Archive for July, 2009

Summer is dwindling fast: take advantage of the snappy weather to get the kids outside, or tuck them away for a night off.

Tour de Peninsula

Take a one-mile fun ride with your small kids or the full 63 mile course with the older ones at this bicycle tour of the most beautiful parks in the South Bay. If your kids aren’t up for the early morning kids’ ride, rangers lead loping family rides at noon in Coyote Point.

When: Sun., 8/2, 8am-3pm (family rides through the park start at noon); Age 3+; Free-$40.

Where: Rides begin at the Captain’s House in Coyote Point Park, North Bayshore and Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo; 650-321-1638; supportparks.org.

Summer Fun Nights

Drop the kids out for a heart-thumping night of trampolining, bungee-jumping, zipline play, tumbling, and other delightful pursuits at this party for kids age 6-13. Pizza will be provided.

When: Sat., 8/1 (repeats on 8/25), 6:30-10pm; Age 6-13; $30.

Where: Acrosports, 639 Frederick Street (at Lincoln Avenue), San Francisco; 415-665-2276; acrosports.org.

World Breastfeeding Week Mini-Conference

Get all your breastfeeding questions answered at this two-hour mini-conference, which offers breast pumps, nursing pillows, and lactation consultation time as door prizes.

When: Sun., 8/2, 1-3pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Bothin Auditorium, California Pacific Medical Center, 3700 California Street (at Van Ness) San Francisco; cpmcbabysteps.org.

Meet Sid the Science Kid

A person dressed as the titular character from the popular PBS series will mug and play with kids, demonstrating how to do scientific observation and learning at special exhibits aimed at preschoolers.

When: Sun., 8/2, noon-2pm; Age 3-6; Free with museum admission (Free-$11).

Where: Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive (at Stadium Rimway) on the University of California, Berkeley campus, 510-642-5132, lawrencehallofscience.org.

Every year, Roaring Camp Railroad holds its Day Out With Thomas event, a party by the tracks with live music, storytelling, costumed celebrities from the Thomas the Train Engine PBS show, and most of all, a 25-minute train ride on a real train decked out with a friendly Thomas face.

The event tends to be hot, crowded, and expensive for a parent who shells out for tickets and must face the gauntlet of the giant vendors tent with Thomas toys galore. But all of the bother, work and expense of getting your family to Felton is worth it when your kid sees Thomas the Train Engine chugging down the tracks. A rapturous cry goes up from three- and four-year-old throats all over the Roaring Camp depot grounds: “Thooooooomas!” Climb aboard and see your train-loving kid positively wriggle with joy as the train climbs up into the redwoods.

Trains take off every hour this weekend, from mid-morning to late afternoon; the train ride and the party eats up about 3-4 hours. There’s food on site, should you choose to make a day of it. Do.

Day Out With Thomas runs Friday, July 31 to Sunday, August 2 at Roaring Camp, Graham Hill Road (at Mt. Hermon Road), Felton; 1-866-468-3399; roaringcamprr.com. Tickets are $18.

Do the Moonwalk, hold the world by a string, or be a hair hopper on this last July weekend.

Sing-Along Hairspray

Wear your puffiest skirts and biggest hair to a screening of the 2007 remake of the classic John Waters movie, with words on the screen to prompt a mass sing-along.

When: Fri., 7/24, 8pm; Age 8+; $10-15.

Where: Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street (at Market Street), San Francisco; 415-621-6120; castrotheatre.com.

Berkeley Kite Festival

It’s high-flying fun with Japanese kite battles, Taiko drummers, kite ballet. Fledgling flyers can learn how to make and fly their own kites.

When: Sat.-Sun., 7/25-26, 11am-5pm; All ages; Free (Parking $10).

Where: Cesar Chavez Park, 11 Spinnaker Way (at Virginia Street), Berkeley; 510-235-5483; highlinekites.com.

Splashdown 2009: 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 at the USS Hornet

Learn more about the first manned mission to the moon at the Hornet, recovery ship for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin will be in attendance and there will be numerous educational exhibits to peruse.

When: Fri.-Sun., 7/24-26, see website for open hours and activities; Age 4+; Free-$25.

Address: USS Hornet, 707 West Hornet Avenue, Pier 3, Alameda, 510-521-8448; uss-hornet.org.

Imagining Fatherhood Workshop at Natural Resources

Jeremy Adam Smith, author of The Daddy Shift, leads couples through a process whose goal is to help them imagine how they will split parenting duties.

Where: Sat., 7/25, 2pm-5pm; Age 18+; $39-59.

Where: Natural Resources, 1367 Valencia Street (at 25th Street), San Francisco, store.naturalresources-sf.com.

A kid who’s using his arms to act out (hitting his little sister, say), obviously needs something else to do with those arms. Scaling the heights at an indoor rock-climbing gym is an excellent way to exhaust those little arms. Every Bay Area gym owned by Touchstone Climbing (and there are Touchstone gyms in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, amongst other cities) has programs for kids.

