Editor’s Note October 2018 - Growing Up in Santa Cruz

Editor’s Note October 2018

Of course, there’s no cutest baby. All babies are the cutest.

But we wanted to see who could take a photo that really showed how cute their baby is, and man, we got some winners. All of them.

We left it to you to vote and you really turned out to the polls and kept the race close. One baby ended up on the cover, but we put all of them in this issue. They were all great photos.

The winner of the contest, Michelle Bell, said she was sad for the other contestants when she found out she won. She was also happy to have her Austin on the cover, and happier still when we told her all of the photos will be shown in the paper and on our website. All contestants will get Growing Up prizes.

Thanks to all for participating. Now you can start prepping for next year’s baby contest and one planned for summer, on the best photo of your kid with a pet. We’re also looking for some great Homecoming photos for the November issue and we’ll be doing prom photos in the spring. Send yours to [email protected].

As this is our baby issue, we found the creator of the first cellphone photo ever taken, Philippe Kahn, who happens to live in Santa Cruz and have a major business on Pacific Avenue. After inventing one of the world’s most popular items, he’s turned his attention to sleep and now markets a device that measures your sleep and fits under your mattress in association with BeautyRest. We are always amazed at the talented people we have in Santa Cruz.

Who are these characters your kids want to dress on for Halloween that you never heard of? John Louis Koenig has the answers from the people who sell costumes in town in his article, You Want to be What?

In his article Trick or Trick journalist Tony Hicks follows the plight of diabetics on a holiday that celebrates candy, candy, candy. Our resident dentist, Dr. Megan, also gives her take on the holiday and if you read her column, you may want to buy their candy back from your kids.

After one restaurant lied to her and said their high chair was broken (they just didn’t like kids), writer Suki Wessling set out to find the restaurants that really cater to children. There are so many in the area with dynamic menus, good prices and entertainment, from pizza spinners to planes taking off. We couldn’t get them all in one story, but if you send your recommendations, we’ll print them in the future.

Suki also interviewed the Super Stoked Surf Mamas who are the stars of a new movie shot in Santa Cruz. You can’t get more Cruzed than that.

Bicycle maven Karen Kefauver got stoked on getting kids to bike to school in her column and Erik Chalhoub previews the scares at amusement parks this month.

We look forward to sharing your thoughts and letters in our print edi- tion and on our rapidly-growing website, growingupsc.com and our Facebook page. You send them to [email protected] and we’ll share them.

Thanks for reading and growing up in Santa Cruz

–Brad Kava