If you’ll remember, the day Como Conservatory cut the ribbon on the brand new Ordway Gardens addition, people were still crunching through snow to get to it. I’m glad I waited for a balmy afternoon in May to bring the kids for a run-through. Okay, truthfully it was cloudy and sprinkling on and off but [...]

Who needs a gym membership when you’re home with four kids? I swear there are days doing chores when I run as many flights of steps as I would on an elliptical machine. My version of toning muscles is shopping, packing and preparing for a family camping trip. But there are definitely times when I [...]

Seven years had passed since I’d last found myself at Lookout Ridge indoor playground in Woodbury. The big occasion? I had finally decided to join a chapter of my local MOMS Club. I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long to sign up, but every couple of years I find my parent peers sending their [...]

On a day with a biting windchill of 25-below, was it worth it to bundle up four kids and take them to the annual Martin Luther King Celebration at Powderhorn Park? Unfortunately not, and it really didn’t have much to do with the weather. It was a disappointment to discover upon arriving about halfway through [...]

You’d think with the amount of time I spend online researching places to take the kids I would not make this mistake twice. Yet here I was again pulling up to Gleason’s Gymnastics (where they host a great Friday preschool open gym program) and discovering it still closed for the holiday break. And again, we [...]

I try not to shy away from taking the children to art museums, but I do spend my fair share of time inside them hissing, “Please. don’t. touch. anything.” This, of course, does not endear such museums to them. So it was with great joy and relief that they were released upon the 16th annual [...]

A few posts ago I spoke of my children’s natural need to climb, jump, dig and build in their play. They also have a knack for drenching themselves whenever we chance upon a water source. All in good, clean fun though, right? If you echo this sentiment, your kids will probably enjoy Discovery Hollow at [...]

If it hadn’t been for “the Spider”, we probably wouldn’t have gotten around to the Western Sculpture Park this summer. It’s in a busy area of town, sandwiched between University and Interstate 94 and about a mile west of the Capitol. But I had caught wind of this mobile art workshop (hosted by PublicArtSt.Paul to [...]

Another summer tradition into the books. I can’t exactly remember how many times I’ve gone, and there’s some debate over which children I’ve personally gone with, but as of this July all my kiddos have taken a ride into the past on the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line. After purchasing your tokens in the replica Linden Hills station [...]

Don’t snicker at the idea of taking your kids to see the Roseville Puppet Wagon. It’s actually pretty cute. And it was very painless – the girls plopped down at the picnic table and had lunch while watching the less than 20-minute show. Slight technical difficulties with the sound interfered minimally with the back-to-back classic [...]