Hiking does not require access to forest trails or mountaintops, nature preserves or valley fields. These are all great places for a trot through nature, but cities can offer some of the many same advantages when hiking with the kids. Commune with nature. The right route through a city can offer beautiful neighborhood gardens, grassy parks […]

Although my husband and I love to explore other cultures with our kids, we don’t have the time, the energy or the finances to jet off every weekend. Luckily, we live in San Francisco where several ethnic neighborhoods offer the perfect fix for our cultural wanderlust. On a recent weekend we decided to “travel” to […]

Everyone knows that Washington, D.C. is a great place to go with kids. With museums, monuments and lots of green space, there’s plenty to keep the whole family entertained. What few out-of-towners know, however, is that there are loads of great things to do just across the river, in Northern Virginia, as well. Last weekend […]

We’ve moved back to the States from two years abroad in Spain. Unsure of our next destination, we opted to spend the summer on the east coast with family. My husband envisioned a quiet summer spent with the grandparents – the kids happily entertained. We’ve been together for 16 years. He should know better! Our […]

Welcome back to San Francisco! I hope you came dressed in layers and are ready to take to the hills. I suggest starting where we left off.  North Beach – San Francisco’s Italian neighborhood and home to crooked Lombard Street. If you are staying at one of the hotels I mentioned in A Weekend with […]

I will not try by any means to cover what to do or not do when you visit Disney World. This would be impossibly overwhelming for me and it is a post that I most definitely need to read, not write. I am writing simply because I am amazed at just how much Disney has […]

Miami is such a big and happening place that it would be impossible to cover it all in one weekend. For our most recent visit in February we decided to stay in Coconut Grove. And I fell in love again with this charming and quaint neighborhood. Coconut Grove, or “the Grove” as locals call it, […]

Welcome to San Francisco. You can call it the City or San Francisco or occasionally SF but please, please, whatever you do, don’t call it San Fran or Frisco or any other nickname that comes to mind. You’ll peg yourselves as tourists immediately (if you haven’t already done so by showing up in the city […]

We used to live in San Francisco. As huge wine geeks, we took ample advantage of our proximity to Napa and Sonoma (and Anderson Valley) by making frequent day trips to “wine country.” It was so easy to hop in the car, drive the hour plus up Highway 101, drop into a winery or two, […]