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SUGARPLUM

Zoo & Chocolates

ENTERTAINMENT

DAY TRIP IN THE WHOLE VALLEY — AND WE MEAN THAT LITERALLY

Hi everyone!

My name is Zoe, and writing this letter every August, for the Kids & Pets issue is my favorite tradition.

This is a big year for me, because I'm going into middle school. Everyone keeps telling me what a huge deal it is. (They're right.)

I want to dedicate this issue to someone really special: my 5th grade teacher, Mr. V at the best elementary school in Temecula!

Mr. V is the kind of teacher who makes you laugh! Mr. V — thank you for the best year.

Love,

August 2026

PUBLISHER

Sean Arnett | sean.arnett@citylifestyle.com

EDITOR

Desiree Allen | desiree.allen@citylifestyle.com

SALES DIRECTOR

Sean Arnett

PUBLICATION DIRECTOR

Desiree Allen

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hannah Cole

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alex Tapia, Time Stood Still Photography

Corporate Team

CEO Steven Schowengerdt

President Matthew Perry

COO David Stetler

CRO Jamie Pentz

CoS Janeane Thompson

AD DESIGNER Matthew Endersbe

LAYOUT DESIGNER Amanda Schilling

QUALITY CONTROL SPECIALIST Hannah Leimkuhler

ZOE

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One hilltop. A zoo full of characters. Delicious chocolate. Meet Sugarplum Zoo & Chocolates.

city scene

WHERE NEIGHBORS CAN SEE AND BE SEEN

Special thanks to the Temecula Valley Art League and its 2026 President, Ines Miller, for sharing these works with our readers. 1: A mother's vision: her young son and a llama, dreaming beneath Machu Picchu's ancient peaks. 2: Soft watercolor washes capture childhood's fleeting magic — sandcastles built for joy, surrendered to the sea. 3: A granddaughter's very first hug — and the look on grandpa's face that says everything.

TEMECULA VALLEY ART LEAGUE ARTIST - DAPHNE GAWRONSKI

TEMECULA VALLEY ART LEAGUE ARTIST - SHIRLEY STONER

TEMECULA VALLEY ART LEAGUE ARTIST - INES MILLER

Scantolearnmore

SHOWING UP:

ARTICLE BY HANNAH COLE

A CASA STORY

Voices for Children Riverside County 2025 CASA of the Year is California resident and Torrance Police Sergeant Ron Salary. He was recognized in December 2025.

CONTINUED >

For one local police sergeant, serving the community doesn't stop when the shift ends. After years of encountering children during their most frightening moments, he wanted to meet them somewhere different — somewhere safe. That desire led him to Voices for Children and the role of Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).

What drew you to CASA? After a police call, a social worker introduced me to the program. I wanted to help children during positive moments, not just crises. Being a CASA is an incredible way to make a difference — one child at a time.

Why does consistency matter so much? My current case youth was in his school play. I took pictures and videos. Later he asked me to send them, saying, "I have never seen myself onstage like that." That moment said everything. Growth develops from trust, and trust develops from showing up.

What would you say to other men considering CASA? You are desperately needed. Less than 20% of CASA volunteers are men, but 50% of children in foster care are boys. The time commitment is small. The impact is everything.

Stay, Play, Repeat

Skip the airport. The getaway you need is right here at Temecula Creek Inn.

Here's the plot twist of the summer: the trip you've been craving doesn't need a boarding pass — just twenty minutes and a bag you'll barely bother to unpack. Tucked into more than 300 oak-shaded acres at the edge of wine country, a freshly reimagined Temecula Creek Inn makes a quietly convincing case that the ultimate flex isn't going far. It's going slow.

Consider this your permission slip to romanticize the weekend.

CHECK IN, LOG OFF

The exhale comes early — usually the second you step onto your private patio and decide the to-do list can wait until Monday. All 123 rooms and suites have just emerged from a multi-million-dollar renovation, and the difference lands on sight: warm woods and soft taupes borrowed from the landscape, new plank floors, tailored furnishings, lighting that flatters everything by late afternoon. The bathrooms keep pace, with quartz counters, illuminated mirrors, and brushed-nickel fixtures. Best of all, every room opens onto a private patio or balcony framing the mountains and the centuries-old oaks

— the kind of view that turns a morning coffee into the morning's main event.

