On the first Saturday of each month, Home Depot offers a building workshop for kids. The projects are not complicated, as in some sanding, hammering of pegs, glueing, and attaching stickers. Usually they are centered around something going on within that month; Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Superbowl Sunday, etc. Our kids are still young and need one of us to help them with each step, but I can...

As a child, my dad had a canned response to my complaints of boredom. Its a Yiddish phrase that, roughly translated, meant go fly a kite. More literally translated, I believe it meant go hit your head against the wall, but that’s my dad’s sense of humor. Anyway, as it turns out flying a kite can be a whole lot of fun, particularly if you were at the Berkeley Marina this weekend for the Kite Festival. When...

Now that we have returned from Camp Sacramento, I wanted to follow up with some thoughts and pictures, should you be considering this place for your family. And by the way, I highly suggest it at least once! Pictured below was our cabin. This was our first year in cabin 2. The beds and mattreses seemed newer than I remember others being. Maybe it has more updated furniture than the other cabins, or maybe...

Now I do enjoy camping as much as the next city slicker… but let’s face it, there’s a whole lot of work involved. Take, for example, all the stuff. You’ve got to bring cool clothes because its summer and warm clothes because it gets chilly at night. Then you need to pack up all the food for your stay, the utensils AND a stove. Next, you need to bring some entertainment. Though my 4 and...

The Yolo Basin Foundation has a bat walk and talk series. On ten separate evenings between the end of May and beginning of September, they offer the Bat Walk and Talk. A slideshow presentation begins the evening. A bat specialist offers interesting information on the different species of bats as well as some bat myths and truisms. For example, did you know the bat is more closely related to a cow than it...

Jeff and I used our anniversary as an opportunity to plan a trip for ourselves. Our criteria was that it should only be a few hours drive away, and offer things we don’t normally get to do or see. Since I get to plan the trips and I love kayaking, our stay centered in Tomales Bay. Just north along the coast of San Francisco, Tomales Bay seems to be where the movers and shakers go to relax. There is an...

This is a small zoo which houses animals who have been rescued and cannot survive alone in the wild.  There are quite a few animals to check out, as the enclosures do not have to fit things like elephants or giraffes. There are tigers, bears, wolves, bobcats, foxes and plenty of others, most of whom are native to this area. The paths are windy, so there seem to be new things to discover around each bend. ...

There is something delightful about being greeted by animals. I have noticed that kids who come to visit are often excited to see our large dog at the door. It was the same way when we went to visit the Folsom Zoo / Sanctuary.  The kids were fascinated with the flock of chickens who ran up to greet us. These chickens, quite beautiful in plumage, roam freely outside of the zoo’s entrance. Likewise within...