Blog 10 of SF Bay Area Mom Blogs

Favorite Blog Posts

• Il bel far niente
• When Moles Attack
• A letter to my girls on this special day

The Best Part of Living in the San Francisco Bay Area

The Bay Area is wild and bustling and beautiful and unique. There are amazing restaurants that inspire me to get crazy in the kitchen and festivals that spark my urge to dance. Hop in the car and it's a quick drive to the ocean or the mountains. Then there's baseball, and by baseball I mean: Let's Go Oakland! Most importantly, my girls can look around and see that diversity is beautiful and normal. They will grow up in a place that mirrors their brown skin and crazy curly hair, and I love that.

My Favorite Kid-friendly Activity in the Bay Area

The Oakland Zoo is a favorite of ours and the only place we currently have a membership. We usually do a short cruise of the grounds, making sure to stop and see the giraffes and the monkeys, and then make a pit stop in the children's area, set out a blanket on the grass and snack ourselves silly. After that, it's time for the train and the carousel. If the girls had their way, we would ride the train and carousel the whole time. Second pick: the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. To say it is amazing just does not do it justice. If you have young kids, just go. You can thank me later.

Some Say It's Hard to Raise a Child in the Bay Area...

If you are basing it solely on economics, then I would agree. But despite the high cost of living and child care, there is so much to expose children to in the Bay Area. On the surface level, there's learning from nature while hiking in Tilden or walking along Crissy Fields to the foot of Golden Gate Bridge. But on a deeper level, my girls can learn a lot about the world here. Driving from one end of Oakland to the other, it's clearly visible how the streets change. I want them to know why one school has a playground with green grass and another, just a few miles away, has an iron gate and barely a yard to play in. Sure, those are hard lessons to learn — or for me to teach — but I think it will make them more aware of the world.