The suites simply give you more of it: space for a family to spread out, or for a single night to talk you into a second. It's a refresh built to make you stay in — pour a nightcap, slide open the doors, and let the valley quiet do the rest.

THE GROUNDS

Beyond the room, the property does the heavy lifting. A secluded pool sets the tempo for slow afternoons, manicured lawns invite an aimless wander, and a seasonal Butterfly Habitat lends a little hush of magic to the acreage. It's a dog-friendly resort, too, with green space to spare — so the family member who hates being left behind doesn't have to be.

Catch it at golden hour and the whole place goes cinematic, light pooling in the oaks and along the fairways.

The math works in your favor, as well: the Unlimited Weekday Golf package includes two days of unlimited play on the championship course with a weekday stay, and the Heroes Welcome rate extends 20% off to military, first responders, and

HANNAH COLE

ALEX TAPIA

healthcare workers — a gracious tip of the cap to the people who serve.

TEE TIME, LEGEND STATUS

Golf isn't a side quest here; it's the property's whole origin story. You'll catch it in the curated black-and-white shots of Arnold Palmer and Bob Hope styled throughout the new rooms — a quiet flex of serious pedigree. The 27-hole championship course plays as three distinct nines, all scenic fairways, elevated greens, and terrain that follows the land instead of fighting it.

BRUNCH, BUT MAKE IT FIRE

No staycation counts without a long, golden brunch — and Corkfire is another reason you may never leave the grounds.

Chef Jonathan Alcala cooks the way the property lives: close to the land, close to the flame. Fire moves through nearly everything he makes — "whether it be smoke, whether it be embered, fire roasted directly, or scorched, torched," as he puts it, "everything that has to do with fire" — over a Mediterranean-leaning, CONTINUED >

California-rooted menu drawn from a garden just steps from the pass.

The dish flooding everyone's feed is the focaccia French toast, built on a house dough laced with rosemary, citrus, and fig compote. "You can find French toast anywhere," Alcala says. "We distinguish ourselves through the focaccia." Nearby, the Chef's Garden Hummus arrives like an edible still life — a verde hummus bristling with just-picked crudité over "soil" of dehydrated black olives, practically daring you to get your hands dirty.

The bar is in on the fun. Grown-ups get smoked old fashioneds and a rosemary-basil Garden Party; the zero-proof Shirley Temples (Luxardo cherries, house banana syrup) mean the kids clink glasses right along with you.

It all builds to one day a year, when that fire philosophy takes the main stage at the Live Fire Food & Wine Festival — the historic Stone House crowded with chefs cooking over open flame, local wineries and distilleries pouring, and live music.

COMING UP

On August 16, a Wedding Open House throws open the historic Stone House and the indoor-outdoor event spaces for a real-deal look at celebrating here.

And the Chef's Garden is debuting an al fresco dining concept built around a 30-seat farm table with a custom bar and grill — multi-course menus sourced almost entirely from the property's own beds. Garden-to-table, taken literally.

THE TAKEAWAY

Wake up in a made-new room. Tee off where legends did. Float the afternoon away by the pool. Linger over fire-kissed brunch. Then — because you can — do it all again tomorrow. Turns out the best trip of the summer was hiding in your own backyard.

Stay, play, repeat.

The Best Thing I've Done

for My Kids This Year Has Nothing to Do with Them

By 35, I’d come to terms with a few things. The college jersey wasn’t fitting anymore. My “highlight reels” lived exclusively in the heads of people legally obligated to remember them — namely, my wife and my mom. And somewhere between toddler tantrums, work emails that never stop, and the dad-bod creeping in like an uninvited houseguest, my body sent up a flare. Weekly migraines. The kind that put you face-down on the couch with the lights off while your kids ask, with sincere concern, if you’re “doing a quiet game.” So I made an appointment with my primary care doctor. Dr. Rome Walter at Rancho Family Medical Group has the unenviable job of telling me, in the most professional way possible, that a lot of what’s wrong with me is just… me. We ran through the usual suspects, but the diagnosis kept circling back to something I didn’t really want to hear: stress. I needed an outlet. A real one. Not the “scrolling Instagram at 11 p.m. while doom-spiraling about a Slack message” kind of outlet. Speaking of Instagram — that’s actually how I found my salvation.

