Weekly Picks - September 19-25, 2016

Check out our weekly picks for September 19-25. Lots of music, festivals, nature, creativity and family fun awaits! 

Want more options or plan ahead? check out our calendar for more activities, as we update it daily! http://relomomblog.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html

Monday, September 19, 2016:

• Ahoy, me hearties! Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Check out the festivities at Fairyland Town or head to Krispy Kreme for a free donut!
• Enjoy Momdays (dads too) at Bay Meadows (San Mateo).
• Family storytime in Los Altos - Stories, songs, and activities designed for families with children ages 3 and up. Pajama-clad participants welcome!

 Tuesday, September 20, 2016: 

• Family Storytime in Campbell - Stories, songs and activities for families with children of all ages. 
• Family Storytime in Saratoga -  Come enjoy stories, songs, and films for the whole family.  
• AAH Happy Farm will be open to the public today. Free, donations are welcome. Read about our visit to this lovely place here.
• Safari Fun Day at Crosspoint Playhouse. This is an indoor playtime geared for kids 5 years old & under. Arts and crafts, circle time that coordinate with a special theme, bounce houses, and lots of toys for all. 
• Preschool and homeschool science adventures series for kids 3-6 years and a parent. Learn how to make leafy works of art as you transform t-shirts into TREE-SHIRTS! Bring a shirt to print. Reservation required. 
• Enjoy a day full of rides, entertainment, animal meet and greets, fun and more during Happy Hollow's ½ price off admission day.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016:

• Wild Kratts Live! in San Jose. 
• Bring the tots out for an exciting morning at the farm. Hear a story, do some chores, and meet some farm friends. Little ones will enjoy a variety of activities at their own pace. (1 - 4 yrs.) - Ardenwood Historic Farm

Thursday, September 22, 2016: 

• The Pescadero Flowery grows 75 varieties of dahlias using organic practices.  Visit the farm from July through October to pick your own. 
• Baby & Me Play in Sunnyvale is a free group activity that is tailored just for infants and their parents/caregivers. Each session is geared towards stimulating a baby's senses in a fun and engaging way, and babies and their caregivers play and sing together.  Baby & Me provides babies with opportunities for group interaction, developing pre-listening skills, and social-emotional growth.

Friday, September 23, 2016:

• The Pescadero Flowery grows 75 varieties of dahlias using organic practices.  Visit the farm from July through October to pick your own. 
• Ardenwood Historic Farm Naturalist Program offers many different activities today. Check out the full calendar here.

Saturday, September 24, 2016:

• The Pescadero Flowery grows 75 varieties of dahlias using organic practices.  Visit the farm from July through October to pick your own.  
• Visit Sunnyvale's Farmers' Market 
• Ardenwood Historic Farm Naturalist Program offers many different activities today. Check out the full calendar here.
• 8th International Children's Festival in San Jose - With the goal of bringing together children from different cultures and communities in the Bay Area, the festival, which includes food, fun, dance, shows, and exhibits has been celebrated for seven years now. Upcoming 8th International Children’s Festival will take place in Discovery Meadow Park, San Jose.
• Visit the Farmer's Market in Menlo Park - Kids' Zone will include complimentary face painting, jump houses, arts & crafts and more!
• Owling Good Times: Live Owl Encounter at Alameda Free Library. 
• Songs and Stories by the Shore - Gather together to hear tales and sing songs about worms, fungus, leaves and flowers, predators and prey and more! Enjoy an interactive hour of nature fun for the whole family!
• Unbe-leaf-able Fall Fun (Alameda) - Celebrate the fall season as a family with a scavenger hunt for colorful leaves, searching like squirrels for acorns, drinking cider and making fall crafts to welcome the longer nights to come! 
• PAMP Fall Fun Day at the Farm - Pony Rides, a Petting Zoo, Hayrides, Train Rides, Bouncy Houses, Pumpkin Patch and more!
• Air show in Salinas.
• Start a new fall family tradition and go Apple Picking.

Sunday, September 25, 2016:

• The Pescadero Flowery grows 75 varieties of dahlias using organic practices.  Visit the farm from July through October to pick your own.  
• Ardenwood Historic Farm Naturalist Program offers many different activities today. Check out the full calendar here.
• Visit one of the nation's best farmers' market in Mountain View.
• Marine Science Sunday - a FREE engaging ocean-inspired classroom series from our education experts. These interactive classroom programs are great for all ages! 
• Air show in Salinas.
• Kids MEGA Challah Bake! Join other children to mix, shape, and braid Challah dough with a Rosh Hashana inspired twist and topping! While the Challah rises, enjoy refreshments and fun fair activities. 

Muir Woods

This national monument is beyond amazing. Wide boardwalk trails, beautiful nature and fascinating history makes it a great family adventure. 

Getting there 

Not too far from 1/101 exit, it is convenient to get there and easy to find.

