Toby B

Toby B

Toby is our uber-busy events editor for Mommy Poppins LA. Feel free to send Toby events for our LA area calendar, or follow Toby on Google+.

Latest posts by Toby

This Weekend's Fun for LA Kids: Superhero Day, Sandcastle Building, and Impossible Science

Submitted by Toby B on

Summer’s not even close to over, and here’s how I know: a whole bunch of summery event series are just now getting started. So it can’t be the end if it’s the beginning (unless that’s some kind of circle of life metaphor). Big World Fun, the multicultural music and dance series for kids at the Ford, starts now. Movies on the Green, Warner Center's free weekly movie series, starts now. Several summer events just started last week (Sound in Focus, CCPT Children's Theatre in the Park, Orange County Fair). Others have yet to make their seasonal debut: We have to wait for Santa Monica’s Jazz on the Lawn, the second half of Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival (Two Gentlemen of Verona), the Getty’s Garden Concerts for Kids (did they really get Dan Zanes this year?!), and whatever Shakespearean nonsense the Actor’s Gang comes up with in Culver City (it will be hard to top last year’s Pokemon Romeo & Juliet!)

Also new this weekend: Impossible Science LIVE at Discovery Cube OC, All Star Comedy Festival featuring shorts from Hollywood's Golden Age, Comic Con 2017 (a tad far but worth the trip), and summery festivals in Santa Monica, Norwalk, and Cypress. There's a Back to School party at Toys R Us and a Back to School Health Fair in Pacoima... School?! No. Just no.

It is summer, burning bright like the stars in the sky, and its end is nowhere in sight. For a couple of weeks at least.

Keep reading for our favorite summer-is-still-going-strong picks for this weekend...

This Weekend's Fun for LA Kids: Festivals for Trains, Lotuses, Lobsters, and OC

Submitted by Toby B on

I don't want to say Santa Monica's trying too hard, but hey, little hamlet, what are you trying to prove? We get it—fun times by the water, typically 10 to 20 degrees cooler than the rest of LA. Yay, you. But really now. The library, the college pool, the local museum; even the mayor is getting in on the act, being all "ride with me, what a fun town, we have bike lanes."

Of course, SaMo isn't the only game in town. LA is downright festive with all the festivals. Oceans and Orange County, choo choos and Camarillo, luchadores y lobsters and lotuses. This weekend you can pose with a big inflatable balloon sculpture thing; you can sample a sweet sundae; you can party with the PD. You can see many, many movies and listen to many, many concerts (in the great outdoors, no less).

Whether you're 310-ing it, or 323-ing it, or even 909-ing it, there's no better place to be than SoCal this weekend. (Or any weekend for that matter, let's be honest.) Let the festivities begin!

Keep reading for our most "we're not trying too hard, we're just that good" picks for this weekend...

This Weekend's Fun for LA Kids: Rubber Duckies, Marvel Universe, and Mud

Submitted by Toby B on

This is gonna be one hot weekend in Los Angeles, peoples. And not just because of all the hot Mommas (yes, I'm looking at you there). As the mercury rises, so do the jalapenos. Salsa reigns in Pershing Square and in Beverly Hills. Bonus: the chili in Long Beach is vegan. Caliente!

Sounds like a time for adventures! No obstacle too great, no mud too murky, no bases that can't be run. Sounds like a time for heroes! Avengers assemble; wizards wave their wands; Minecraft mavens meet their masses. The duckies are a-racin'; the campfires are a-burning (toasty marshmallows for all), and the hoofers are a-singin' and a-dancin' in the rain.

Sounds like actually the hottest thing in LA this weekend is our calendar. Sizzling!

Keep reading for our hottest picks for this weekend...

Things To Do with LA Kids July 4th Weekend: Red, White, and Kaboom!

Submitted by Toby B on

The upcoming holiday is all about the red, white, boom. We have fireworks up and down the Southland. Fireworks with a concert. Fireworks a capella. Fireworks with skydivers. Fireworks with baseball. Fireworks with soccer. Fireworks fireworks fireworks. A parade. Fireworks. Legoland, Knott's Berry Farm, and Disneyland all have fireworks, while Universal's Wizarding World has a whole new kind of magical sparks flying in the night sky.