During the school year there are ten-week climbing camps for ages 6-14, usually on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4pm to 6pm, wherein instructors teach school-age kids the basics of climbing. And in the summertime there are week-long and multi-week camps; lucky Berkeley kids get to meet their instructors at Cragmont Rock Park for a day of outdoors rock climbing. And at all Touchstone camps, parents can join the kids each Friday to climb alongside them.

Call the gym nearest you for dates and pricing but the ten-week sessions run about $200-250, while camps are about the same amount each week.

Mission Cliffs Touchstone Rock Climbing & Fitness, 2295 Harrison Street, San Francisco, 415-550-0515; Class 5 Fitness Touchstone Rock Climbing & Fitness Gym, 25-B Dodie Street, San Rafael, 415-485-6931; Berkeley IronWorks Touchstone Rock Climbing & Fitness, 800 Potter Street, Berkeley, 510-981-9900; Great Western Power Co., 520 20th Street, Oakland, 510-452-2022. All Touchstone gyms can be found at touchstoneclimbing.com.

The East Bay looks like the place to be this weekend, with a bike tour, the Fire Arts festival, and a Shabbat party.

The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival

A spectacular open-air party in a new, larger location for the metalworking collective, with live music and performance and all manner of items that glow, burn, spit fire, or immolate themselves. One look at this stuff and your kid’s going to want to sign up for welding, like, yesterday.

When: Wed.-Sat., 7/15-18; Age 6+; $35-95.

Where: Fire Arts Arena, West Grand Avenue (at Maritime Street), Oakland; 510-444-0919; thecrucible.org.

Chocolate Chip Challah

Join other families with children aged 0-5 at this event meant to spark ideas about making Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) a special family time. Kids and parents will decorate and bake their own challah bread.

When: Sat., 7/18, 10:30-noon; Age 0-5; Free for first-time visitors to Jewish Gateways, $5 for return visitors.

Where: Jewish Gateways, 409 Liberty Street (at Fairmount Avenue), El Cerrito; 510-559-8140; jewishgateways.org; rabbibridget@jewishgateways.org (RSVP required).

Oakland on Two Wheels

Every third Sunday of the month this free all-ages bike tour pedals on a looping course through downtown, Fruitvale, West Oakland, the Port of Oakland, Lake Merritt or other scenic spots.

When: Sun., 7/19, (and every third Sunday thereafter) 10am; All Ages; Free.

Where: Meet at the 10th Street entrance at the Oakland Museum; 510-28-3514; mueseumca.org.

Sunday Streets

Traffic is banned from big swathes of the Mission and replaced with stations manned by local fitness organizations that encourage and equip the strolling masses to try out roller skating, bike riding, yoga, dancing, tai chi and more.

When: Sun., 7/19 (also Sun. 8/6 and 9/6 on the Great Highway); 10am-2pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Various locations in San Francisco’s Mission District, centering in Garfield Square Park, 26th & Harrison Streets; sundaystreetssf.com.

Not only does the Stern Grove Festival offer KidStage special events before each free Sunday summertime outdoor concert, it also has Kids Days, three weeks of special events linked to that week’s performer. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from July 14 to August 16, Stern Grove staffers lead free special workshops on dance and music for kids aged 4-13.

The Kids Day sessions are so popular that pre-registration is essential, and unless you sign up weeks in ahead, they’re already filled up. For instance, this week’s teach-in with percussionist James Henry is already waitlisted, as is next week’s hip hop dance workshop. But there are still spaces in the last two offerings, Bhangra dance (July 28-30) , and capoeira mandinga, Brazilian dance (August 4-6). One nice touch is that the Kids Day workshops precede the concerts they echo. Wouldn’t it be awesome to know some Brazilian dance for the Toto La Momposina show on August 9?

Visit sterngrove.org to pre-register.

Summertime fun including movies, music, a paddle in the ocean and a morning jazz show.

Pick Up and Paddle

Learn the basics of kayaking or practice your strokes at this inexpensive UCSF-sponsored family activity. Kayaks are extra-stable sit-on models, and staff are ready to help you navigate Mission Creek’s calm, sheltered waters.

When: Sat., 7/11, 10am-noon; Age 8+; $25-35.

Where: Mission Creek, 401 Berry Street (at Seventh Street), San Francisco; 415-476-2078; campuslifeservices.ucsf.edu.

Early Bird Jazz: Woodwinds & Strings

Introduce the kids to jazz at this concert, which focuses on exploring the use of woodwinds and stringed instruments for young audiences.

When: Sat., 7/11, 10am (Kids 5 and under) and 11am (Kids 6 and over); Free.

When: Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Campus Drive (at Mayfield Avenue), Stanford; stanfordjazz.org. 

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Oswald, the original Mickey Mouse, was the star of a horde of charming black-and-white cartoons, which unspool at this film festival introduced by special guest Leonard Maltin and accompanied by live piano music.

