I love coming here with the kids! They love it and the park is clean and welcoming. There are a…read morecouple things I would like to point out: there is a dog park next to the splash pad so people bring their dogs to the splash pad even though it says not to. I don't mind but my son is allergic to dogs and it could start up his allergies which I then would mind. Also we set up a blanket on the grass and this grass has the tiny spikey balls in the grass so that was an inconvenience trying to clean that off. But overall, the park is clean, the other kids and parents are friendly and there isn't anyone here who isn't supposed to be which is nice.

What a great splash pad! Saw this place on IG and knew my toddler would love it. We came on a…read moreTuesday around 10am & it was pretty packed. Lots of moms and kids there. I wish there was more shade but it seems playgrounds never have any. My toddler enjoyed all the water fun. It's pretty well kept and there's also 2 large dog parks right next to it. I didn't check to see if there were restrooms though. Parking is just on the street as the park is in the middle of a community.

Newport Beach was a longtime party destination for me in college. We drove here all the time from…read moreArizona to chill on the beach and hit the night scene back in the day. Those were some good times. It can get really crowded here in Newport Beach. Especially during the summer and during spring break. But I still love visiting here to walk on the pier and chill at the beach. The sunsets are amazing and there are many great restaurants and bars all around. Getting a parking spot will always be a pain, but I love it here at Newport Beach. Newport Beach is located between L.A. and San Diego and is known for its sandy beaches. It is one of the most expensive places to live in both California and in the United States. Its commercial fishing days are a thing of the past as it is known mostly for recreation. There are some spots around here that still pay homage to its past. A lot of celebrities own homes in the area. I mostly drive to the Balboa Peninsula to hang out at the beach and to take in the fresh ocean air and watch the sunset. My late-night party days are in my past. I grew up eating at the Crab Cooker and still make a stop there from time to time. Some of my favorite areas in Newport Beach that I like to visit are Crystal Cove State Park and Balboa Island.

Lovely beach in Orange County - we had a mini college reunion here this Valentine's Day weekend…read more Our rental unit was right on the beach, and the pier was less than a mile away. Watching the locals play volleyball, do beach yoga, walk their dogs and cats, bike, run, parasail and surf was a lot of fun. We even spotted a couple of dolphins frolicking just off shore. Happy to return.

My dogs and I have been walking at River Walk Park for the past 15 years. They have a wonderful…read moretrail that has really expanded over the past 10 years. You can now walk from Eastvale Community Park at Hamner through River Walk Park and down to Archibald, a total round trip of 5.2 miles. Unfortunately, there has been so many kids out there racing E-bikes during the past year it is getting increasingly difficult to safely take a walk with my dog along this trail. Recently JCSD has put up 20 miles per hour speed limit signs that say yield to pedestrians and some mirrors to help see around sharp turns. 20 mile per hour speed limit might be an okay speed limit on the straight parts of the trail, but 20 miles per hour isn't at all safe around the sharp turns. I have had to jump in the bushes and pull my dog off the trail several times from E-bikes racing around a curve in the trail.

One of my favorite trials! Peaceful and a great opportunity to get over 8k steps. Tip the restroom…read moreis at the community park if you want to avoid the portable bathrooms

I have absolutely loved everything about The Aquatic Zone! From the very beginning, everything has…read morebeen amazing. Signing up on their website was so easy. Classes are 30 mins long and each of the instructors are phenomenal! The staff is so friendly and welcoming. It is so neat to watch how engaged they are with all the children. It has been such a great place to meet new families. The facility is so nice and always clean. The pools are heated so even during the winter months our little one hasn't had any issues. I love recommending The Aquatic Zone to anyone. Swimming is such an incredible life skill and it's important we all know!

Good and bad. Full disclosure my family used our school's…read morecharter funds to sign up our (then) 5 yr old for first time swim lessons. My child had zero experience swimming or being in a pool. I thought this would be a great way to use our funds and teach him pool safety. Fast forward to today, my son has since turned 7 this year, and he still does not know how to swim or even put his head under the water. Granted, we were not going consistently. But for the past 3 months we have taken him weekly. Before that we did 2 other months I believe. I thought, let's just keep trying, maybe it's just that he's scared and he'll learn if we stick it out. My child struggles with sensory issues and has not been interested in getting his face wet. He also has a harder time being around other kids in very close proximity which, he definitely is here. He did the group lessons for 30 mins and they're basically shoulder to shoulder most of the time. So, the good: when he first started he really liked the two different teachers that worked w/him. The class was usually just him and one other child. The location is clean, and the staff seemed friendly. My son also mostly enjoyed the time and being in the pool, so it was good for getting more experience around other kids, teachers and being in a new environment. The negative: the teachers rotate so you never know who you're going to get. So one teacher might know where your kid is at, but then a new person comes in the next week and it's like starting all over. It seems hard to build a comfortable relationship with the teachers because of this as well. Also, my son never progressed much at all. He moved to the larger pool this year and it's been 3 kids to 1 teacher. recently, however, there were 4 kids in the class. I timed it on my phone out of curiosity- to see exactly how much 1:1 time he got during that class. 4 mins and 9 seconds. Total. The class moved like a conveyor belt just shuffling the kids around, I couldn't believe the kids were getting less than 5 mins each with the teacher. The time in between their turn, they're just holding on to the edge of the pool waiting. My son felt very cramped and two other kids were being kids and having fun but disrupting the class, so the teacher's attention was mainly spent on telling them to stop doing what they were doing. My son was frustrated and felt like he wasted his time. He also had safety concerns because the kids were practically on top of him at times and kicking and splashing in his personal space, so I don't blame him. He's already afraid as it is. Today we went back and there were 4 kids again. He just didn't want to do it again. The kids seem to be on a hamster wheel. The teachers, though friendly, simply don't have adequate time to actually teach the kids anything solid. It's like busy work. I also had a strange phone conversation with the owner recently. to be frank, she kept trying to rush me off the phone and I kept having to say "oh, wait sorry" (nicely) because i had more than one question but she seemed bothered with me. She also didn't explain about making up a certain day and how many days I had to reschedule when my kid got sick. You only get one make up class for the whole year which seems odd to me. We already missed two classes due to vacation (1 planned reschedule) and sickness (she apparently gave us 7 days from the date of the class to reschedule but didn't actually communicate that to me- I found out from the girls at the front desk AFTER the fact and the 7 days passed, which was frustrating because I would have brought him in. I guess I was supposed to assume what she meant when she asked "what does he have??" As in asking what illness he had. I said idk, a cold I think? But wasn't sure. So she "made a note" on her end but never specified that I had to come in within 7 days to make it up. Which really was just a courtesy reschedule because they don't even offer that. So, oh well. Honestly though, even beyond all this, I could see and feel the judgement when I mentioned today that my kid was more easily overwhelmed and we would maybe look into one on one classes for the future. I got the impression that there was very little understanding or empathy there for my child, and my family and I felt brushed off. Bottom line, just not for us. 4 kids is too many for one pool. 4 mins is not enough time to give each kid when you're paying for 30. Maybe one on one classes are different, or with smaller groups, but I had too many incidents where I brought up a concern and felt dismissed. In the future we'll be going elsewhere but I'm bummed we went for so long with really not much to show for it. At the very least my kid got a little more comfortable being in the water but for paying about $400-$500 total and like 4-5 months of weekly classes? I would not say this was worth that time or money unfortunately.