But the fireworks are mostly a Tuesday thing (unless you want them Saturday. Or Sunday. Or Monday). So what will you do with the rest of the weekend? What. Will. You. Do????

 ((((snicker))))

I laugh because, hello, Mommy Poppins: our job is to give you the scoop on totally fun times with kids! Things like extreme mammals, kid doctors, new water slides, free Shakespeare, Saturday morning cartoons, free movies, free crafts, free concerts, and, what's that? Kaboom, baby! Fireworks 'til we can't firework no more. Independence Day, Mamas!

Keep reading for some of our most patriotic picks for this weekend ....

Free Admission for Active Duty Military Families with Blue Star Museums

Submitted by Toby B on

Free museum admission is not just for kids in the summer months. More than 2000 museums across the country have joined the Blue Star initiative, offering free admission to active military personnel and their families* all summer long, from Memorial Day (Monday May 29 through Labor Day (Monday September 4). Spread the word; if you don't have active military in your own family, let your friends know that from the Automobile Driving Museum to the Santa Monica Aquarium and a whole slew in between, the men and women who protect all of our families can treat their families this summer.

This Weekend's Fun for LA Kids: Shakespeare, Sound of Music, Summerfest, Seal Day

Submitted by Toby B on

Hoo boy. In case you missed it, it's officially summer (as of June 21), functionally summer (kids out of school), and happy fun times summer—in that a good many of our summer standards have begun. You can catch the free Shakespeare in Griffith Park, the LevittLA free concerts, tons and tons o' summer movies (free, worth the ticket price, indoors, outdoors, you name it, we got it), and tons and tons o' summer concerts (free, worth the ticket price, indoors, outdoors, you name it, we got it). You can chill at Dodger Stadium or the Hollywood Bowl, and—kaboom!

Sorry, got a little distracted by the red, white, and blue in the sky. July 4th may be nearly two weeks away, but the fireworks are already starting. (Another sure sign of summer!) Don't panic if you haven't got your June/July/August plans in place; we can take it together, day by day, looking ahead for fun, free, and just darn fabulous ways to fill your days. It's what we do.

Keep reading for our most summerific picks for this weekend...

Father's Day Weekend for LA Kids: Pasadena Chalk, Bowl Opening, Rodeo Drive

Submitted by Toby B on

Settle down, padre; we get it. It’s Father's Day. This weekend it’s all about you. Dad’s choice from sunup to sundown: make way for baseball (with fireworks and a movie if you want), BBQ and buffets, animated racers, and ET. Or, if you prefer, Daniel Tiger and Liza Minnelli . As long as you’re happy, we’re happy. Yep, whatever it takes, no expense spared...

Psst: Moms and kids! Did you know there's a ton of cool stuff going on this weekend that you can take Dad to for free? Luxury cars on Rodeo Drive, no-cost concerts, classic movies by moonlight, festivals, and celebrations. You can even make him a variety of from-the-heart gifts. All without dipping into the trust fund. There are also things you can do that cost money, if you're into that. (And we have a feeling some of it Dad will be very into!)

Whichever way you go, it's sure to be the bestest weekend ever, if you get to spend it together. Hey, look! Next week it's summer!

Keep reading for the father of all weekends...

This Weekend's Fun for LA Kids: CicLAvia, Paddleboard, Fun-a-Palooza, and Honey Fest

Submitted by Toby B on

This is it for a lot of you. It's not about key holidays or balmy weather: our summers are defined by our kids' academic years. And for the vast majority of LA area parents, the summer is starting or has done so already. The kids are home and looking for something to do. Looking to you, for something to do. And so you find yourself looking, with just the barest hint of desperation, for something for them to do.

Well lookee here. Mommy Poppins is filled with endless options of somethings to do. Because for us, this time of year is all about jam-packed calendars, with tons of movie series and concert series and library programs and festivals (omigosh, the festivals!). If it's free  and fun,  unusual or awesome, terpsichorean or thought-provoking, we've sussed it out and spelled out the deets. It's like our usual calendar, but on steroids caffeine.

So get out there and enjoy your summer, folks. Ready or not, here it comes!

Keep reading for a whole lot of somethings to do this weekend... 

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