Asian Art Museum & Main library

We were all surprised by just how much we loved the Asian Art Museum. While my family is Indian, I tend to prefer science-y and hands-on museums in addition to those with Western religious art. Still, we all found this … Read More

Seward Street Slides

We were excited to check out some long concrete slides in a tiny park not far from Twin Peaks. Sadly, we didn’t check the hours beforehand…because it never occurred to me that they would have hours. Rookie mistake – city … Read More

Cable Car Museum

We loved checking out the (free!) Cable Car Museum a few days after our arrival in SF. It was a great introduction to what is, in my opinion (and certainly that of my children), the most fun form of public … Read More

Bookstores in SF

We stopped into several bookstores during our time in SF.  We lived just a couple of blocks from the infamous City Lights bookstore. City Lights wasn’t the most kid-friendly bookstore in the world (a fairly small children’s section, and, at the … Read More

Thin Mint Chocolate Tart

How was your Pi Day?  We had a party and there was much pie and good friends.  What more could one want?  Nothing, there is nothing more anyone could want.  My mom has her master’s in math, so Pi Day … Read More

Blueberry Banana Chip Bread

(First things first…happy happy birthday to my witty, ambitious, kind, gorgeous sister!) Confession time…I’m not always a ginormous fan of banana bread.  I know!  Evil. They’re just usually too…banana-y?  I don’t know. Anyway, this basic version of this was the … Read More

Top 10 Essentials of a Vegetarian Kitchen

When we were putting together our registry before getting married, I was inexplicably thrilled to register for a melon baller.  I have no explanation for this.  In the nearly 6 years we’ve been married, I think I’ve used that thing … Read More

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Until this weekend, I’d never before put chocolate chips in my pancakes. It was…life changing. I mean, HOW had I not put chocolate chips in my pancakes?  Maybe not the brightest crayon. These were delicious.  A little lighter than with … Read More

We were all surprised by just how much we loved the Asian Art Museum. While my family is Indian, I tend to prefer science-y and hands-on museums in addition to those with Western religious art. Still, we all found this museum fascinating and well laid-out.
They had a fun little kids booklet you could pick up that was sort of a low-key scavenger hunt. There were various prompts and the kids had to find pieces that fit those descriptions. It was perfect for helping them use their eyes to observe and learn.
There were also lots of great descriptions. We enjoyed learning about the history of a number of pieces. The kids especially loved the armor, and we loved a special exhibit with weaponry filled with jewels. The Japanese section was just beautiful, and we loved seeing the various shades of green in the jade. Finally, we really enjoyed learning a bit more about some Eastern religious, including Buddhism and Hinduism. We saw a Buddha riding on a chariot, and the kids enjoyed seeing various Hindu deities and later discussing them with my parents.

After the museum, we stopped in at the main library. The children’s section had a big fun display with lots of peek-a-boos and little activities, which were perfect for the kids after engaging in “museum behavior” for a couple of hours. After that, we walked around Union Square for a few minutes and tried to ride the cable car back to near our apartment. Unfortunately, a car was malfunctioning, so we ended up just walking the couple miles back home instead, and then the kids crashed for some nice, long naps.

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