Snow Day

I'm not a big fan of purchasing snow clothes that the kids will grow out of in a year or driving over an hour to find snow, then hear the kids say it's too cold after 5 min. of snow play. My alternative was to go to the local mall and participate in their man-made snow day.

We only drove about 15 min. and the weather was the warmest day in December - about 80 degrees. The girls had fun sledding down a small snow slope and making snowballs to throw at daddy. There was a sign as well as employees telling everyone not to throw the snow. What's the point of the snow if you can't throw snowballs? The mall also provided free treats to the 1st 500 kids which consisted of cookies, cotton candy, pretzel, popcorn or a churro. We stood in line for cotton candy. There were about 5 people in front of us before the machine stopped working. There was a bit of sulking; but the girls quickly chose something else to indulge themselves. We didn't bother waiting in the long lines for face paint or balloon animals that was provided. We spent about 2 hours playing in the patch of snow and headed off for our quick 15 min. drive home.

Thanksgiving at the Japanese American Museum

Target hosts free family Saturdays at the Japansese American Museum. We have gone before to the Easter activities and wanted to check out the Thanksgiving activities. The girls had fun making turkeys out of a platic cup and using contruction paper and traced their hand to make feathers. They also weaved placemats and made centerpeices with a paper plate, pinecones, plastic corn and silk leaves. They had a weaving class for my oldest daughter to go and learn to weave and they also got to make cookies that looked like corn wrapped in a fruit rollup husk. It was very cute and delicious!

Placerita Canyon-Nature Walk

Placerita Canyon is a nature center that has free Saturday family nature walks and animal presentations and hiking trails. We had never been on the nature walk and decided to go. It lasted about an hour and a half and we got to learn about the owls, a hawk, the Indians who used to live there, learn about different trees and plants, see where gold was first discovered and saw a house where a Indian family used to live. It was a very educational experience for the girls.

Haunted Jailhouse and Festival

I have heard about the Sheriff Station's Hunted Jailhouse; but never had gone; but decided to this year. They charged $1 admission and had various game booths, fire trucks, police cars, the maze, etc. We went to check out the maze; but when we got there they said they just closed for about an hour to let the volunteers have lunch. I didn't want to pay their prices for the games or bounce house. We decided to leave and go to a Halloween event at the Granada Hills Community Center. We went last year and the girls have fun.

The Community Center had a bounce house with free admission and low budget games that are very inexpensive to play. The kids get candy and win tickets to get cheap prizes. They also have face paint and a craft. After a couple hours, we headed back to Santa Clarita so we could go into the haunted jailhouse. We go there just in time because they had closed it off right after we got in line. The girls got a plastic ax to defeat a dragon and save the princess. It wasn't really worth going back to do that; but now we know for next year.

Later that night, the girls went trick or treating for a couple hours. My oldest wanted to re-used her Sleeping Beauty costume from the year before and my youngest re-used one of my other daughter's old Care Bear costume.

Halloween Event and Scaryface at IHOP

I came across a local Halloween event at the community center and decided to check it out. We were greeted with a free pumpkins to decorate. Inside they had tables of scraps the kids could use to decorate their pumpkin and enter them in a contest. They provided free hotdogs, chips and drinks. They had a costume parade a magic show and a haunted maze. My oldest was getting bored from waiting for the magic show to start and apprently was not interested in watching it; and my youngest woke up cranky from a nap. We were going to check out the maze; but the line was about 45min. long and we were not going to stand in the cold for that; so we left.

I had read a promotion where IHOP was giving away Scaryface pancakes to kids; so we took them to IHOP for dinner to eat their Scaryface pancake. I thought they got the ingredients to decorate themselves; but it came already decorated. The girls didn't care. They were just happy to eat it!

Sky City Bounce

My 1st grader had a day off from school today. We decided to take them to McDonalds for breakfast. They used some of their gift certificates that were given to them as gifts; so thier breakfast was free! After breakfast, we met up with a friend from school at the park where they played for a couple hours and then off to play at Sky City Bounce. I had promised I would take them there; so off we went. They had a special admission price of $5 on Fridays instead of the normal $10; so I took advantage. It kept them occupied for a couple hours on a cool day outside.

Fright Fest -Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain gave free friend passes when you buy a season pass. I gave my friend pass to my husband so we could all go and check out Magic Mountain for halloween. We went with the girls during the late afternoon and just stayed in Bugs Bunny World where they had some halloween themed crafts to make such as masks, and jewerly. Then, at a certain time the kids can go trick or treating around the rides in that area. After about 5 min. the candy is gone and you can resume with your day.