Easter Events

Easter brings many fun activities in the Santa Barbara and Goleta area! Here is a list of what I could find for you: egg hunts, Easter train, outdoor services and all!

Egg Hunts
Cambridge Drive Community Church, 550 Cambridge Dr, Goleta (10 am the day before Easter)
Elings Park (10 am the day before Easter)
Girsh Park (10am the day before Easter)
La Cumbre Plaza (10am March 31, 2018) 
La Mesa Park (9am the day before Easter)

Other Events
Goleta Bunny Express, South Coast Railway Depot (11-4 the day before Easter)
Hoppy Hour Hunt, Paseo Nuevo (Friday March 30, 4-6)
Easter Bunny Visit, The Stationary Collection, 1470 E Valley Rd. Montecito (12-1 March 31, 2018)
Tenebrae Service, Multichurch Service at Living Faith Church 4597 Hollister Ave (7pm Friday before Easter)

Outdoor Church Services
Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens (Easter morning 9 am)
Reality Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara High School, 700 E Anapamu (indoors, but has Easter activities, Easter morning 9 and 11)
Santa Barbara Community Church, Santa Barbara City College (Easter morning, 9:30 am)

Please message or comment other activities you find!

Kid's World Updated

Kid's World at Alameda Park got a facelift! It still had the castle play structure with bridges, slides, tunnels and climbing areas. They kept the over all feel of the orginal park but replaced wood and repainted where needed. They also added gates to get in and out as well as making the slats in the wood fencing closer together (no escaping kids--yay!). They also replaced wood chips and added rubber mats under walking areas and swings (tire, toddler and regular).

Directions: Take 101 to Mission and turn towards the mountains. Turn right onto Anacapa St, then a left onto Micheltorena St. Find Parking on the street.

Pros
The structure is huge and has a great variety of equiptment.
There are areas for the little kids and older kids.
There are bathrooms nearby.

Cons
You will lose signt of your kids. It is inevitable.
The younger kids will want to go in the big kid area and the structure is a large place to follow a kid.
Street parking can be hard to find.

Ampitheater

Balancing Beams

Swings

Castle

Slides

Climbing Area

Gates

Tunnels

Little Kid Area

Passageways

Ship 

Whale

Castle

Bridges

Note: If you like to feed ducks and turtles, head across the street to Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.

Elings Park Sierra Club Paths

Elings Park is a large park with playing fields, bike area, 2 playgrounds and walking trails. There are a series of paths starting across from the upper fields. It can also be accessed  from nearby neighborhoods.

Directions: Take the 101N from downtown and exit Las Positas Rd.Turn left and follow Las Positas for 1 mile. Turn left onto Jerry Harwin parkway. Pass the first parking lot ans park in the next area. The trail head is across from the soccer (not baseball) fields.

Trail Rating: Moderate for kids
Distance: 3 miles (but there are many trails and you could go more or less)
Time: 80 minutes with time to explore
Nearby attractions: Arroyo Burro Beach, Douglas Preserve, Elings Park Playground and Upper Playground, Elings Park Verterans Memorial Walk

Entrance

Path Beginning

Mountain View

Ocean View

Sunset

Path in Winter

Oak Park Buellton

Oak Park in Buellton is a fun little park. It is smaller than Riverview Park, but it has a 3 story play structure with so many parts. There is a 2-5 play structure with 2 simple slides and a climbing area as well as a 5-12 play structure with 4 slides (including a twisty 3 story one), 3 tunnels and climbing areas over wood chips. There is also a toddler and accessible swing.

Directions: From Goleta, take 101N to the 246. After turning left onto the 246, continue just over a mile and turn right onto Sycamore Dr. The park is on the left.

Pros:
There are a fun variety of things on the play structures.
Parking is close and easy.
Bathrooms are closeby.

Cons:
It is right next to a road (a quiet one, but not great for those little runners).
Those willing to make a drive might be drawn to Riverview Park or Sunnyfields. The structures are smaller

Swings

2-5 Play Structure

2-5 Play Structure (Back)

5-12 Play Structure

5-12 Play Structure (Front) 

5-12 Play Structure (Side) 

Bathrooms

Indoor Play Areas

Rockin Kids now Kidaru

Santa Barbara and Goleta have so many great outdoor play areas. We are so blessed! But once in a while, we have to play indoors because of the rain (or smoke from a fire). There aren't a lot of options, but here are a few ideas: (Updated 12/2018)

Goleta Library
Ice in Paradise
MOXI
Kidaru
Santa Barbara Central Library 
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Santa Barbara Sea Center
Zodos

AudioBooks for Kids

See link below 

We have spent a lot of time in the car in the past several months and it has been remarkably peaceful. I would like to say that it's because my kids are remarkably well-behaved, but that wouldn't be true. We have a list of great ideas for roadtrips but lately audiobooks are what my girls (4 and 7 at the moment) are really excited about. We have shecked many out of the library and some are so good that we have purchased the cd/audible book (*).

Books My 4 Year Old Loves:
Winnie the Pooh  and House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (read by Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Jane Horrocks, Geoffery Palmer and several other British actors) *

Curious George by H. A. Rey and Margaret Rey *

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (the old Penguin audio cassettes, transfered to CD/mp3 are great)

Pete the Cat by James Dean (we purchased several through Scholastic books) *

The Best of Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor *

Mercy Watson and the Tales from Deckawoo Drive by Kate DiCamillo

Books My 7 Year Old has loved:

The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (read by Anne Hathaway) *

Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read by Cherry Jones)

Mr Popper's Penguins, by Richard Atwater

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Matilda, by Roald Dahl (read by Kate Winslet)

Boxcar Children series, by Gertrude Chandler Warner *

Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne (We love this series, but wish a narrator was reading the stories instead of the author)

Need more suggestions?
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/40-favorite-audiobooks-kids/
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/great-audiobooks-kid

2017 Quest Update

This summer's quest was kid friendly nature walks and hikes....and life was pretty crazy this summer. My husband had a cycling accident in late June that changed the course of summer significantly. We are so thankful that he is alive and (mostly) well. So we had a much quieter and less structured summer with fewer trips and events. Thanks to many meals and childcare from friends we made it through amazingly well. I couldn't ask for a better village! For those of you that know me, I had written a bunch of posts all ready to go and they were scheduled to post already (lest you think I am WAY more capable than I am). I have only written 5(ish) posts since the accident.

We completed most of the easy nature walks and have posted them.  For many of the more challenging trails, I will do with friends and post as I can.

Nature Walks:
Botanic Gardens
Douglas Preserve
Elings Park -- Veteran's Trail
Ellwood Butterfly Preserve/Bluffs
Knapp's Castle
Lake Los Carneros
Moore Mesa
Rocky Nook Park
Tucker's Grove Trails
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Preserve
Carpinteria Bluff Nature Preserve


Short Hikes:
Arroyo Hondo Preserve *
Elings Park -- Sierra Club Trail *
Nojoqui Falls
San Antonio Creek Trail (Tucker's Grove, Kiwanas Meadow) *
San Marcos Preserve *
Stevens Park *
* Can be a short or longer hike

To Be Continued:
Cheltham/Westmont Trail
Wind Tunnels at Gaviota State Park
Lizards Mouth
Parma Park
Seven Sisters
Skofield Park
Tunnel Trail

Related Posts: Summer of the Parks 2015, Summer of the Beaches 2016, Summer of the Hikes 2017