Last Days of 2011 Project Playhouse at Irvine Spectrum

I’m a nature girl. I prefer hanging out on a quiet beach or hiking a deserted trail to any activity that involves people. I like people, too. Just not when they are all in the same place together. I need my wide open spaces. Cue the Dixie Chicks . . .

So, my 6 year old daughter is a nature girl, too. She loves to get muddy and dirty. She even loves to pour pails of water over her fully-dressed self.

The boys in our family went to see Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series, in Mission Viejo. So that left us girls with a day to ourselves to plan. It went something like this: “We can go anywhere you want! Do you want to go to the beach? Do you want to go to the nature center? We can go have a lunch date. What do you want to do?”

Her answer: “I want to go to Spectrum.”

Huh?

I didn’t even think she knew what Spectrum was! Seriously, I rarely go shopping. Again – there are people. You have to spend money. Two things I’m not very fond of doing. So after a lot of “Are you sure’s?” and “Remember, we can go ANYwhere” — we end up at Irvine Spectrum. We rode the ferris wheel and she rode the carousel. We window-shopped and looked at the neat fountains. We ate a light lunch at the counter in California Pizza Kitchen. And then we discovered the playhouses!!

“Sir Lyon’s Castle” (by William Lyon’s Homes)

“Little Diamond Head” Beach House (by Nicholson Companies)

TradePartner’s Tribute to Chuck Dreyer (by SheaHomes in partnership with TradePartners)

Over the Rainbow Cottage (by Team HomeAid)

I remember hearing about this every year, but I’ve never been able to see the houses. It happened to be October 8th which happened to be the only day to tour the INSIDE of the houses. We made our donation to HomeAid which presents Project Playhouse as an auction as a fundraising effort to provide shelter for homeless families in Orange County.

The homes are decadent with fixtures that can be hooked up to real plumbing! I saw fireplaces that worked and a TV in every one (ironic, because I think owning a playhouse would eliminate the need for watching TV ever again!). Visiting these houses and thinking about donating to those who don’t have a roof over their head — made me appreciate our own little house and our tight budget even more.

At the end of our long outing, my daughter steered us towards the “decorate-your-own” cupcake place. The purpose of this whole trip to Spectrum suddenly became crystal clear! She explained how she remembered when I took her there, seriously, more than a year ago. She wanted to go again, because it was special mommy/daughter time.

And it was special this time, too. Special because we have a house; we have a budget. According to HomeAid, 24,000 parents and their children are homeless on any given night in Orange County.

Read more coverage of Project Playhouse from OC Family and the OC Register. On our unexpected visit, we also ran into my blogging buddy, Shanna from My Favorite Everything who visits every year and wrote a great post about the houses.

GIVEAWAY:

The folks at HomeAid have put together an opportunity drawing for an Extreme Kitchen Makeover valued at $33,000, which includes KitchenAid Stainless Steel Appliances donated by Ferguson Bath, Kitchen and Lighting Gallery, Custom Cabinetry by Hartmark Cabinet Design and Manufacturing and Countertops by Famosa Tile and installation by Epic Stone.  Anyone visiting the Project Playhouse Village can purchase an opportunity drawing ticket for $5, but I have 5 tickets to giveaway to 5 lucky readers.

Just leave a comment on this post between NOW and Noon PST on Thursday, November 10th to win one ticket to be entered in the drawing for the Kitchen Makeover. Only one entry per reader, please. I will pick the winner by a random.org drawing on Thursday after the entry window closes.  Giveaway Closed