Holidays

Happy Mothers Day to all you hard working moms out there! And if you're not hard at work, I assume you've been that way to get to this point, so happy Mothers Day to you, too! And dads, I hope you're doing something today for the mother of your children to make her feel special. One of the great side benefits of having kids is that you don't have to run out to the card store at times like this. Give them some crayons, stickers, maybe some glitter, too, add some nice heavy paper, and you have a veritable greeting card sweatshop right in your own home. Moms, grandparents, and just about everyone loves to get a unique home-grown card decorated by a genuine preschooler. This comes in especially handy if you've forgotten to go to the card store, and don't have time to run out and grab something—anything—from the picked-over card selection left at this point in the game (of course you'll be in the company of many other anxious dads in the same boat as you, so don't feel too bad).

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Yes, it's mid-September, and already the "Halloween Superstores" are sprouting up, like mushrooms after a rain, in empty storefronts all over the Bay Area. Can pumpkin patches be far behind? At any rate, there are unique challenges for parents of preschoolers and the whole costume-shopping experience. First: You will go to one of these Halloween shops, whether you like it or not. It's unavoidable, unless you keep the kids blindfolded in their car seats so they remain blissfully unaware of the store's existence, which, come to think of it, isn't a bad idea, since it makes those McDonalds signs pretty hard to spot, too.

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Everyone likes to celebrate Independence Day with a grand fireworks spectacular, right? Many people have their favorite Bay Area displays. The mighty San Francisco show is often cited as the best in the area. I've seen it a few times, and it is good, although any decent viewing area is crazy crowded and the summer fog can make things hard to see. A boat on the Bay is the really the ideal venue, but be warned: the coldest I've ever been—and I am not exaggerating—is the Fourth of July on San Francisco Bay watching fireworks. I was wearing a t-shirt, a turtleneck, a wool sweater (and not just any wool sweater, but an honest-to-God Norwegian fisherman's sweater), and a parka, and I still froze my butt off.

My choice for the best show in the Bay Area is, believe it or not, the Sonoma fireworks display. It's amazingly impressive, especially when you realize it's being put on by the little town of Sonoma, and you can get great views of it from many spots in town, although the tradition is to trek over to the field near Vallejo's house with your blanket and camp out there to see the show. It's usually warm, and fog has, to my knowledge, never put a damper on events. I've always been fortunate to have lived (during a brief period of exile from Marin) or had family or friends  who lived in Sonoma, so I've been going to their fireworks display for years.
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