We are nearing the end of the ABCs of the SCV: Animals, Bicycles, Central Park, Drums,  Education, Family Dinner, Golf, Hiking, Imagination, Jammin’, Kids in the Kitchen, Libraries, Movies, Newhall, Out of Town, Pizza, Quakes, Reading, Summer Meals, Taste, Unsung Heroes and now we arrive at Val Verde...

For two nights in a row, my 3.5-year-old has woken up at 1:30 a.m. and come into our bed to sleep. This also wakes his brother, who is not quite 2, which means I have the pleasure of spending an hour or more, typically until 3 a.m., getting him back to sleep and then trying to get some sleep myself in...

Last week I shared my struggles with the letter “U” as part of the ABCs of the SCV. After some meandering and uncertainty (another “u”) over what to do, I settled on “Unsung Heroes” and asked who your unsung heroes were. Many of you liked the piece, as evidenced by Facebook responses, but...

I’m not going to lie – this week I’m stuck. I have thrown around a lot of possibilities in my head for the letter U, since I knew it was coming as I embarked upon this journey of the ABCs of the SCV. A few things came to mind, with “undetected” or “undiscovered” rising to the top, but...

Since I shared about Summer Meals last week – with an emphasis on the importance of helping children get the nutrition they need in the summertime, including sharing local community centers, organizations and schools that provide free lunches as well as emphasizing the importance of supporting...

Food insecurity and hunger are big deals to me. I am one of those people who believes no one should go hungry, especially in the United States where there is so much excess and abundance all around us, and where food waste is so common. The Santa Clarita Valley is often perceived as a well-off community,...

Every once in a while during my “ABCs of the SCV” series, I take a break and write about something nagging at me – as was the case when I shared about a Santa Clarita family in need or shared my thoughts about Sandy Hook. This week, I am doing it again as I notice school is already out for...

I was a bit worried about getting to the letter Q in my ABCs of Santa Clarita. Q is a tricky one, but then I realized that Q is for Quake – no, not like Quaker Oats, but rather “quake” as in Earthquake. I have not yet experienced a major earthquake since moving to Southern California in 2004,...

OK, now that we are past the halfway mark of our ABCs, I decided it is time to address something rather serious and important for SCV families as we focus on the letter “P.” For P we have Pizza. Yep, pizza. What family can live without pizza? Serious, right? I asked around to find out what...

OK, you are probably thinking it is a total cheat to feature places outside of the Santa Clarita Valley as part of the ABCs of the Santa Clarita Valley. But it would be unrealistic to think we never leave the valley, or that sharing ideas for some family- (and budget-) friendly weekend getaways would...