Show Review: Cavalia's Odysseo Orange County | @Cavalia #OdysseoOC

You have seen the photos, seen the huge white tent off the 405 freeway and heard about how amazing Cavalia's Odysseo, Orange County is.  I can tell you first-hand what a great show it is because I saw it last week in a media preview.  The horses and their handlers leave you breathless in their acrobatic artistry.

The largest touring show in the world is in Irvine for the next month.  Take your family for an early Valentines Gift and give them memories to last a lifetime!  The director, Normand Latourelle was a pioneer Cirque du Solei from 1985-1990.  He brings the imagination of Cirque du Solei and magic and grace of horses together in harmony.

The stage is unlike anything I have ever seen!  I saw Odysseo in Burbank on a smaller scale and this full version was even better!  There were 70 horses and 45 handlers in the show.  That doesn't include the large tent city of behind the scenes workers!  There are even chefs that cater to the international cast to make them feel more at home.  You can get a glimpse of their life during the RENDEZ-VOUS VIP tour.  

The Rendez-vous VIP Lounge opens 90 minutes is available before the show, during the intermission and after the show.  With your VIP Premium tickets, you also receive:

• Center-row seats
• VIP Pass
• Buffet with a wide variety of complimentary foods served before the show
• Wine, bubbly and beer at will
• Dessert Buffet, coffee and tea served during intermission
• Exclusive stables tour after the show
• Odysseo souvenir

What better way to tell your love for Valentines Day than to pamper her with Dinner, Drinks and a Show? 

East Fork Hiking Trail San Gabriel Mountains

Recently, we visited the San Gabriel Mountains for a hike in the West Fork Day Use area of Azusa.  Last weekend, we returned to explore the East Fork Trail(Bridge to Nowhere).  What a beautiful area!

The East Fork Hiking trail holds an area of activities such as hiking, fishing, day camping, and gold prospecting!  It is another kid friendly hike that our family enjoyed exploring.  The trails are wide and full of nature to explore with little chance of the kids getting into too much trouble.  I recommend having the children bring water shoes as they will want to splash.  If you continue up into the canyons, there are several stream crossings to continue and your feet WILL get wet.

At the end of the East Fork Road, is a parking lot that fills up fast with bathroom and picnic facilities.  This moderately leveled hiking trail can be as long or as short as you want.  If you continue to the end of the trail, (10 miles round-trip) be sure to check the weather for thunder-storms.  As in the case of all canyons, flash floods are a possibility.  There was a storm coming in the evening that we hiked so we stuck with the river area near the parking lot.

The river that runs through the canyon would be a great place to dip your feet into on a hot summer day but since we went in the winter, the snow runoff was cool but bearable.  My husband had to wade in to untangle my son's fishing line and he said it was refreshing.

My daughter and I brought gold pans down to the river to try our luck.  We did find a few specks of gold!  When looking for gold in this area, there are no nuggets but you can see a flash of color in your pan in small grains.  Just fyi, there is a lot of Mica in the water looks like gold but floats.  Remember, gold is heavy and will sink to the bottom of your pan and not float away.  If you have young children with very little attention span, you can tell them the Mica is gold and they get very excited!

My son had fun casting his fishing lines into the river but alas, no fish were caught this day.

We were saddened to see how much graffiti there was along the river bed!  It makes us mad that people haven't any respect for nature and instead of seeing the natural beauty of the area, we saw way too much spray-paint!  The further we got away from the parking lot, the less graffiti we saw.

If you continue along the main trail-head up to the 5 mile hike, you will find a Bridge to Nowhere. A 130 foot cement bridge was built for a now washed away road.  In the summer, you will see bungee jumpers jumping off the bridge with guides.

Due to the weather, we had to save the bridge for another day but we had a great time playing in the river and finding mistletoe!  I got a kiss from my baby boy under the mistletoe.

I can see we will be back to the San Gabriel Mountains soon to continue our hiking explorations and check out the Bridge to Nowhere ourselves!

Knott's Berry Farm Helps Early Breast Cancer Awareness #KnottsPink

Did you know that Knott's Berry Farm is a HUGE supporter of early breast cancer detection?  Together with such organizations such as the Susan G. Komen Orange County foundation, they have helped over five-hundred thousand women get screened and over $2.5 BILLION raised for screening, education and research for the last 3 years!

For the second year in a row, I was invited to help spread the word through Knott's Berry Farm's #KnottsPink fundraiser and I was happy to accept!

Did you know that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer? One of my good friends Jaime Jenkins attended the first #KnottsPink event 2 years ago and it encouraged her to get tested and 2 weeks later, she learned she had breast cancer. She has fought "like a girl" and beat the odds! She is cancer free, 2 years later! Since her form is aggressive, she will have to have medicine the rest of her life and annual tests but she is alive and constantly smiling.

There is no-one not effected in some way by breast cancer. There is no one immune to the possibility of getting it. Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Fathers, Brothers and Sons! Men and children can get it too! Help us spread the word with Knott's Berry Farm and the Susan G. Komen Orange County!