ARTICLE BY RANCHO HEALTH PATIENT TESTIMONIAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHEN BYRNE

“

“It doesn't steal from family time. It protects it — because the version of me walking back through the door is dramatically more pleasant than the one who left.”

“I'm on the first tee by 6, done by 7, and home before my kids finish their cereal.”

The algorithm, in a rare moment of usefulness, served me up a video of grown adults sprinting between golf shots at sunrise. It’s called Speedgolf, and it looked completely unhinged in the best possible way. The account was Speedgolf Temecula, run by a guy named Jon. I’d never golfed in my life, but I sent him a DM anyway — something along the lines of “I have no idea what I’m doing, can I come try this?” Jon wrote back almost immediately and told me to show up Sunday at 6 a.m. at Temecula Creek Inn. No audition. No “are you sure you can handle this?” Just, come on out. That’s the thing about Jon and the rest of the Speedgolf Temecula crew — they’re absurdly welcoming. For the unfamiliar: you show up at 6 a.m., carry three to five clubs, and play 18 holes as fast as you can, running shot to shot. You finish in about an hour. Your score is your strokes plus your time. It’s designed for people who love golf but can’t stand the pace of it, and for people who love running but have grown tired of doing it in a straight line like a chump. My first round was a tragedy. A wonderful, sweaty, joyful tragedy. I sliced. I shanked. I introduced my golf ball to several trees that, until that morning, had lived peaceful, undisturbed lives. Jon and the guys just laughed with me, gave me pointers between holes, and made sure I knew I was welcome back. Now I’m a regular. Two mornings a week

CONTINUED >

at Temecula Creek Inn — a course so beautiful at sunrise you almost forget you’re hyperventilating between holes. Almost. Now I’ve become that guy. The golf guy. I have opinions about wedges. My wife has perfected the polite nod she gives when I start a sentence with “So the thing about my grip is—.” The only thing saving my dignity is the running. You can’t be too insufferable about golf when you’re doing it at a dead sprint with sweat running into your eyes. Here’s what I want guys my age to hear: I’m on the first tee by 6, done by 7, and home before my kids finish their cereal. It doesn’t steal from family time. It protects it, because the version of me walking back through the door is dramatically more pleasant than the one who left. The migraines are mostly gone. The stress has somewhere to go. Thanks to Dr. Rome Walter at Rancho Family Medical Group for treating the whole person and not just the symptom. Thanks to Jon and the Speedgolf Temecula crew for taking a chance on a total beginner. And thanks to Temecula Creek Inn for being the prettiest place to embarrass yourself at sunrise. I encourage you all to find your outlet. Give speedgolf a try, we always welcome more crazy people, or find the thing you need to be your best self. I am glad I did.

HOW A SINGLE FREE LESSON GREW INTO TEMECULA'S PICKLEBALL BOOM.

ARTICLE BY HANNAH COLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX TAPIA

ON GAME

Temecula's buzziest new hangout doesn't pour wine or plate brunch. It's eight freshly painted pickleball courts at Michael "Mike" Naggar Community Park, which opened this summer — and if the city's track record means anything, they were full by sunset.

That's just how it goes here now. In five years, Temecula has gone from a couple of courts to a genuine pickleball town — and the city keeps building to keep up. The new Naggar courts join the crown jewel that opened in February 2025: a 17-court complex at Ronald Reagan Sports Park that anchors the city's fast-growing program.

