FAIRYLAND (um, not free)

I will forever regret not visiting Fairyland sooner. As some of you know, New to the Neighborhood will soon be moving to a new hood, the City of Roses, which removes the possibility of future documentary fame by removing us from proximity to this fantastic amusement park. Located at Lake Merrit, Fairyland is best known for their puppet shows set on various stages throughout. If you miss the shows, you still will have ample entertainment perusing the fairytale sets that hark back to a pre-PC time. Somebody must do a film about this place, it is that good.

FAIR OAKS STREET FAIR (free!)

Every year on the Saturday before Mother's Day, Fair Oaks street drags down the attic boxes, cleans out the closets, rethinks the living room decor, and holds a giant garage sale. And we mean huge! It attracts thousands so come early and get your homemade tamales, lemonade and cookies, new used books/couches/toys/clothes/art/trinkets and treasures. (you may even find a one-of-a-kind for your one of a kind mom).

If it is raining next year, just go the Saturday following Mother's Day, and in between don't forget to mark Fair Oaks down as your Halloween party spot. They absolutely tear it up for the kids.

RED POPPY ART HOUSE: FREE SATURDAYS

You may have noticed at the corner of 23rd and Folsom a pretty painted flower vase on the wall. Or, a while back, a piano that sat outside inviting the public to play. Now, if you go by the Red Poppy Art House on Saturday afternoons, you will see a clatch of kids outside painting, playing with clay, sidewalk drawing or making shadow puppets. Through July, this Gallery and workshop space will be hosting free drop-in art classes for kids. Ruth painted a musing in pink and blue, as well as the drum splat shown here. The volunteers are cheerful, welcoming, and bilingual. Ruth is a little young to truly appreciate what they have to offer (they are really set up for the 5-10 age group) but they were happy to set her up and let her loose in their paints and brushes, which they provided.
Thank you Red Poppy.

CABLE CAR MUSEUM: ALWAYS FREE!

It sounds cheesy, touristy, boring, much like most toddler activities (add a balloon and you have tears too!). It has the requisite kitschy gift shop with plenty of expensive t-shirts and tree ornaments, but everything else in this place is genuine, non-replica interesting. The best part: the museum is housed over the actual working guts of the cables. You have to see it, giant wheels spinning the Powell and California cars on their dedicated routes. For a complete day trip, start out with lunch at the House of Nanking (919 Kearny) and have the sizzling beef. This is one of the very best Chinese joints in the city, bar none. Unless you are a total glutton, you won't leave with that greasy sleepy dim sum feeling, and you don't even have to figure out what to order. Any hesitation over the menu and your server will bark, "you begetarian? you likea beef? you likea chicken? OK, I bring you someting." Just say thank you, it will be great. After lunch, hike all the way up Jackson, go one block left on Mason, check out the giant cables, then have coffee and rhubarb pie at the Gallery Cafe across the street. Walk back down through Chinatown, stop at the playground, enjoy your city.

EXPLORATORIUM, FREE WEDNESDAYS

Visiting this staple of the hands-on museum circuit is always fun for everyone, but do try to make the first Wednesday or you'll get soaked with a $13 admission. (kids, $8, -3 free) Everything there is pokable and prodable, a necessary element for curious kids (and their dads). Ruth visited when she was still on the verge of toddlerhood and found it pretty scary. This recent visit at two years two months proved to be a success, even for her cheap parents are trolling the free days like them dems. Her sister slept through the whole thing, as per usual.

LEGION OF HONOR, FREE TUESDAYS

Take the 38 (or your shared city car, it's way out there) all the way to a couple blocks before Geary turns into the Great Highway to this the Legion of Honor. If you are bringing your toddler go only on the first Tuesday when the $10 admission charge is waived or you may as well just use that Hamilton as TP. This is in no way a reflection on this fine institution, where the collection of statuary is one of the best in the city (not to mention those oozing rich colors of the renaissance) but a reflection of the toddler mind, which would rather be spending its time in the service alley out back, contemplating rocks, pointing out the cigarette butts, asking for a treat. It's "do everything you can for free" month at NTN. Expect much more in the weeks to come.

NORTH BEACH, BABY

Head downtown and turn left at the Transamerica pyramid, but not before you go behind the building to their little sculpture garden. Bronze frogs and redwood trees make this a nice green spot to re-group before the trek up Columbus to Washington Square Park. In this park that isn't square in the well-used heart of the beach that isn't a beach you will find a little playground full of Chinese kids and their grandparents as well as a great spiral slide. We ate an incredibly ordinary lunch that we enjoyed to spite it simply because Ruth was in a fine mood and Georgia had yet to make a fuss. Testing our luck, which held, we decided on Caffe Trieste for lindzer tarts, carrot cake, and cappucino. How can you not love a city where the famous neighborhood beat joint serves your kid her very own frothed milk in her own demitasse cup, just because?

AMBASSADOR TOYS

There are a number of reasons to visit West Portal, one of them is Ambassador Toys, where the sparklies are sectioned into continents, with an entire room for glow in the dark space things. Make sure you get the spinach enchaladas or fish tacos at El Toreador Fonda Restaurant (in eight years a disappointment has yet to cross the plate). Have a hot fudge sundae two doors down after you pick up a Peet's coffee. There is a movie theater across the street that we used to go to before we had kids. Maybe it has gone totally downhill and now screens horror movies and smells like pee, but from the marquee it looks like a nice little art house. Everything is located on the short strip of West Portal Av. that ends in the Muni station, where you can roll your ice cream enchalda stuffed tukus right up the ramp and back on the M, K, or L.

