The Great Park in Irvine has been the object of some ridicule and certainly has had its setbacks. However, it does have great potential, and I hope that one day all of its dreams and plans come to fruition. Until then, we will continue to try to take advantage of all of the free events that take place there. On Saturday, there was an anniversary celebration.
A new grove of palm trees has been installed.
There was a variety of things to see and do:
n + k were all smiles during the free carousel ride.
Interesting displays
Hand-painting. (Some people were disappointed that the only option was an orange bicycle, the Great Park’s “mascot”.) 
A sunflower potting station.
The mickey mouse mugs were cute, but not very fun to carry around the whole time. I’m glad we went early though, because the line grew to be pretty long.
Aerial acrobatics show. (I should have taken video…the stunts were truly amazing!)
Petting zoo. (We skipped the line and just looked at the camels). 
Free orange sorbet in a real orange peel cup. (This was so good, especially on a warm day. A little messy for the kids to eat, but they loved it.)
A rendering of a future neighborhood planned for the park. 
For dinner we ate from a couple of food trucks. The first, The Burnt Truck, we had tried before. This time we had the fried chicken slider ($2.50), Vietnamese pork ($2.50) slider and tater tots ($2). The food could have been a little warmer, but the flavors were good. The second was a new to us truck, SlapFish We had a lobster grinder ($6) and a Major Crunchy fish sandwich ($7). 
We also bought a coconut water since I’ve wanted to try it for a while. Both of the sandwiches were yummy, the coconut water not so much. I like coconut, but the water just tasted weird to me.
All in all, a fun, but somewhat tiring outing.