As the sport caught fire nationally, residents showed up at City Council meetings to ask for courts and programming. "The inspiration came directly from our community," the City of Temecula says. The Council leaned in, and the courts multiplied — two, then four, then eight, then seventeen, now eight more. "Our goal is to provide opportunities that enhance quality of life," the City says — "spaces to stay active, build friendships, and strengthen community connections."

If one person embodies that climb, it's Bret Bucher. A 2024 USA Pickleball National Champion and the City of Temecula's Head Pro, Bucher moved up from San Diego in 2015, found basically no local

pickleball scene — and decided to build one, all the way down to bringing the complex proposal to the city himself.

The origin story is almost too good. The first night he and his wife, Bree, offered free lessons, exactly one person showed up. Today the couple runs more than 20 hours of weekly programming at the 17-court Ronald Reagan facility. "We always knew the sport would take off," he says, "but not this quickly. That kind of growth doesn't happen everywhere."

Ask what keeps him hooked and it's not the trophies. "It's the people," he says. "It gets people off the couch, into a community, and moving. People are laughing, exercising, and building real friendships. That's what makes it special."

The sport's secret weapon is its on-ramp. It's famously easy to start and sneakily hard to master — which is exactly why people get obsessed. "A lot of people surprise themselves," Bucher says. "They realize they're more competitive, more capable, and more athletic than they thought." And if your inner monologue is already whispering not athletic enough, he's heard it more than a thousand times — literally. He and Bree have taught well over 1,000 players, ages three to ninety-three. "Athletic background doesn't matter. Everyone can play."

His estimate? More than 80% of first-timers come back. "I can't think of another sport with that kind of return rate."

A first class is engineered to hook you fast: paddles in hands and balls in play within minutes, fundamentals folded in while you're already rallying. Most beginners leave a little stunned at how quickly it clicks — and how hard they laughed. The community handles the rest. "People will literally hand you a paddle, take the shoes off their feet, and invite you onto the court," Bucher says. "It's welcoming, supportive, and one of the best communities in the world."

It's not slowing down, either. Beyond open play, Temecula's programming now spans youth and adult instruction, ladder leagues, and biannual tournaments that pull players from across the region — and the just-opened Naggar courts add even more class offerings and open play. Long term, the City plans to keep scaling with demand: more clinics, leagues, and tournaments for every age and level. "Our goal," the City says, "is to ensure residents of all ages and skill levels have opportunities to learn, play, compete, and enjoy one of the fastest-growing sports in the country."

Not bad for a sport that, a decade ago, drew a crowd of one.

READY TO GRAB A PADDLE?

Find class schedules, ladder leagues, and open-play times at Ronald Reagan Sports Park and Michael "Mike" Naggar Community Park at temeculaca.gov

Furry Friends + Fresh Chocolate = Best Day Ever

SWEET ESCAPE

ARTICLE BY HANNAH COLE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIME STOOD STILL PHOTOGRAPHY

It's the sweetest little zoo in Temecula — a hilltop packed with rescued animals, knockout views, and fresh chocolate made right on site. Furry friends + fresh chocolate = best day ever.

Welcome to Sugarplum Zoo, quite possibly the most delightful little detour in the whole valley.

So what is this place, exactly? Think part animal rescue, part candy shop, all charm.

Lani Rager's story starts somewhere most people don't expect — a television studio. As one of the first contestants on the pilot episode of MasterChef, she made it all the way to the semi-finals! Instead of walking away, she embraced the art of chocolate candy making from scratch. Her very first client? A five-star hotel. Fourteen years ago, she and her family traded the bustle of the industry for a hilltop in Temecula wine country — bringing the chocolates with them and adding something entirely new: a zoo. "I always loved farm life," she says simply. And so Sugarplum Zoo & Chocolates was born.

“My goal for guests when they arrive is for them to feel welcomed and well taken care of. Creating memories here and spending time with our community and guests from all over the world — that’s my passion. The best part of my day is welcoming guests and spending time with them.”

Every kid finds a favorite within about ninety seconds — and fair warning, the "no MY favorite was the best" debate may continue all the way home.

