Family Friendly Vacation - Temecula

This weekend, my family and I decided to venture out of Orange County for a mini vacation in Temecula.

Since I've always thought of  Temecula as simply wine country, I wasn't sure how we would keep Martin (5 years old) entertained for three days.. but we managed to find plenty of adventures to keep us all happy!

Here are some of my top ideas for a family friendly vacation in Temecula:

1. Penypickle's Workshop We've been to almost every children's museum in Southern California and I have to say that this has become my FAVORITE (by far!).

Venture through Professor Pennypickle's home and try out his many inventions. From his music room to his bathroom, kitchen, basement and so much more. This museum is filled with little details that could keep you (and your little ones) entertained for hours.

The staff is incredibly friendly and will provide you with a scavenger hunt form (age appropriate) to complete. This was a bit much for us as we were all just so excited about going room to room, but I think if we went back, it would be a good way to keep it interesting.

2. Temecula Duck Pond and Veteran Memorial This is a great morning activity (the ducks get fed a lot and were much less interested when we went back later in the day). The kids love feeding the ducks and you will love walking around this small pond and exploring the Veteran Memorial.

This particular Veterans Memorial brought me to tears as it includes letters, written by soldiers, to their loved ones. At the bottom of each letter, there is information on what happened to that particular soldier.

There is also plenty of grassy area to run around in.

3. Old Town Temecula Old Town Temecula is filled with restaurants, antique shops and so much more.

We challenged Martin to find specific items at the antique shops (you could make this a scavenger hunt if you are way more organized than I am). While we were there (on Fridays during the summer), Old Town Temecula hosts a summer festival, which includes live music a balloon artist, a traveling puppet show and bounce houses (talk about kid friendly, right??)

4. Mulligans Fun Center I'm hesitant to even post this, so maybe you can consider it more of a warning than a recommendation. Mulligans is located very close to Temecula, in Murrieta,  and this one is like a very run down Boomers. With Laser Tag, Batting Cages, Go Karts, Kiddie-land, miniature golf and an arcade... there is lots to do! (we only did the kiddie land and arcade, the other stuff may be great).

First of all, we saw a number of children treated roughly and screamed at by there parents (so if that kind of things bothers you, don't go there).

Second of all, most of the games in the arcade do not work or do not give you tickets after a win.

Third, Martin didn't care about any of that and had a blast (go figure lol)

Do you have any other tips for a family trip to Temecula? Post them in the comments below!