Riverside

The Mission Inn Festival of Lights

The holidays are in full swing and during this special time of the year, I love making memories with my kiddos. The best kind of memories are the ones that don’t cost much money and usually involve hot chocolate.

This year like last year, we plan on heading to the Mission Inn for their annual festival of lights.

The Mission Inn and Spa in Riverside is home to the Festival of Lights. More than 3.6 million (Yes Million!) lights transform this beautiful hotel into a holiday wonderland. The festival features nightly live entertainment, “fresh snow”, and even appearances by Santa and his reindeer. You can even ride around a horse drawn carriage.

The Festival of Lights at The Mission Inn Hotel is now in full swing and will continue until January 5th, 2012.

The Festival of Lights begins every night at sunset and is Free to the public. For additional information head here.

Camping in So Cal: Rancho Jurupa

Credit: Carissa Joy

I’m so excited to introduce you to another one of our new contributors, Carissa. Slowly but surely we will be introducing you to our new contributors and new adventures. Carissa shares about her camping experience and a super fun/inexpensive getaway. Here is what she has to say about her little getaway.

Last summer my husband and I decided that we wanted to take our daughter camping. We had never been camping together as a family and weren’t sure where to go. We knew we didn’t want to go very far and we knew it would have to be kid friendly. Thankfully I stumbled across Rancho Jurupa, an amazing gem hidden just 15 minutes from our house!

Credit: Carissa Joy

Rancho Jurupa is hidden right behind Mt. Rubidoux, tucked away and out of sight from the main roads. Since we live close, we drove through the campgrounds and scoped out good sites prior to booking our trip. After driving through we were so excited at all that Rancho Jurupa had to offer and looked forward to our first family camping trip!

Credit: Carissa Joy

Our site ended up being HUGE…all grass, tall trees, and plenty of space to run around. We went with another family and had two 2-year olds with us so we were so thankful for a big site with room for the girls to run and explore. Even with our 2 tents, 2 cars, picnic tables, and kiddie pool we had plenty of space! The campground has 2 lakes, boats to rent, bikes to rent, an amazing splash-pad, mini-golf course, several playgrounds and great trails for hiking.

Credit: Carissa Joy

Each site has its own water source, picnic table, fire ring and hook-ups for electricity. The sites vary in size, but we found most of the end sites to be bigger. The sites run $25/night or $150/week. Each site can accommodate 2 cars and up to 6 people. If you have a larger group, 2 sites next to each other should be just fine! There are 2 separate camping areas, 1 for RVs and another for tent camping. If you are not a tent-camping kind of family, there are also 4 or 5 cabins that have recently been built and are available for rental.

If you are looking for an inexpensive and close get-away, Rancho Jurupa is the way to go! We loved it so much we’ve decided to make it annual trip for our family and are already looking forward to summer and our next camp-out! For additional info head here.

 

Carissa is a blessed Mommy of a pretty amazing 2 1/2 year old. She works part-time as a Child Life Specialist in the Pediatric Emergency Department at a local children’s hospital. She is  excited to share with you some great places she has found and hopefully help provide some really fun family days for you and your little (and big) ones!

Festival of Lights at The Mission Inn Hotel

Credit: Mission Inn

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Yay! We have now officially entered the holiday season! What a beautiful time of year! This is the time to make amazing memories with our families and I want to share with you a fun and free event taking place in Riverside that is sure to create many fun holiday memories with your families.

The Mission Inn and Spa in Riverside is home to the Festival of Lights. More than 3.6 million (Yes Million!) lights transform this beautiful hotel into a holiday wonderland. The festival features nightly live entertainment, “fresh snow”, and even appearances by Santa and his reindeer. You can even ride around a horse drawn carriage.

The Festival of Lights at The Mission Inn Hotel is now in full swing and will continue until January 8th, 2012.

The Festival of Lights begins every night at sunset. For additional information head here. Oops almost forgot, The Festival of Lights is free to the public!