Children and Parenting

Saturday: A Halloween Party to Support Junipero Serra Elementary School

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

There’s a Halloween benefit party at Junipero Serra Elementary School on Saturday, and monsters of all ages are invited. Neighbor Kristen says:

We’re having a Howling Hill gig this Saturday! It’s going to be fantastic.  We’ve worked with the neighborhood to block off the front block of the school from Park to Highland. One of our new families actually owns a petting zoo and is bringing it!  We’ll have pony rides, a jumpy house, a costume contest being judged by our very own district family advocate Ramon Martinez, and a pet costume contest judged by Supervisor David Campos!  Chloe’s Closet, Heartfelt, Red Hill books and many others are sponsoring us, and will have tables of items for sale.   There’s also great food and a kick-ass raffle with 49er tickets as one of the prizes.

The fun happens between noon and 4 pm on Saturday October 27 at Junipero Serra just off fashionable Holly Park. 

Why You Should Attend the Polkapalooza Benefit for the Children of Bernalwood

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Neighbor Kristen is the president of the PTA at the J. Serra Elementary School near Bernal’s fashionable Holly Park. In that capacity, Neighbor Kristen does a really really really good job explaining why you really really really should attend the Polkapalooza benefit she’s organized for the school this weekend:

I’m attaching a flyer /poster about PTA of J. Serra Elementary School’s Second Annual Polkapalooza event coming up on Sunday Sept. 16 from 11am -3pm.

I’m PTA president and my husband is the drummer for Polkacide and our event will be held at Thee Parkside (1600 17th St. at Wisconsin). Totally kid-friendly. The club does the food and rents the space to us for 250.00. Bands donate their time and great music. The PTA is having a bake sale (since the club doesn’t serve dessert, they encourage us to sell baked goods to raise more cash!)

Our first band is Erin Brazill and the Brazillionaires. Our very own fifth grade teacher, Ms. Mermer is the stand up bass player. Again, totally kid friendly, we’ll have arts and crafts out back and a “beauty salon” for the kids where we’ll pain nails, faces and spray crazy colors on hair. GOOD TIMES. Please buy tix for all your family members and friends as it is, of course, FOR THE CHILDREN.

That’s right, citizens. Please Polkapalooza… for the children.

Junior Volunteers Spend Saturday Cleaning Up Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Last Saturday, an intrepid group of Bernalwood’s finest micro-citizens climbed Bernal Hill to take part in a volunteer clean-up effort. Neighbor Karen was on the scene, and she filed this report:

A boy name Nico wrote a letter to the Bernal Heights Rec Center recently, saying he worried about animals eating trash on Bernal Hill and “dieing.” So they pulled together a group of about 20 folks to clean and weed last Saturday. The weather was glorious! Such a good way to remind us not to take the hill for granted.

PHOTOS: Neighbor Karen

How To Get Free Family Admission to City Museums

/ Bronwyn Ximm

Though they look glamorous, this is not another Bernalwood fashion shoot. Instead, here we see Laura (8), Hanna (11), Max (1), and mother Lene waiting for the Bernal Heights Branch Library to open, so they can check out a Family Pass and get complimentary admission (for the whole kit and caboodle!) to the California Academy of Sciences.

Any San Francisco resident who has a library card and kids in their family can do this, at any branch library. Individual branches have passes for a rotating selection of 15 “Participating Attractions,” which include SFMOMA and the zoo, at different times. A single pass is good for one or two adults accompanied by up to four children under 18.

Check out SFKids.org or the S.F. Public Library’s website for more information.

Glamorous Scenes from the 2012 Bernal GT

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

2012 Bernal GT

2012 Bernal GT

2012 Bernal GT

2012 Bernal GT

The pictures tell the most important parts of this story: Last weekend a few motorheads from the Bernal Dad’s Racing Team organized the third running of the Bernal GT road rally, and it turned out to be a winning day for vintage cars and the children who love them.

Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter joined the rally for her first time. We are pleased to say that she took to it like a true natural, as the Bernal GT convoy of smile-inducing cars threaded the twisty-curvy roads between San Francisco and Pescadero (and back again). Good clean fun.

If you’re in the mood, motor along for the full photoset:

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Fleeting Moment of Perfection Yields Best Part of Entire Day

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

When I got home from work last night, Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter announced that she wanted to go for a bike ride.

So we made a quick trip down the block. Then, as we were returning home, the sun dropped low above Twin Peaks, the trees began to shimmer with color, and the Cub Reporter glowed in golden sunlight as she cast a long shadow on the sidewalk.

