Beach (Andrew enjoyed climbing and and out of each car)!

 Gas Station Jeep (Andrew is trying to push Nate out of the drivers seat so he can drive, poor Nate).

 Daphes' Greek Cafe Kitchen

 Andrew was just a bit too short!

 The Library was a hit for Nate and Andrew.  They loved looking at the books and playing with the computer.

 He found the puzzle in the reading room of the library!

 The marina was, of course, a favorite. 

They had these adorable rain slickers to prevent the kids from getting soaked (didn't work for Andrew).

 fishing (really using the fishing pool as a tool to fling water all over the people behind us)

 trying really, really hard to be tall enough to reach the big kid area

 

 I caught a crab!

 Next up was the Dentist office and Doctor's office.  Andrew immediately found a tooth brush and knew what to do with it!

After the doctors, Andrew changed clothes and we ate our packed lunch (thanks Tawni!) at the "Real Cafe."  Free time was next--Andrew went straight back to the farm.

 After awhile, he wandered over to the theater.  It doesn't surprise me, but give my son a stage, some hip hop music, an instrument and an audience and he'll entertain himself (and others) for ever.  He danced with several older girl, tried on a princess costume or two and made a lot of noise with his drums and mariachi for well over thirty minutes (Sam and Nate played in the water).

All in all, this is a wonderful place to go.  If we lived closer I would totally buy a yearly membership!