Photo Blog » Photography By Mitzi Mandel - The BLog

I have so many fun things for kids to post.  I am behind but I promise to keep this blog updated in 2010!  I finally had a chance to take my kids to Pretend City in Orange County yesterday.  I thought they might be too old but they LOVED it.  If you have kids 10 or under (especially 2-6), it’s a great place to take them.  It’s far (about an hour and a half if you luck out with traffic) but worth it if you have a whole day or are already in the area. It’s $10 per person which I know adds up with a big family but if you’ve never taken your kids somewhere like this, you’ll be so glad you did.  It’s genius. 

It’s basically just what you’d think - a pretend city for kids with a grocery story, post office, bank, restaurant, house, hospital, garden, construction zone, beach, art studio, water play area, and theater where kids work and play together.  I was most impressed by the number of employees who helped at each location.  Here are some snaps of our day…

Well, I ended up being much busier than expected this holiday season.  Thank you to everyone who came for portraits, sent me cards, dressed as Santa, braved the rain, etc, etc, etc!  But since I was so crazy, I have neglected this little blog!  Here is the 2009 holiday light tour from the Signal.  We’ve seen some amazing houses but haven’t hit them all yet!

16th Annual Holiday Light Tour Route
Here is the route followed by the judges of The Signal’s 16th annual Holiday Light Tour.

1. The Tisdells, Todd, Sara, Emma, Spencer, 30523 Deed Ave., Castaic, CA 91384 (from I5, take Hasley Canyon to Romero Canyon to Anvik to Aparri to Deed - at the end of the street to the left and look for the lights)
2. Richard and Elsa Randall, 27810 Wakefield Road, Castaic CA 91384 (Hasley Canyon to Cambridge to Wakefield)
3. The McDiffetts, 24225 Vista Ridge Dr., Valencia, CA 91355 (off of Wiley Canyon Road north of Lyons)
4. Gayle Mitchell, 25109 N. Fourl Road, Newhall, CA 91321; you must see the inside of the home (cross streets Lyons and Fourl)
5. Jim and Linda Maddux, 19121 Dalton St., Newhall, CA 91321 (Sierra Highway to Whispering Leaves to Dalton)
6. Keith and Merilee Hobbs (children Amanda, Kameron and Landon), 26439 Misty Ridge Place, Canyon Country, CA 91387 (Fair Oaks Ranch , cross street Cardinal)
7. Chris Leidholdt, 19665 Lonerock St., Canyon Country, CA 91351 (Camp Plenty to Drycliff to Evron to Lonerock)
8. The Tyrees, 20008 Drasin Drive, Canyon Country, CA 91351 (main cross streets Whites Canyon and Steinway, consult your map for other turns)
9. Street Entry: Canterwood Drive in Saugus (Copperhill/Buckhorn, Cross Creek before Benz Road and after Haskell Canyon Road)
10. Frost Family, 21633 Masterson Court, Saugus, CA 91350 (Haskell Canyon to Grovepark to Caraway Lane to Masterson)
11. Street Entry: Wakefield Court in Saugus (off Copperhill between Kenton and Agajanian)
12. Street Entry: Ash Court in Saugus. Hunger Defense Fund and Domestic Violence Center donations. (Boxwood off Seco, north on Deodar, right on Ash Court)
13. Wes Novotny/John Fosterling, 22514 Ash Court, Saugus, CA 91390 (same directions as above)
14. Thad and Karen Kleszcz, 23258 Chervil Court, Saugus, CA 91350 (cross streets Angelica Place/Northpark Drive, Chervil branches off Angelica)
15. Street Entry: Crown Court Circle in Valencia (cross streets McBean and Skycrest, north of Decoro)
16. Street Entry: Woodfield Place in Valencia. This is only two homes, 27648 and 27646 Woodfield, but we judged them as a “street.” (Decoro to Grandview, left on Hatheway to Woodfield)
17. Street Entry: Essex Place in Valencia. “The Reindeer Street.” (Decoro to Grandview, Clearidge to Essex)
18. Luminaria Display: 6-10 p.m. More than 1,000 luminarias line the streets of Clearidge Drive, Mansfield Court, Essex Place and Meraweather Place in Northbridge Point.
19. Edward and Kim Pape, 27411 Weathersfield Dr., Valencia, CA 91354. (Decoro to Hillsborough to Blueridge to Weathersfield)
20. The Evanoff Family - Mark, Durinda, Cally, and Kira, 27363 Landon Place, Valencia, CA 91354 (Decoro to Hillsborough to Blueridge to Landon)
21. Carole Mumford and John Hardin, 27513 Wellington Court, Valencia, CA 91354 (Decoro to Grandview to Chadsford to Wellington)

Remember these shirts?  When I was at the pumpkin patch yesterday, I ran into a family that used the idea for Halloween shirts. SO CUTE!  Then, they told me that when you spray bleach on a black shirt, it turns orange.  Perfect for Halloween.  So I hustled out today and bought some black shirts (2 for $5 at Michaels again) and this is what we made. ….

They are still wet in these photos and since the kids have to wear certain things to school tomorrow, I won’t get a shot of them being worn until Thursday.  I couldn’t wait to show you because it’s almost Halloween!  Oh - we googled “printable pumpkin carving patterns” to make the designs.  The kids cut them out on their own.  I thought they did a pretty messy job but it didn’t matter in the end.  I like that the kids can do that part themselves and it still looks good. 

Here they are!

My kids and my nephew (11, 9, 7, and 5) LOVED making these spider web cookies last week.  Directions are over on Bakerella’s Website.  Easy enough for the little ones but plenty of room for the creativity of the big kids!