SIP AND KRANTZ

The street car that takes you around the loop of the populated west side is well worth taking with kids. They love trains, you don't have to find parking, and there's a stop right at Jamison Park where you can visit a new coffee shop, Sip and Krantz.
Good coffee, good snacks, and get this, a giant carpeted play area that is enclosed by a glass wall so you can look in on your tots playing with blocks and rolling around in the bean bags. They actually want you to come with your kids! Ruth pictured is right outside the shop in the park enjoying the blustery wind. A picture of the coffee shop? Sure, as soon as we can get the camera that we stupidly left in reach of the curious to work right. This was the one and only shot that didn't turn out as an abstract art expression of muted childhood. We're working on it.

TULIP PASTRY SHOP

Bribery. We're not proud of it, but sometimes it's necessary to get the job done. If, say, we need to finish some onerous (to critters) task without further incident, it helps to have a card up your sleeve, so to speak. Tulip Pastry Shop is that very card that we use when we're here in NoPo, running around finishing our errands. That they make the best donuts we've ever had is a bonus, of course. They also, as seen above, make tantalizingly colorful cookies that prove irrestable to small people. Ghosts and Pumpkins made appearances this Halloween season, and one suspects that Christmas trees and Santa hats aren't far behind. We're particularly fond of the butterfly, personally.