A neighborhood really doesn’t get much more perfect than this.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Bernal Native and Smarty-Pants Political Comic Performs Tonight in Oakland

/ Bronwyn Ximm / 1 Comment

Our sources at the Bernal Heights Parents Club tell us that Bernal native and Bay Area comic luminary Nato Green – whom writer Lemony Snicket has likened to “finding a shot of bourbon at your co-worker’s stupid vegan potluck” – is doing stand-up at the New Parish in Oakland at 7 and 9 tonight (and recording the performances for his first comedy album).

You can read more about Green and his roots in union organizing in this East Bay Express article; it sounds like Green could be a good antidote to all the outrage we’re feeling over the Great Bernal Dumping Epidemic. Plus, for all the moms and dads out there, rumor has it there will be jokes about being a San Francisco parent. Tickets ($12-$15) available here.

Pint-Size Easter Egg Hunter-Gatherers Invade Holly Park

/ Bronwyn Ximm / 2 Comments

The Easter Bunny eggs on three poachers.

At 10 a.m. sharp on Easter Sunday, the madding crowd could be constrained no longer. “Go!” a voice rang out.

And with that, Holly Park was engulfed in a sea of pastel-clad marauders. Unabashedly abetted by their parents, the young hunter-gatherers snatched up dozens upon dozens of defenseless, brightly colored Easter eggs, easily discerning their cleverly camouflaged nesting sites scattered throughout the rugged terrain’s grasses, tree trunks, and wood chips.

A mere 15 minutes later, not a single egg remained.

How, one wonders, can this species continue to propagate year after year?  Equally perplexing is why there were not just one but two Easter Bunnies on the scene this year. Are these mysteries connected?

I couldn’t get a straight answer out of either Bunny regarding the eggs, but here’s what they said in regards to their presence:

Easter Bunny #1: “We rabbits have a proclivity for multiplication. Also, there’s so much work to do—there are sooo many kids.”

Easter Bunny #2: “I’m having a bit of split personality today.”

Regardless, this video captures the mayhem as it unfolded on Sunday morning:

PHOTO: Bronwyn Ximm

“Cut Hair, Not School Budgets” A Benefit for Flynn School

/ Todd_Lappin

Feeling a little shaggy? Here’s a way to keep yourself looking glamorous while also benefitting the students at Leonard Flynn School at Precita Park. Neigbor Sarah, who has a kid at Flynn, writes

Cut Hair, Not School Budgets!

2nd Annual Flynn Cut-a-Thon
Great haircuts from top Ginger Rubio and Zindagi stylists
Haircuts $50, Blowouts $30
All proceeds benefit Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School PTA

When: February 26th, 9am-4pm
Where: Zindagi Salon, 55 Grant Ave., San Francisco
To schedule appointments contact:
Amy Armas amydevlinarmas@gmail.com, 415-609-9091

Gift Guide: A Homegrown Toy, Developed in Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Need a last-minute gift idea for the kids in your life? Neighbor Matt contacted Bernalwood to tell us about the educational toy he created:

I live on Anderson Street, 13 years now already. Back then I was making computer games. But then the powers that be began looking into making even the golf games violent. I knew it was time to move on. I took time off and pursued patenting something that was the opposite of the computer game: battery free; non electronic; hand held; educational; and real. My effort took 10 years. I founded Twisterz Toys 2 years ago. We are now in 250 retail stores across the country, and in Barnes and Noble, and in 7 countries. We’ve won several awards, and our reviews have been excellent. This might all sound good, but we remain on the brink. My biz partner and I chose a tough time for a start up toy company.

The closest retailer that sells our toys is Peekabootique in Noe Valley. Check us out if you’re looking for battery free edu-toys for kids 3-10.

Want to see it in action? Here’s the promo video:

Bernal Aerospace Advances Cutting Edge of Rocket Science

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

Bernal Aerospace Rocketry

Bernal Aerospace Rocketry

The rocket scientists from the Bernal Aeronautics and Space Administration have been very busy lately, advancing the frontiers of high technology.

BASA

One recent BASA initiative, shown above, focused on nighttime rocketry. Advanced light-emitting diodes were used to recover the launched BASA spacecraft, while dark clothing made it possible to elude capture by local law-enforcement.

The Optical Systems Division has also been active, leveraging recent advances in miniaturization to mount video cameras on rockets and record launches from start to finish.

This action-packed video shows a BASA rocket going up, coming down, and almost getting hit by a car while awaiting extraction from the Recovery Team:

Meanwhile, back at Bernalwood’s Editorial Control Room, the Cub Reporter has been busily working on a rocketry project of her own. After several after-dinner nights of painting, gluing, and careful decal application, we are proud to unveil the Precita One, our debut launch platform:

Precita One

The maiden flight of Precita One is scheduled for this weekend, at BASA’s top-secret launch facility. Our engineers have just received a new shipment of rocket motors, and the team is ready to fly!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics