A Brit Moves from SF to Pleasanton: "Kid-Friendly Things I'll Miss About San Francisco"

I was running around the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park for about three hours today.  

I have to do this at least once a week to insure Madam Bee, my little bundle of joy, is knackered enough to sleep long enough at nap time to give me time to clean, do laundry, pick up a zillion tiny people, animals and car parts and of course drink tea by the bucket full.  

This is the only place in San Francisco that conforms to my rigid cleanliness standards, has fantastic organic local food and has an inside, go-crazy-for-30-minutes-then- collapse-on-the-way-home play zone, which even has a pirate ship to hang in.

It was while I sat there, exhausted from lots of weekend festivities and another 6 a.m. wakeup call, that it started to dawn on me what cool, interesting, fun things there are for kids that I will miss when our family moves to Pleasanton in a few weeks.

Living on a very tight budget for so long when I was pregnant and being a penny pincher due to only one wage coming in, I have found some cool places to pass the time and run my daughter rigid. Most are free and if not, they’re cheap as chips.

The Academy of Sciences has the best membership program for $99 a year. With that, a named parent and a guest plus quite a few kids can get in for free and that’s great, considering it’s nearly $30 to gain entry at the door. Obviously it’s a place to learn, but for the past year, my baby and I have gone at least once a week and each time we find a new area to explore, be it a door hinge, bathroom hand dryer or a new type of ball displayed in bucket loads right at kid height in the gift shop. There are several outdoor areas to eat your pre-packed lunch or a cool cafe with many tempting sugary treats and caffeine-induced beverages to help tie one over until baby’s nap time.

Living in the Mission is an eye-opening experience each time you squeeze yourself and the stroller out of the apartment. The neighborhood has many multicolored murals and local characters flaunting abstract attire at every corner. The murals painted by local artists and organizations such as Precita Eyes do a lot to reduce graffiti in the neighborhood and they give mummies like me a lot of teaching materials and opportunities to enhance my kid’s education.  She even notices when they are repainted and also shouts “Bad Boys!” if they ever get tagged.

Walking the streets in the Mission with a baby in tow is not intimidating at all, but what is are the hipster-clad cafes that are springing up all over, particularly the 24^th Street area.  It is impossible to get a decent-sized pram through the front doors, and if you do, you are stared at like you have three heads. Hipsters and kids don’t gel; maybe we need to don curly moustaches in order to get a shot of caramelized sea salt and bitter chocolate espresso!

Since walking is free and it has a lot to do with melting post pregnancy lardiness, I have done a lot of it. Protrero Hill is very close to my current place and the Potrero Hill Community Garden is worth every hill one has to climb to get there. The route I take offers an additional bonus of walking over the 101 Freeway bridge with a fantastic view of the city and many opportunities for car and truck spotting. Once you climb up the very steep San Bruno Avenue, the garden greets you with a quaint gate and a tiny roofed notice board depicting the various community gatherings.

The views are outstanding of the Mission, Twin Peaks and the city. There are about 50 individual plots of land, fenced off by makeshift barriers, and small bird houses accommodate the many humming birds and there are bee hives collecting all the yummy honey. The ‘Warning - Bees Xing’ sign is a hoot and there is usually a friendly local gardener weeding or harvesting the various organic crops that are grown in the Mediterranean type of climate.

Within a stone’s throw is a cute dog park and a great playground called McKinley Square, where kids can play on a variety of structures with the added bonus of dog spotting, and I have never seen a homeless person trying to wash in the water fountain here. 

Now I will let you into a little secret — Vermont and 20th streets have what is rumored to be the crookedest street in San Francisco. I know you’ve heard about Lombard Street and its twists and turns – this is a great stroller assault course too, and definitely tightens up one’s bottom. So if you want to avoid massive lines or traffic, head over for the afternoon.

I was fortunate to go to a pregnancy-centering class; it’s a hangout for ladies at the same stage of pregnancy and is fantastic for meeting mums-to-be in one’s neighborhood.  I met a fantastic local here and if it was not for her, I would have never been introduced to the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department.  These places are the best for mamas (and some daddies) to hang when it’s raining or the thought of walking for three hours no longer appeals.

They have a very extensive workshop program from tiny tot music time, to library story time and various other parent present activities. My favorite recreation centers are in the Castro and Noe Valley; both places have brand new playgrounds and indoor space with soft play and changing facilities. These are very colorful neighborhoods to observe too.  

I have one pet peeve though and it’s nannies that don’t watch their charges, and instead choose to either chat with fellow care providers or leave it to the lass with the funky accent to play the Pied Piper and entertain their kids for free. That is material for another blog so I will leave it at that!

It will be such a treat to discover all of the wonderful walks and parks Pleasanton has to offer; I am already missing the San Francisco skyline though and all the hills here make for such pretty backdrops, even if you’re walking around like a zombie, have been up since the crack of dawn and have consumed half of the state’s coffee intake by 9 a.m.! 

I just renewed my Academy of Science membership so I plan to be back every few weeks for my city fix.

By the way, here is a Glossary of British Terms:

Knackered  = Tired

Mummy = Mommy

Pram = Stroller

Lardiness = Fat