The Tower at the De Young Museum

You might hate it, you might think it looks like a Mayan ruin in the jungle that is, Golden Gate Park. Either way, you might want to go back, as we did. For the price of admission, you get to go to the very tippy top of the Park, and look out over everywhere you've gone.

Golden Gate Park Adventures -- Part One

In the first of what will be a multi-part series on the enormous, wonderous green thing in the middle of our fair City, we start with the windmill. Or, as Ruth calls it, the "Giant Fan." Though we are Giants fans (particularly partial to the other team in the Bay Area), she means the gigantic windmill teeming with Spring flowers (from the record-breaking, never-ending Spring showers) near the ocean side of the park. From there, we continued on to the Bison, closer to the middle. There isn't much to do with the Bison, but is sure is interesting that we have any kind of paddock, let alone a Bison one.

Ruth continues to ask about the Bison and is slowing coming to realize that someone is staying, bringing on epic shyness attacks and temper tantrums to shake the very earth. Otherwise, all is kisses.

Japanese Tea Garden

One of the great things about her early childhood development class is that they have field trips. Last week, we got to go to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park with her class. First we got to take our favorite bus ride, the 44 line, which takes you up past the beautiful Glen Canyon Park (surely a future NTTN post), and you get to hop off in front of the enormous new de Young looming over everything like a Mayan temple. Then you get to Zen out on the garden grounds, eventually having a nice pot of green tea and cookies (all for $3!) to finish the soothing trip. That it was free to get in and there were squealing toddlers all over the place made it that much better.

Sausalito Ferry

On the 2nd Anniversary of someone's arrival in the world, we decided that a day trip to Sausalito via the Golden Gate Ferry was the way to go. It provides big, cheap thrills with fantastic (and patriotic) views of the Jewel by the Bay. Once in the shoppers paradise-disguised as a small town, you can help yourself to a rich, delicious Lappert's Ice Cream (or two) or just stroll the tiny, shop-laden streets with a contented grin on your face.

INTRODUCING...

GEORGIA! After the bars closed on Friday night, and just as everyone was finishing up their super quesidilla suizas at El Farlito, Georgia arrived weighing in at 8lbs 2 oz, just as her father predicted. Ruth was in dreamland at the time, having no idea that her landed position of prestige as first born was just bumped up a notch by Georgia's position as recipient of all big-sister ire and love. Thank heavens for her grandmother and the ever present Mr. Myers, who made the family's transition seamless. Georgia makes a nice addition to the neighborhood.

SCHOOL DAZE

City College of San Francisco has an early childhood development program that includes hands-on, real life, no holds barred toddler immersion in the form of free "school" at the local rec centers around town. It is hard to find info online, but show up at the Mission Rec Center (21st and Treat) between 9 a.m. and noon on Wednesdays and Thursdays, go upstairs, and join the class. The activities change every 20 minutes or so and include letting loose rug rats in a room full of bouncy balls, snack time, story time, ring around the rosy time. Ruth loves it, and so do we.

Tao Cafe

We had been there before, and it was delicious, so when we were both too disinterested to cook and someone (read: FoR) had not fed someone (read: Ruth) a suitable snack, we moved on to the lovely local Tao Cafe. At the early hour (6:00) they were still empty and they were very accomodating for Ruth, as they had been in the past. She is seen here enjoying a spoonful of coconut ice cream (read: Auchiee, gud).

In other developments, MoR is ready to burst and we wait to tell the world of the new arrival (read: Georgia).

SONY METREON

Heading down to 4th and Mission the other day to see Ruth's first big-screen flick, Curious George, we first had to kill time in the lobby to avoid the 20 minutes of commercials they show these days. Ruth had an excellent time, gasping with surprise that George could move and all that. We were both disappointed the Man in the Yellow Hat talked so much, but George was great. The cookies helped.

Chow

Right by Market and Church, we find the delightful and delicious Chow, where the food is varied and (relatively) cheap, and (relatively) kid-friendly. Ruth is shown here furiously mixing her water with chopsticks. "Cookin'," as she is wont to do while given chopsticks.

This is also just down the way from Duboce Park, a long-time favorite and right next door from Aardvark Books, where the books are (relatively) inexpensive and the aisles are -- miracle of miracles -- big enough for a stroller. MoR also reports that they have a complete set of Andrew Lang's Fairy Tales for those looking to be transported to a dreamworld of magic.

PRECITA EYES

You may think 18 months is too young to paint a picture. We thought so too, and waited until the budding artist reached 23 months to take her first art class.
This usage of the word class may stretch the definition of instruction, but for $12 (yeah, kind of steep) your toddler can move from station to station creating masterpieces of extraordinary vision. (OK, so they go on the fridge for a month, vision is in the eye of the cranium.) Ruth painted and decorated two pirate hats, one valentine's heart, and several large works including the study in green, shown. She also smashed some clay. It was worth every penny, and she concentrated for a full 50 minutes before announcing, "all done."

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!

It is a good time for everyone to take a moment and review their animal year horoscope, just to give yourself a fair chance to either ward off (or anticipate) upcoming surprises. Mother rooster has been prophesied a birth (that one was easy, unless she's been toting around a medicine ball) and the power to shape her destiny, despite being tied town to the diaper pail. Young monkey Ruth has been warned not to speculate, her technical expertise will come in handy. The much anticipated dog of the family has been foreseen to have a difficult year, with constant competition. Well, we could have told her as much. Her big sister is already talking to mythical beasts. "Dragons! Hello!"

Tartine Bakery

When nearing the food mecca that is the 18th St. Corridor, we stopped in to the delicious Tartine and had some "tweets." Delicious.

In unrelated news: Ruth today was found touching her nose and when asked what she was doing she said, "My nose. I found it." And what is there to say to that?