Giant bubble recipe

Just four ingredients, to make the most amazing giant bubbles:

1 tablespoon guar gum (order from Amazon)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup dish soap (Dawn Ultra works best)

1 gallon water

Combine everything in a big bucket.

LegoLand Dos and Don’ts

Legoland > Disneyland, 100 percent.

Disneyland is for adults on their phones all day buying $220 lightsabers. Legoland seems like it was actually designed for kids. Lots of playground areas, building activities, and overall a much, much more relaxed vibe.

Legoland's rides are very tame, which is fine by me, I'm a big chicken anyway. Probably best for 12 and under, or Lego fans of any age. The Lego theming is INCREDIBLE.

The "flowers" cracked me up.

A few takeaways...

  • -Don't stay at the $$$ Legoland hotels. We popped into the official Legoland hotels to check out the fun décor, and stayed across the street at the lovely Cassara. I'm not convinced any actual sleeping happens at the Legoland hotels.
  • Ask for a free lanyard at the Legoland hotel, then ask park employees for pop badges. You can also earn pop badges at the building activities. Really fun to collect these.
  • Bring a basic minifig to trade with any employee.
  • The first aid office is really efficient. Don't ask me how I know.
Watch the Lego movie before you go and this area will make a lot more sense.

Miniland has Lego builds representing DC, San Francisco, NYC, Vegas, and San Diego of course.

9 best things to do in San Diego

We snuck away for a few glorious days in San Diego, and slunk back to Seattle wondering why aren't we living in a place we could be in the ocean every day.

La Jolla Shores, water you can actually swim in!

San Diego was unreal. There are the beaches, which look like movie sets with white sand and palm trees. Then there's LegoLand, the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, all of Balboa Park... So jealous of my friends who live in San Diego.

All this was story research, of course, and here's a link to Seattle's Child.

The airport is weirdly in the middle of the city, so there are low-flying planes overhead all the time.
The flight deck of the USS Midway. Even if you're not super into military stuff, touring this aircraft carrier is really interesting.
The view from our room on 24th floor of the Hilton Bayside. We saw concerts in the bandshell every night, the SeaWorld fireworks and even a Padres game from up here. Remember nightlife? Yeah, me neither.

The San Diego Safari Park was so gorgeous, like a botanical garden with large enclosures for animals to roam.

At the San Diego Zoo, we got to see the newly arrived pair of giant pandas. And whoa, now I understand why some people come to San Diego just for the zoo.

The pair of pandas are kept separate, because they're solitary animals. This is Xin Bao, and the one okay picture I got through the plexi.

Family-friendly San Francisco

One last photo dump from beautiful San Francisco, a city as maligned as Seattle. School starting means major travel withdrawal, so for now I just look at pictures — I take a lot of them!

View from our room at Hotel Zoe

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

The Painted Ladies
Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Boudin
How cute are these carbs??
Antique arcade games at Musee Mecanique.
Rainbow steps at Ghirardelli Square
For some reason I thought Ghirardelli would be an actual chocolate factory! I was expecting Oompa Loompas, not a shopping mall. SO VERY DISAPPOINTED.
It's nuts how these things stop in the MIDDLE of an intersection.
Obligatory cable car ride. We were so squished, with butts in our faces most of the trip!
View from the top of Lombard Street
Lombard Street
Billionaire's Row
Palace of Fine Arts
Lappert's ice cream
Cookies by the pound at Victoria's in Little Italy
So relieved to see the finish line
Coit Tower, despite hurrying by many times, we never made it up there. So much we missed. Next time…
Evening smores at Hotel Zoe

Golden Gate Bridge

I hadn't seen the Golden Gate Bridge since I was maybe 7? This trip I made up for lost time: we biked, bused AND walked across it.

Ferry from Sausalito
Big Bus tour
Highly recommend this middle grade book about a kid who lived on Alcatraz: "Al Capone does my shirts."
10/10 do not recommend biking across a super windy bridge with a dSLR in one hand!
Loved seeing pelicans
Kite surfers, I think? Looks incredible.

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

New(ish) SF park with stunning Golden Gate Bridge views

Tunnel Tops is a new public park, opened in 2022, that reminded me a lot of our Olympic Sculpture Park. Both are extraordinarily beautiful spaces with unbelievable views that replaced an eyesore. Also, free!

When the highway leading to the Golden Gate Bridge was damaged in an earthquake, San Francisco rebuilt the highway in a tunnel, then created this incredible park on top.

There is a nature-based playground, a hands-on field station with friendly staff, tons of space for picnics and hanging out. We explored one teeny tiny corner of the Presidio, then headed to Crissy Field to watch people wing foiling.

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.

Modern Chinese cuisine at SF’s China Live

Verrrrrry suspicious ordering 滷肉飯 from a nice young man named Jorge but the food at China Live turned out to be authentically delicious. The chef is Taiwanese, the menu is pan-Asia Chinese, and care was put into every last design detail of the space. They're trying to be the Eataly of Chinese food, which I appreciate, even if the prices are a bit high.

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child: family-friendly adventures in San Francisco.