Dawn Pedersen

Last weekend, our little family visited Fort Bragg over three days, in honor of my husband Vlady’s 40th birthday. This is the first in a series of posts about the places we visited on our trip. Clear Lake in on Highway 20 on the way from Sacramen...

Here’s a handy reference of the locations, open/close dates, hours, admissions, and phone numbers for recreational swimming at the public pools in the Sacramento Valley for 2013. Antelope | Arden-Arcade | Citrus Heights | Davis &#1...

Exploratorium has moved to a gorgeous new, larger location on Pier 15 in San Francisco. I posted about Exploratorium last year, but the brand new facility deserves its own showcase. So here we go! Costs were a bit steeper this time around. General admi...

A sprayground—otherwise known as a splash park—is a playground with water features. We have a lot of them in the Sacramento metro region. I’ve discovered 11, and I’ve got photos and details for all of them for you. The best part is they...

Sacramento has a very nice children’s museum. But I was excited to learn from one of my students that Children’s Museum of Stockton is perhaps four times as large and worth the drive. What really sold me is that they have a full-size fire e...

My husband Vlady and I have been visiting the San Francisco Zoo together at least once a year since we met. I guess you could day it’s become a family favorite. We’ve been bring Theo since he was 3 months old, and now at nearly 3 years old,...

Recently our 34-month-old son Theo has demonstrated an enthusiasm for jigsaw puzzles. A couple of months ago, I got him a $3 Target bargain-bin buy that is a combo book and 12-piece puzzle, and he’s completed it countless times. Puzzle-doing has ...

I love animals. I hope that with lots of early exposure to all kinds of live animals, Theo will learn to love and value them as well. We got a one-of-a-kind animal experience at the Serpentarium in Lodi yesterday. The Serpentarium has two locations, on...

It seems our official site launch party for KidsBusyBook.com at Climbaroo was a great success. I am so grateful to the dozens of moms, dads, grandparents, and kids who came and celebrated with us. You really made our night! Special thanks to everyone a...

I have a personal theory that media and government do a disservice to kids by urging them to exercise. Let me explain. When I was a kid in the 70′s, we never called what we did exercise. Exercise sounds really unpleasant to most people, children ...