Thousand Oaks on Kiplinger Magazine's "10 Great Cities to Raise Your Kids"

/

In its May 2012 issue, Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine published the article "10 Great Cities to Raise Your Kids." In this article Kiplinger selected 10 safe family-friendly cities using a two-step approach. The first step identified areas with high incomes relative to living costs, a larger percentage of families with kids under 18 and low crime rates. They basically were looking for nice places to raise kids where earnings potential was deemed more than adequate to cover the costs of raising a family.

The 2nd stop was to find specific cities within the top 10 metropolitan areas identified based on education quality, availability of local parks, playgrounds and libraries, and average incomes. Lo and behold, our very own Thousand Oaks made the list at #4!

And here is what Kiplingers said (in italics):

City population: 126,683
Average family income: $138,313
Percentage of families with children: 33.4%
Metro-area spending per student: $5,947
Public playgrounds: 40

Thousand Oaks started life as a planned communit

Read More

Missed the 4th of July Fireworks? Scenes From the 2012 Thousand Oaks Show!

/

We enjoyed the annual Conejo Recreation & Park District and City of Thousand Oaks annual 4th of July fireworks display last night as did tens of thousands of local residents! Kudos to CRPD for their tireless work each 4th of July, bringing residents fun activities from sunup to sundown, including a pancake breakfast, home run derby, free swimming at local pools, free concert and fireworks show!

Speaking of the fireworks show, if you missed it, here is some footage. The show is roughly 20 minutes long, so here is about a third of the show for your viewing pleasure.

Fun With the Kids Yesterday at the Glendale Galleria LEGO Store

/

With two LEGO fans in my household, the selection at the local Target and Toys R Us gets old after awhile. So short of taking the trek down to LEGOLAND Park in Carlsbad, the best place to go within range of the Conejo Valley is the LEGO Store at the Glendale Galleria.

The selection at the store is amazing. Your kids will be in LEGO heaven.

Watch out though...you will come across high end LEGO sets like these $400 Star Wars sets with 3,000 to 4,000 pieces! Really cool!

Read More

Spring Has Sprung in the Conejo Valley

/

Chris Rowell of Newbury Park captured the essence of spring nicely in this colorful photo in Thousand Oaks today. Blue skies and the budding of wildflowers marks this time of year!

A great time to be outdoor for upcoming festivals, fairs and expos, and local health and fitness events. Or try some local hikes and trails, visit a botanic garden, go horseback riding and much more.

Rain, Rain Go Away! On Second Thought, I Take That Back! Stay For Awhile!

/

This so-called winter here in Ventura County has been so lacking rain that this weekend's winter final thunderstorm is something to appreciate. We could have used more of this throughout the winter but hey, we'll take it, even this final winter weekend before Spring begins in a few days.

What to do when it is raining outside? Well here are some ideas:

Tooth Fairy Wisdom From My 6 Year Old

/

This past Saturday night, my 6 year old lost his first tooth. It was a momentous, proud occasion for him. A coming of age. Yet another major event in the "firsts" of a 6 year old's life that up to that point includes things like first burp, first giggle, first solid food, first words, first steps, first day at preschool and first day of kindergarten.

But losing that first tooth is different from all of these other firsts because it involves "losing" something for the first time. And in turn, this loss is parlayed into something bigger, better and more exciting...a visit from "The Tooth Fairy."

And so yesterday, when I received my wife's emailed picture of my newly toothless little guy, that my next step was to create a Tooth Fairy certificate to accompany the next morning's under-pillow excitement. Been there, done that. I don't recall such fanfare when I was a kid. But my wife is really into this stuff.

Losing your first truth is an exciting time indeed, an experience shared with the entire family. The cheers, hugs, smiles, knuckle bumps and high fives ensued when they got home. And later that night at bedtime my wife gave him careful instructions for proper placement of the

Read More