The whole visit is wonderfully easy. It's selfguided, so you wander at your own pace, and where it's welcome you can say hello or offer a treat to the residents who love the attention. The friendly staff will happily clue you in on who's a social butterfly and who'd rather just be admired from a polite distance. Bonus: hanging out with gentle animals has a magic way of turning even the wiggliest kid into a calm, careful, soft-spoken little human. No screen has ever pulled that off.

For the littlest visitors, that first up-close moment with something bigger, fuzzier, or funnier than anything in their picture books is pure wideeyed wonder. You can practically watch the courage build — the wide eyes, the half-step back, then the brave little reach forward. It's the good stuff. It's exactly what summer's for.

Grab a pizza, and a scoop of gelato on a warm afternoon and you've basically unlocked the perfect ending to the day — a grown-up treat that delights the kids just as much.

Our advice? Make a day of it. Wear comfy shoes for the gentle terrain, soak up the views, meet your new favorite animal, and let the chocolate shop be the grand finale. Bring the kids, bring a date, bring the grandparents — Sugarplum somehow nails it for all of them. You'll leave with a great story, a happy kid, and (let's be real) a little box of chocolate for the ride home.

Furry friends, fresh chocolate, big views. Best. Day. Ever.

CONTINUED >

"My goal for guests when they arrive is for them to feel welcomed and well taken care of. Creating memories here and spending time with our community and guests from all over the world — that's my passion. The best part of my day is welcoming guests and spending time with them."

TREY & KATIE KENNEDY

ON MARRIAGE, KIDS, AND THE COMEDY OF REAL LIFE

Trey Kennedy makes a living finding comedy in regular life. Marriage. Toddlers. Yoga pants. The Thursday-night scramble between school dropoffs, soccer practice, and whatever has to be done by morning. Twelve years in, it shows: millions of followers across every platform, three stand-up specials, a sold-out Relatable Tour, and a style of humor fans send each other captioned, “Are you watching me?” He delivers the kind of comedy that travels because everyone’s living some version of it.

Katie, his wife of six years, is a former biomedical engineer who also built a modeling career. She’s now raising their kids and co-hosting Correct Opinions alongside Trey — the show where the two of them swap takes on marriage, parenting, and whatever came up that week.

Trey has been at this longer than people realize. An Edmond, Oklahoma kid who grew up playing basketball described himself as a “shy kid who never thought he’d be an entertainer.” He started making videos while attending Oklahoma State University. After building millions of followers on Vine before the platform shut down, he gave himself six months on Instagram and Facebook to see whether he could rebuild from zero. He did. Stand-up soon followed. His first special, Are You For Real?, streams on YouTube; the second, Grow Up, on Amazon Prime; the third, built around the Relatable Tour, wrapped earlier this year. “I’ve been trying to be funny every week for like twelve years now,” he says. A slow climb, made one bit at a time.

ARTICLE BY KALI KASPRZYK

JANIE

“I’ve been trying to be funny every week for like twelve years now.”

Most of what Trey writes lately starts in his own kitchen. Thomas is three and a half, and he is, in his father’s words, “a movie.” He narrates his own life from the moment his eyes open and mispronounces words in ways his parents now repeat to each other because no one else would believe them. His younger sister, Eva, is what Katie calls “the calm one.” With a third now in the mix, the Kennedys are officially outnumbered.

After six years of marriage, Trey and Katie have learned that the partnership runs best when it gets its own time on the calendar. So once a week, they leave the kids with a sitter and go out for coffee. “You need a system,” Katie says. “It’s about taking time to look each other in the eye. Not the kids. Not the cameras. Just each other.”

The same instinct shapes the work. Most of Trey’s trial and error happens onstage or on Instagram, but the first read is always Katie’s. “There’s only been one time ever I’ve had to be like, ‘you’re not doing that,’” she says. The rest of the time, she just laughs first.

FEATURING TREY & KATIE KENNEDY

Trey and Katie talk about marriage, parenting, and the moments that don’t make the Instagram feed.

Watch or listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

JONES HAIR & MAKEUP BY MIKAYLA CRANE