Meghan Rose
A mom of twins, Meghan and her family live in Los Angeles and love to explore the city, as well as the world at large together. As national editor, please send her ALL your correction requests and pitches on national parenting subjects and travel at meghan@mommypoppins.com.
Latest posts by Meghan
Bagels are the best, especially when you have little kids to feed. Plain, inexpensive, portable—perfect. Teething tots can gnaw on a plain one for hours. Picky eaters will devour one toasted with butter. Adventurous eaters might opt for an exotic flavor, paired with an equally daring flavor of schmear. And parents can get an everything bagel loaded with luxurious lox and salty capers. The only problem is, LA used to be a bagel wasteland.
The key here is “used to be.” Several shops have popped up in the last few years, determined to fill that bagel-shaped hole in the LA culinary landscape. And now no less an authority than the New York Times has declared that LA makes better bagels than New York. Look no further: here’s where you can get the best bagels in town.
A lot of things have changed in the last year. Many shops and restaurants have closed, a few new things have opened. But only one thing completely disappeared: LACMA. Okay, technically the museum is still there. It’s even opening up again on April 1. But the main buildings (the Bing Theater, along with the Ahmanson and Hammer buildings and the Art of the Americas building) have all vanished.
I recently visited to see what’s happening at Hancock Park and learned that while a vast majority of the art is in storage, there are actually lots of reasons to visit the LACMA campus—including outside art, inside art, scientists at work, cocktails in the courtyard, and a whole new museum. Read on to find out why a family trip to LACMA should be in the cards this (or any!) weekend.
Are you ready to get out of town and see some new scenery? Covid cases are falling (yay!) but it’s probably still not the right time to book a flight to a favorite exotic resort or massive hotel. But a road trip to a vacation home rental somewhere in gorgeous, sunny California is just the ticket: meticulously cleaned before you arrive, no crowded spaces, and the chance to be someplace new, different, and fresh.
Since we’re not traveling to packed tourist destinations, we wanted to find the best places to visit where the actual vacation rental was part of the attraction—so here are treehouses, a-frames, cabooses, and space ships (seriously) that are on the beach, in the mountains, in the city, or on alpaca farms. Read on to discover where in California your next family vacation will be.
My family asks our Alexa device to play music a lot or what the weather is, but the Alexa skills put to use most often in my household are Alexa games for kids. Whether they are launching "Animal Workout," a round of trivia, or a family-friendly "Would You Rather," these Alexa games have kept my brood highly entertained during lockdown and even in the before times. It's part virtual gym class, part tutor, and requires nearly zero effort on my part, which is a win for any multitasking parent.
Check out these Alexa games, storytimes, and other kid-friendly Alexa skills the next time your family needs a distraction during dinner or a diversion from the screens on a rainy day. When all else fails, launch Alexa jokes for kids...or just the fart application. There: we just bought you 20 minutes of me time!
Everything is opening up again! It’s time to take a look at all our favorite parks, from Disneyland to Legoland to Universal Studios and more, to find out if, when, and how you can get your fix...
We’ll also look at why right now is the perfect time to take advantage of the lack of tourists and put your inside information to work. What inside information? Well, that’s exactly what we’re about to tell you...
Woo hoo! After 11 long months, playgrounds in Chicago have finally been given the go-ahead to reopen. Chicago Park District announced Tuesday that after closing in March of 2020, the city’s lakefront, playgrounds, and indoor aquatics centers are cleared to reopen. Which playgrounds? And when? Read on for all the details.
It was a bummer to watch as many favorite in-person activities had to move to a virtual format this year. Watching the Dodgers on TV was not nearly as fun as being in Dodger Stadium. Visiting favorite local museums online didn’t have the same thrill, no matter how fantastic the virtual programming. (Though getting to tour some of the greatest museums of the world without leaving the house was pretty cool).
But this move from IRL to virtual is very exciting: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has created a new virtual and fully interactive tour. Now anyone, anywhere in the world, can get a peek inside the Pasadena laboratory—even seeing some of the places visitors aren’t allowed in-person. Get the scoop on the new JPL tour, how to take it, and exactly why this move online is so exciting.
Poor parks, they're always getting ignored in favor of playgrounds. While there are amazing playgrounds in LA, sometimes you just want a vast field of green where kids can run forever, roll down a hill, or have the space to learn to hit or kick a ball. For those of us who don’t have an expanse of rolling green in the backyard (raises hand), these parks are places where you can bring kids to play without the organized activity of a hike or bike ride— and avoid the crowds that flock to high-touch playgrounds.
So bring balls, frisbees, and kites—or just a blanket, snacks, and books—and head out into nature to rest, recharge, and play. From hidden gems to well-known spots, here are our favorite parks in town.
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