Smile Worthy Back to School Moments with Goldfish

Can you believe it? We're about half way through the long Summer break now. How did that happen?

While the kids are blissfully unaware that their laid back Summer adventures will be done in just over a month, I, like many parents, am thinking about back to school. There's so much to prepare before the kids go back to school, but for me the most important thing is making sure that it's a smile worthy time for the kids. 

After such a long break from the structure of the school year, I find it important to ease the kids back into their schedules. So rather than having the Summer fun come to an abrupt halt once school starts back up again, I'm thinking ahead and planning small after school adventures to take together. Hikes in local parks, swims at the lake, visiting fun playgrounds... We're lucky here in the Bay Area that there are so many great places to visit. The weather here in early Fall is usually our warmest which is perfect for afternoon adventures.

Tilden Park Carousel

It's Christmas Eve! Can you believe it?

I feel like this whole month has just flown by and we haven't had a chance to do as much festive stuff as we had hoped - sick kids make it tricky to get out and about. The girls have been off school this past week so we managed to fit in a few days of Christmas fun - before the next kid sickness hit. It's been a bad month for sick kids in our home.

Wednesday night we jumped in a Zipcar and headed up into the Berkeley Hills to visit the Tilden Park Carousel. We've been to the carousel several time during the day but never before at night. In the lead up to Christmas each year the carousel is open in the evening for rides under the twinkling Christmas lights. A festive display of lights and inflatables surrounds the carousel building and on certain nights Santa even makes an appearance. It's a fun Berkeley Christmas institution that we haven't taken part in until now.

A Berkeley Staycation

With ten and a half weeks of Summer vacation to fill each year I'm always on the lookout for ideas to keep the kids occupied. With San Francisco so close (I can literally see the city out my lounge room windows) we tend to find ourselves crossing the Bay on a regular basis to explore the city.

The kids and I absolutely love San Francisco and enjoy spending time there but sometimes it's nice to stay a little closer to home. This got me thinking about all of the fun things that we can do right here in Berkeley. Our little city is full to the brim with a wide variety of fun activities and adventures for the kids.

So instead of hopping on BART and heading across (or rather, under) the bay to San Francisco, let's spend a little time here exploring our own backyard with a Berkeley staycation.

To make it feel more like a vacation, I've come up with a five day itinerary for the kids and I. Each day is filled with fun activities in one particular area of Berkeley. As we don't have a car I've tried to keep the activities relatively close to each other. Most things are within fairly easy walking distance (or bus distance) of Downtown Berkeley.

Day 1: Gourmet Ghetto, Live Oak Park & Indian Rock Park

Yes, you read that correctly. Berkeley has a neighborhood called the Gourmet Ghetto! I've always found this name a little odd, but as you can probably guess it's a neighborhood filled with fine cuisine. One of California's most famous restaurants, Alice Water's Chez Panisse, is located here along with many other well known establishments including Cheeseboard and the first ever Peet's Coffee. Chez Panisse may be a little out of our family's dining league but Cheeseboard fits us perfectly. In fact, because it's right around the corner from Ava's school we go there almost every day!

Start the day with a late breakfast or brunch at one of the Gourmet Ghetto's many cafes. We quite like Saul's Delicatessen. Then head to Cheeseboard to stock up on sourdough goodies for lunch. Our favourites are bialys, asiago schticks, zampanos and brioches. And don't forget the cheese!

Tilden Park

Nestled at the top of the Berkeley Hills is a wonderful Regional Park called Tilden Park. Tilden Park is so much more than just a nature reserve, offering a host of activities for Bay Area families.

Amongst the 2,079 acres of nature Tilden Park is home to many popular family attractions including Little Farm, a vintage carousel, Anza Lake, Botanic Gardens, a golf course and a steam train.

We have visited Tilden Park on three occasions so far, each time focusing on a particular location: Little Farm, the carousel and Anza Lake. Here's a look at each one...


Little Farm

Our first trip to Tilden Park was to the Little Farm to check out the animals.
We packed a bag of celery and lettuce to feed our new farm friends and set off on a chilly early Spring morning.

Moo...