Summer Activities in SoCal-Pretend City, Raging Waters, Barnum's FUNundrum, and more

As the school year winds down, I'm definitely looking for special things to do with my kids. We just celebrated H's 4th birthday so I'm really getting the feeling that this is the last summer of freedom. Next summer he'll definitely be enrolled in all-day pre-K five days a week, and of course there will be summer school or camp every year after that until college (hopefully the service academy in Colorado Springs!). For now, this summer will be about good times and exploring more of Southern California. Over the next couple of months, these are a few of the fun things in store:

1) Pretend City Children's Museum-H missed the special Sid the Science Kid Way to Play event because of preschool so I'll have to make it up to him with another trip to Pretend City in Irvine. He loves all the different rooms that let his imagination run wild, whether it's pretending to shop at Ralph's supermarket or giving someone a check up in the hospital room or serving up a meal at the Middle Eastern cafe. R loves watching the chicks so we'll definitely try to time it to catch another brood after hatching. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you at the next Way to Play Friday, which is the second Friday of every month when the 2-for-1 coupon below applies.

2) Raging Waters in San Dimas-June gloom has been playing tricks with the weather so we haven't been able to go to any water parks yet. Hopefully the minute it officially becomes summer next week, we'll have some sunny days. We're looking forward to making a trip to Raging Waters in San Dimas. Stewart has fond memories of going to the San Jose location when he was young. Kid's Kingdom, a 30,000 square foot water playground with a maze of plastic tubes and tunnels, slip down slides, swinging bars, and waterfalls sounds perfect for H&R. R just reached 36 inches so we'll also be checking out Splash Island Adventure, featuring 12 levels and 75 activities including a 1,000-gallon bucket atop a five-story tower that tips hundreds of gallons of water over the whole attraction every few minutes. Raging Waters is offering Random Mommy readers a discount of $7 off a general admission online purchase or $5 off a general admission purchase at the park. Here's the link for the coupon and you can use the coupon code 1067 for the online purchase.

3) Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey's "Barnum's FUNundrum"-This year The Greatest Show on Earth will feature 130 performers from six continents, almost 100,000 pounds of performing pachyderms, 13 athletes on a Russian bar, seven motorcycle riders in a Globe of Steel, and more clowns that you can see with two eyes. Last year R wasn't old enough to handle the circus. This year he can say the names of the animals and make all their sounds so it'll be interesting to see how he does when he meets an elephant face-to-face at the All Access Pre-show that takes place one hour before show time (FREE with a purchased ticket). H hasn't been to the Ringling Bros. circus so this should definitely elevate his expectations of what going to the circus entails. Random Mommy readers can take advantage of a special multi-ticket discount with a $48 Family Four-Pack Offer on select performances or $4 off single ticket prices on select shows. The discount can be redeemed using the discount code “MOM” online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000. Barnum's FUNundrum will perform at STAPLES Center (July 14-18), Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario (July 21-25), and the Honda Center, Anaheim (July 28-Aug 8). 

And last but not least, we're definitely going to schedule in as many events as we can from The Open Daily's list of free days at Los Angeles Museums. So much fun, so little time!

I did not receive any compensation for this post. I did/will receive complimentary tickets to facilitate my past/future review.