To celebrate the first day of summer, all of the over 100 National Parks that normally charge an entry fee will be free to everyone on Tuesday, June 21! This is the third in this year's series of fee-free days at the National Parks. Other upcoming fee-free days include September 24, 2011 (Public Lands Day) and November 11–13, 2011 (Veterans Day weekend).

In the San Francisco Bay Area, National Parks that charge an entry fee include Marin's own Muir Woods National Monument, San Francisco Maritime National Park, and the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. Other popular parks within a few hours of the Bay Area include Yosemite and Pinnacles National Monument (south of the Bay Area in Monterey and San Benito counties). A full list of fee-free weekend parks across the USA can be found here.

The curious little monkey whose adventures have captivated children and adults for 65 years is at the Bay Area Discovery Museum! Curious George: Let's Get Curious opens Saturday, June 18 and runs through September 11, 2011. The exhibition introduces children to the world of Curious George and leads them on a fun, interactive math, science, and engineering-based adventure.

Explore the neighborhood where George and the Man with the Yellow Hat live, and meet familiar characters from the classic books by Margret and H.A. Rey and the PBS KIDS animated series. Different areas to visit include:

• The apartment building, where you can operate wheels to move George on pulleys from window to window, climb the fire escape, and play with color, light, and shadow.
• The sidewalk produce stand, where kids can pretend to sell and shop and us fruits and vegetables to explore shapes, sorting, weighing, and counting.
• The construction site, where you can design a building and get to work with building materials and machines.

When you venture outdoors in California, you run the risk of encountering some of our state's wildlife. While most animals are non-aggressive and harmless (but best left alone anyhow), there are some that can pose a direct threat to both children and adults. One of California's largest predators, the mountain lion, is known to live in Marin and throughout the Bay Area. While they're still extremely rare, it's good to know how to react and what to do in the unlikely event that you do encounter one.

The mountain lion (Puma concolor)—also known as the cougar, puma, or panther—is our own North American big cat, and a predator that can be found over much of the western United States, Mexico, and Canada. The mountain lion is in fact closely related to the domesticated housecat, but it's about the size of an adult human, and a lot stronger. Despite the publicity generated by mountain lion sightings in urban and suburban areas, as well as their rare attacks on humans, the fact is that you'll probably never see one in the wild in your lifetime. It's assumed that 80% of all alleged mountain lion sightings are in fact sightings of bobcats, deer, dogs, or domestic cats.

The hot museum ticket this summer is for the de Young's exhibition Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée Picasso, Paris, which opens today and runs through October 9. Spanning the entirety of this 20th-century master's career, the exhibition presents 150 of "Picasso's Picassos"—paintings, sculptures, and works on paper kept by Picasso as part of his own personal collection. The works are part of the collection of the Musée Picasso in Paris, which was established to house the nearly 3,600 works given to the French government after Picasso's death in 1973.

Picasso is a fascinating look into the career of this important artist. Rooms in the exhibition cover every phase in his lengthy career, from his early Blue period in the 1900s to his experimentations with Cubism and Surrealism to late works from the 1960s and '70s. It's a fascinating look at the development of the artist's work over time.

Summertime is fair time, and the first fair of the season is Petaluma's Sonoma-Marin Fair, which takes place at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds from Wednesday June 22 through Sunday, June 26. The Sonoma-Marin Fair is not quite but almost a county fair, and offers a wide range of fun and exciting attractions, competitions, events, and activities for the entire family. This year's Sonoma-Marin Fair theme is "Preserve Tradition".

Come see livestock shows, exhibits, chef demonstrations, Hambone Express pig racing, a destruction derby, and even the renowned World's Ugliest Dog Contest! There's also a cowboy boot camp, art, craft, and model-making workshops, wine tasting, and of course traditional carnival rides, including a kiddie carnival for younger children.

And what would a fair be without live music? The Sonoma-Marin Fair has scheduled the ne plus ultra of county fair musical acts, Rick Springfield, along with the Charlie Daniels Band, '70s rock icons Blue Öyster Cult, and more.

A couple weeks ago I noticed a pair of shoes that a friend of mine was wearing. They were exactly what I was looking for—basic white slip-on sneakers for summer. I asked her what kind they were, and she told me they were Simple shoes. I promptly ordered a pair of Take On elastic lace sneakers ($55) online from Simple Shoes' website. They're good looking and with elastic laces, really easy to slip on and off. I was so impressed with them that I had to look into them a little more.

Simple shoes are, as the name implies, simple, basic, stylish, and comfortable shoes. Not only do they look good and feel good on your feet, but you can feel good about wearing them, too. They're made with recycled, eco-friendly, and sustainable materials like recycled car tires, inner tubes, and plastic, organic cotton, natural latex rubber, hemp, and bamboo. Simple Shoes also maintain ethical supply-chain standards, meaning no forced or child labor, and adequate wages, hours, and health and safety conditions for their workers.

With our copious amounts of rainfall this season, it's little wonder that we're seeing lush amounts of vegetation in Marin's forests and meadows. Unfortunately, much of this otherwise beautiful greenery is in the form of poison oak, an irritating plant that anyone participating in outdoor activities this summer should be wary of, especially children who may not be on the lookout for this distinctive shrub with leaves grouped in threes.

Please note that this post should not be a substitute for proper medical advice—if you suspect that someone in your family has developed a reaction to poison oak, go see your doctor or a dermatologist.

I don't know where you stand in the Great Pancake vs. Waffle Breakfast Debate, but I come down firmly on the waffle side. A properly made waffle—crispy on the outside, with just enough chewiness on the inside balanced by airiness—beats pancakes any day, in my opinion. Of course you need specialized equipment like a waffle iron to produce them, but they're not that expensive, and you probably got one as a wedding present way back when. Actually, we have two, which comes in handy when you're trying to make waffles for a crowd. Today's waffle irons are usually non-stick, which beats the ones from back in the day that had to be meticulously cleaned and greased before use to avoid a sticky awful mess.

On Tuesday, June 14, Backcounty Pictures will be filming on Marin County's own Angel Island for part of a PBS documentary about the California State Parks. They're in need of people to include in the film, especially families with children hiking, biking, and enjoying the park. Children in strollers are welcome, too. Approximately six hikers and walkers and four bicyclists are needed for these Angel Island scenes.

Volunteers will should plan on taking the 11 am ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island and returning via the 1:20 pm ferry. Participants will be reimbursed for their round-trip ferry fares.

If you're interested in being part of this exciting project, please contact Amanda Frost by email at frostbiteprod@gmail.com or by phone at (418) 832-9934; make sure you include your name, phone number and email address.

As a typical second-grader, my son is obsessed with all things LEGO. The little plastic bricks hold an undeniable appeal to kids of all ages, and a lot of grownups, too. For his recent birthday party we turned to Marin's Play-Well TEKnologies, who operate an awesome LEGO shop and drop-in LEGO activity center in San Anselmo. In our case, Play-Well came to our house for a very successful, fun, and memorable birthday bash.

Drew the LEGO guy, a friendly college student, showed up at our house before the party with a hand truck and several crates of LEGOs. We figured that he must have brought a couple thousand dollars worth of the plastic bricks and pieces, all of which were sorted by category or color. One bin held only the little LEGO people, one held basic building bricks, one held little weapons and decorations, and so on.