If you’re looking to build your child’s library or perhaps want a special gift that’s personalized and tailored for a certain child, I have a great recommendation for you! It’s called “The Magic of My Name.” This is a personalized children’s book, based on every child’s name created by The Story Tailors. The company invited me to sample their personalized books and its pages offer a magical adventure to help discover the meaning of the child’s name, by exploring each letter that makes...
Thanks to McDonald’s of the Greater Bay Area for sponsoring this post/trip, opinions are 100% my own. I will never look at garlic the same way, ever again. This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Christopher Ranch in Gilroy, California, where they are famous for GARLIC! The experience came my way via an invitation from McDonald’s and their Field to Restaurant program, where they took us on site to visit their locally sourced farm, for garlic. The garlic they source for GILROY GARLIC FRIES! If you’re not from California,...
Two parties in six days, that was my life this past week. We started with TMNT for my 5-year old, and finished the birthday week with SPIDERMAN for my now 4-year old. We chose to have this party at a complex near us, called Bladium. The nice thing about Bladium is that you can choose what activities the kids can do during your party. We chose Rock Climbing as our main activity the first hour, then for the second hour they moved us into another area where the kid’s had use of the basketball court and a giant inflatable slide! At...
Cowabunga dude! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are BIG in my house…and TMNT was the chosen theme for my older son who just turned 5! When it came to choosing a venue for the party, I chose the East Oakland Sports Center. They have an amazing indoor aquatic area and a roomy party room just off the pool. Since his birthday is in the summer, I figured a swim party would be the perfect way to celebrate…and it truly was a big hit! We picked the perfect day to host the party, and while there was a public swim session, it wasn’t...
We jump started our summer with a trip to Chicago after school let out. And, what I love about the Windy City is that there’s so much to do and see for all ages, and one place I always make it a point to visit is Millenium Park! Turns out there’s a new addition adjacent to the park since our previous visit to Chi City and that’s Maggie Daley Park. It’s near the Lake Michigan Shoreline and is filled with awesome play structures for climbing, sliding, jumping, running, etc… It’s pretty massive and there...
Last weekend my 4-year old son competed in his very first-ever track meet. A few months ago, I heard about a local youth track team (Don Grant Alameda Point Track Club), where we live, and after one practice, both my boys decided they wanted to be part of it. So, when it came time to register for the 2017 Tommie Smith Youth Track Meet, which would be held at Edwards Stadium at U.C. Berkeley, we signed up! Being as my boys are still young, there were just a couple events they could register for. The Long Jump and a 5oM for kids ages...
It was definitely NOT a sunny gorgeous day, but it looked like the rain clouds were going to stay away and I had been wanting to take the kids out for a hike in San Francisco. Specifically I wanted to check out Lands End and the Sutro Baths. I was very excited to be making the trek with my boys, because despite being a Bay Area native, I had never been…AND I’ve always wanted to see these historic sites first hand. All in all, Land’s End Trail is about a 3.5 mile loop, it’s a very popular (tourist) destination...
The boys and I kicked off the summer break with a trip to the Kidz Bop “Best Time Ever” tour at the Concord Pavilion. I tried to keep it a secret, btu finaly let them know day of..and since they are still on the younger side, they had no idea what a nighttime concert experience would be like… We arrived at the venue about an hour early and I loved that there was no parking charge at the Concord Pavilion. Immediately we saw plenty of other kids and families lining up to get in and the process moved really quickly. A...
Boys love trucks and my two are especially fond of fire trucks, so when we had the chance to visit a close family friend at his fire station, we jumped at the opportunity. We stopped at Fire Station 4 for the Oakland Fire Department on Memorial Day, and the boys got their very own tour of the station from top to bottom. It is one of the oldest, if not the oldest station for OFD…the building dates back to 1909! On our tour we got to look around the firefighters sleeping quarters, checked out their kitchen and even toured their gym...
KIDZ BOP is coming to town, and if you (like me), allow your children to watch TV, chances are you’ve seen or heard one of their catchy commercials where you’ll hear pop music snippets from their latest CD! I’ll admit, when I first started hearing the music, it would throw me off, since I was more familiar with the “real,” original artist versions. However, there’s something about hearing these pop tunes with a younger voice that really appeals to my kids. Since then, they’ve discovered Kidz...