Tag Archives: outing

Chabot Space and Science Center

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In my quest for new and fun things to do with my young boys, I came across the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. It’s located in the hills about Oakland, nestled among huge redwood trees! I wasn’t sure if my children would be too young to enjoy a science center, but I knew they do cater to children and my curiosity was peeked to see what they have to offer.

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Unexpectedly, my kids had a blast, from the moment we walked into the first room, they quickly took to the exhibits, standing in the black light – learning about “nebulae,” to gazing into telescopes and getting their first peek into outer space. The thing about museums or centers like this, is that while there’s always lots of signage with instructions and info – that my young sons can’t read yet, everything is hands on. And, even if they don’t quite understand the universe, it’s not a bad idea to introduce these things early, and just let them explore!

Stacks on stacks… #raefthomas #isaiahjoaquin #chabotspaceandscience #blocks #toddlers #discoveryroom

A photo posted by Aubrey Aquino (@fifty3weeks) on


We visited on  Wednesday morning in early June, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. There was at least one school field trip group there, but the place is big enough that we still felt like we had our run of the center.

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There was also a fun “discovery” room, where school group are not allowed. My boys gave their hand at building with huge lego blocks and spent some time with hard hats piecing together wood construction pieces too.

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One of their favorite attractions was this huge scream box where you could stand inside and just let it ALL out! Scream at the very top of your lungs and watch the sound waves on the screen while your “screaming” photo is captured.

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Other highlights of this Bay Area summer stop were the astronaut and space station exhibits – I was surprised to hear my (2 year old) younger son use the term astronaut and show me that he already was familiar with astronauts!

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Overall, it was a fun ride. We spent little more than 2 hours there, capping our visit off with a movie in the planetarium. It was a cartoonish video about kids who journey to outer space in a cardboard rocketship…and we visited all the planets!

Tilden Little Farm

A photo posted by Aubrey Aquino (@fifty3weeks) on

Summer is here and now that my boys are on the verge of turning 3 and 4, they are mobile and have excessive amounts of energy, so getting out and about is a must! So, I’ll be posting about our different outings around the Bay Area and beyond, wherever our Summer 16 adventures take us!

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First up is Little Farm at Tilden Park in Berkeley. I had heard about this spot in the Berkeley Hills where you could feed some of the farm animals and explore, and it’s just a short car ride from where we live, so we headed up to the farm on a Friday morning. I packed a lunch and some snacks, I wasn’t sure how much time we would need.

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The farm is short walk up from a public parking area (no charge to park), and there are lots of shaded areas and picnic tables if you want to plan for a picnic. There is also a small playground adjacent to  the parking lot.

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I also brought celery so the boys could feed the animals. **Note – at Little Farm they ONLY allow you to feed the animals celery or lettuce.** I wasn’t sure how much to bring and I wish I had packed more, because our (animal) food stash went quick. I had only brought a handful of celery sticks…turns out between my two, we could’ve used a few celery stalks and a whole head of lettuce!

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My boys really enjoyed holding out the celery to cows, goats and even the sheep! I loved that the farm is set up to be at their level. There weren’t any height issues while trying to see the animals or reach out to give them food.

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There’s also a butterfly area, small creek and kid’s garden for children to explore too. There are clean bathrooms and hand washing stations and the atmosphere is very comfortable.

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All in all we walked the property, explored and lingered to check out the scenery, ate lunch and played in the playground within a 2 hour time period. It’s just enough to get outside, enjoy the fresh air, but not tire them out too much…and there’s no cost! We will be back again!

Discover the Dinosaurs

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We did a Sunday Funday outing to “Discover the Dinosaurs.” It’s a traveling exhibit and we had the opportunity to catch it during its 2016 San Jose stop. My boys aren’t super into the prehistoric animals, but besides the actual dinos on display, there were also activities to engage the kids, so we checked it out.

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We went first thing in the morning when they opened and on the way to the convention center we did our best to get the boys excited about seeing the dinosaurs. It was great when we walked in and they didn’t immediately get scared.

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The dinosaurs on display are pretty big and make “life-like” movements. I don’t think they are life-size, but to a 3-footer toddler, I’m sure they come across larger than life. We enjoyed looking at them and reading the different names and teaching those terms to the boys, very educational. This part doesn’t really take too much time, you can do it in 30 minutes give or take, depending on how much or how little time you spend looking at the creatures.

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Then they had a few dino rides. My older toddler wasn’t interested, but my 2-year old chose to take his turn riding the Triceratops! Right after that they had sandboxes set up where kids could brush away the sand and discover fossils. This was cool for maybe 5-10 minutes, but the big attraction for my kids was the inflatables area.

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My boys are big on the bouncies and this is where we spent most of our time. They had a pretty good variety of bouncy houses with slides, big bounce areas and obstacles for both smaller and bigger kids.

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Other attraction were a mini-golf set up, coloring area and a “mining” area, with the latter requiring an additional charge to the admission.

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Overall, it was a fun outing, in total we spent less than 2 hours there total. I’d say this exhibit is best for kids ages 3-7, and/or babes who LOVE dinosaurs. If you think the dinos may come across scary, that wasn’t an issue with us, but I did see at least one kid hesitate to do a dinosaur ride. The cost of admission may be a bit steep, a family of four is about $100, not sure if price is dependent on location.

Our Day Out with Thomas

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Thomas the Tank Engine (Thomas the Train) recently made a South Florida stop at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum and it was a great opportunity to make it a family day! My sons are still on the young side, but lately Raef has been saying “Choo Choo” every time he sees a picture of a train and he does know who Thomas and Percy are, as he has them as bath toys, so we figured it’d be a fun outing. The event’s main feature was a train ride (it basically looped the museum, about 20 minutes or so from boarding to ride to exit), but there were also other attractions for all the kiddos big and small. They also had a Sir Topham Hat photo area set up for people who wanted to meet and snap a picture with him.

There was a story time area on board a train and also an imagination station where they had multiple train tables, coloring areas and even ipads set up for play! Of course we can’t forget the gift shop, fully stocked with Thomas-themed toys and souvenirs. We picked up Thomas T-Shirt for both boys to commemorate the occasion!

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If you have little ones who are Thomas fans, or even if they’re not, this is a fun time with the family that doesn’t take up a whole day, so it works with napper schedules too. My boys can both now boast about their first-ever train ride being aboard Thomas the Tank Engine! Oh and BONUS …. there was a sheet you were given upon entry and if you got it stamped at every “station” at the event, you received a free gift. And — the free gift was a Mega Bloks “Thomas!” Not bad at all!!! 🙂