There are a few parking lots, and some parking on the road, but they fill up quickly on weekends and other holidays. Try to get there earlier to get a parking spot.

Shuttle services are available on weekends & holidays during April-October. Check out the schedule and stops here. 

The trails 

There are a few trails to explore, but the Main Trail is easy and great for little explorers. The trail is a shaded and mostly a boardwalk path along Redwood Canyon.

The paved trail and boardwalk makes this trail stroller friendly, and the dense woods and fences makes it hard to go off-trail, so it’s great for toddlers running around.

The Redwood trees are magnificent. The Sequoias are the tallest, and one of the oldest, living things on earth. Signs with great information about the trees and times in history make the trail great for parents, too.

There is a Giant California you can “stand inside”. Daniel loved it! 

There are 4 bridges along the trails, so it is easy to adjust the length of the trails to your family’s needs. Once you’re ready to go back, just cross the bridge and walk the other side of the creek back to the park’s entrance.

Deer, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, lizards, and banana slugs are commonly seen, so keep your eyes open! Daniel loved playing with the friendly chipmunks next to the visitor center!

If you are looking for longer trails, try the Canopy View to Lost Creek or Fern Creek. With elevation gain of 350-530ft, they are a little more challenging for little kids, but doable with carriers. 

Children’s Activities

There are two great activity books available at the visitor center.

Redwood Discovery: A Quest at Muir Woods (for kids 6-12 years old) 

Solve the rhyming riddles, learn some of the secrets of the Woods, and find the treasure box! The activity book is available for free at the visitor center. 

Become a Junior Ranger (for kids 4-11 years old) 

Complete this activity book and head to the visitor center to get sworn in as an official Junior Ranger. You will also get a cool wooden badge! The activity book is available for free at the visitor center. 

Weather

Even on a warm day, it’s cold and moist in the groves, so make sure to bring extra layers.

Visitor Center, Gift Shop and Café

Visitor Center: Stop at the Visitor Center for maps and other information about the park and trails. This is where you’ll get the Junior Ranger Activity Book and Badge and the Quest Map (more information under Children’s Activities).

Restrooms: There are two restrooms - one in the parking lot and another adjacent to the gift shop. Both were very clean and had changing tables. 

Gift Shop: The gift shop is adjacent to the café and is pretty big, with nice selection of items for children. I always buy something small for Daniel to play with on our way home, and also as a conversation starter about the places we visit and activities we do. It’s not always easy to find something small and inexpensive, but here it was hard to choose just one!

Café: Wide variety of organic snacks, sandwiches made with local cheeses, muffins, coffee and delicious hot chocolate! Outside the cafe there are wooden bears to play on and with - lots of fun!

 

Hours 

Park hours vary by season. The park is open 8am-5pm year long, with extended hours during the summer.

The Visitor Center closes 30 minutes before Muir Woods.

Admission 

$10/Adult, 15 and under – free. Annual passes available, check out the information here.

Life on the Ranch: Family Living History Day at Wilder Ranch State Park

We love Wilder Ranch State Park. We like the combination of beautiful trails, sea breeze and historical farm, so we visited the state park a few times in the past.

This time, we visited during the "Life on the Ranch" event, and we had a great time! 
We had the chance to experience old-time activities, and learn about the ranch's history.

Activities included machine shop demonstrations, blacksmith demonstrations, wood stove baking, tortilla making, crafts, games and wagon rides. 

We visited the farm animals, decorated a straw hat with beautiful feathers and leather, tried leather burning, pressed and baked our own tortilla, played with old-fashioned bubbles, ate delicious fresh baked apple cookies (seriously. fresh. like the second it came out of the Victorian stove), and much more!

The house tour was very kid friendly. We saw a piano play itself, watched a short cartoon on a funny device, and learned about the life on the ranch.

Don't miss on these future dates:
Saturday, September 17, 2016, 11am-3pm 
Sunday, November 12, 2016, 11am-3pm

If you're looking for a trail suggestions, check out this post.

Day-use parking fee is $10 and supports the park, wagon ride - $5, all other activities are free, donations welcome.
 

Monarch Butterflies Observation at Ulistac Natural Area

Going out to the nature is probably the best thing you can do with your child. We try to go on short hikes every weekend, but this one was never on my list. A friend who lives close by suggested and I was amazed by this local beauty.

Ulistac Natural Area is known as the last forest in Santa Clara, and is a lovely spot to watch and count Monarch butterflies and explore in an unhurried manner. 

If you walk through the garden and creek area, you will see several numbered Monarch Observation signs. These particular areas are typically where you can observe the most Monarch activity while at Ulistac. We saw 3 Monarch and plenty other butterflies, bugs, birds and plants, climbed trees and smelled the flowers. 

We had a great time and we heard the Monarch population is usually more active, and even though we only saw 3, I highly recommend this hike!

The path is wide and you can bring a stroller. It is mostly in the sun, so choose a day accordingly, and don’t forget your hats, sunscreen and water.