bonnie & jason

Staycation part 2

The second half of the week had us going to the Exploratorium and Fairyland.

We got free passes to the Exploratorium through the Check Out SF Family Pass. It’s a little complicated, but the short of it is you go to the library and “check out” a family pass for various attractions throughout the city. We were originally going to go to Zeum, but that was already checked out but I got lucky and the Exploratorium was available so we ended up there. (By the way, this makes the third free activity as the Randall museum is always free and the zoo was free since it was the first Wednesday of the month.)

The Exploratorium was a little too advanced for Alissa but she seemed to enjoy some of the hands on stuff. I’m sure we’ll be back many times in the future when I’ll be able to forcibly imprint my dorkiness on all three of my offspring. Even that sentence sounded uber dorky. (“Uber” inserted for dork-effect.) (Parenthetical comment inserted for dork-effect.) (Call out of parenthetical comment… you get the point.) We didn’t take many pictures, but here are a few random ones:

Yesterday, we tried out Fairyland, which is a small, quaint, somewhat run down amusement park for toddlers.


Basically, they have rides and displays that are all based on traditional fairy tales. Furthermore, scattered throughout the park are these little boxes that tell a short story if you insert and turn a “magic key.” (Available for just $2.)

In total, I think there are only four “rides.” Alissa didn’t want to go on the jolly trolly or the little 15 foot tall ferris wheel. And she was too short for the normal carousel. (I love the expression on her face.)

But we were able to talk her into the little carousel for which she was just barely tall enough. (Much happier in this picture.)

After lunch, we sprung the twins loose and let them walk around the Western Town a little bit.

And by then, we had pretty much seen the entire park. Besides what I already mentioned, there were a couple slides and live animals integrated into some of the attractions. And I think they had some puppet show type stuff that we had missed.

I think we were there for about 2 hours total including a bit of lunch. It felt like just about the right amount of time given the size of the place and the logistics of three kids, nap times, etc. All in all, a worthwhile trip considering tickets were only $7. And although I said it was run down, it’s not really like things are falling apart. But there were things that could use a fresh coat of paint and other sections that probably could use a little modernizing. On one hand, it was nice to have something small and less overwhelming than something like Disney or one of the other major parks. On the other hand, the top of the little carousel was practically rusted through. It’s all good… as long as you have the right expectations.