When: Sun., 7/12; 10:30am; Age 4+; $12-14.

Where: The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street (at Market Street), San Francisco; 800-838-3006; silentfilm.org.

Youth Manners & Etiquette Class

Pre-teens learn the basics of polite public dining at a three-course instructive lunch.

When: Sat., 7/11 (and also 10/17), 10am-1pm; Age 9-13; $108.

Where: The Warwick Regis Hotel, 490 Geary Street (at Taylor Street), San Francisco; 415-346-3665; AdvancedEtiquette.com.

Thirty years after it first came to San Francisco’s de Young museum, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” is back, and luring huge crowds to Golden Gate Park. If you want to see it with your children (and trust me, you do), it takes a little savvy to do it right.

First of all, buy your tickets beforehand at tutsanfrancisco.org. Exhibit tickets specify an entry time; you must go into the exhibit within a half hour of that start time. When buying your tickets, request an entry time that’s either very early (9am is the earliest; good for people with small kids who wake them up at dawn), or very late (7:30pm is the latest; good for those with older kids who can stay up late in the summertime), and preferably on a weekday.

The exhibit takes about 90 minutes to get through, longer if you have kids who like to linger. You have as much time as you like to go through, but it may be hard to keep a group together. Arrange a meeting spot and time if you don’t want to spend a lot of effort cat-herding.

Tickets are expensive: $22.50-32.50 for adults; $16.50 for kids 6-17 (and free for kids 5 and under). Bite the bullet and buy the audio tour, another $6-7 per person. It’s narrated by Omar Sharif, and it’s a knockout, giving you a much better appreciation of the objects you’ll see.

And what objects! Gilded daggers, hieroglyphic panels, jewel-encrusted tiny coffins that hold Tut’s innards, everything shadowed in darkness that lends everything a spooky air. And oh, about that spookiness: very young and/or sensitive kids might need a little hand-holding, as the exhibit itself is rather dark and eerie, and some objects, like the nested coffins for miscarried embryos, are a bit disturbing.

“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” runs Tuesday-Sunday, 9am-9pm, through March 28, 2010 at the de Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive (at JFK Drive) in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Call 877-888-8587 or visit tutsanfrancisco.org.

The Glorious Fourth edition! Use yourself up on the fireworks and festivities, take the rest of the weekend off.

Fourth of July Waterfront Celebration

You never know, this could be the year when there’s no fog and you can actually see the fireworks. Before the big booms begin, come down for live music, food, and kiddie activities.

When: Fri., 7/4, 2-10pm (Fireworks begin at 9:30pm); All ages; Free.

Where: Pier 39, Embarcadero (at Grant Street), San Francisco; pier39.com.

4th of July Jumpin’ & Jivin’ Jubilee

A sweet holiday celebration for smaller kids, the Jubilee features crafts, bounce houses, and obstacle course to get little legs tired. Come early to watch Alameda’s old-fashioned Fourth parade, which begins at 8am a few blocks away from the Jubilee site.

When: Sat., 7/4, noon-4pm; Age 5+; $10-20.

Where: Rittler Park, Otis Drive (at Grand Street), Alameda, ci.alameda.ca.us.

San Francisco Symphony at Shoreline Amphitheatre

Perhaps the fanciest and most relaxing of Bay Area Fourth options, this party includes kid-friendly music with simulcast fireworks that you can watch from a seat or from a blanket on the lawn.

When: Sat., 7/4, 8pm; Age 3+; $15-29.50 ($17.50 for four seats on the lawn).

Where: Shoreline Amphitheatre, One Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, 650-967-3000; livenation.com.

Old-Fashioned Independence Day Celebration

Celebrate the Fourth by taking up the pastimes of a bygone century at this fest, with patriotic and fiddle music, and games, contests, and races including a pie-eating competition, egg tosses, and a watermelon-seed-spitting match.

When: Sat., 7/4, 10am-4pm; Age 3+: Free-$7.

Where: Ardenwood Historic Farm, 34600 Ardenwood Boulevard (at Newark Boulevard), Fremont, 510-796-0663, ebparks.org.

No self-respecting Bay Area parent would give their child a mass-produced discount-store plush doll to love up. This Sweet Sandia Hoot Owl from San Francisco designer/artist WendyZ fits much better into the groovy-parent party line. It’s hand-made by a real person from parts recycled from thrift stores: old sweaters, blankets, linens, and the like. As WendyZ herself says on her Etsy site, she’s killing time waiting for an adoption goes through; while she awaits her own baby, she makes stuff for yours.

This particular owl, Rosa, used to be a pink cashmere sweater. Her face is hand-embroidered, and she features a secret pocket big enough to hold a tooth, a note, or maybe just an infant’s questing fingers. She does not contain weird dyes and chemicals and the karmic taint of sweatshop labor.

Sweet Sandia Hoot Owl, “Rosa,” $28