Looking for something fun to do during these last few weeks of summer vacation? Why not visit the San Francisco Zoo, especially since all children ages4–14 are admitted free during the month of August?

This offer is good from August 1–31, 2010, all children must be accompanied by a paying adult, and each paying adult can bring up to four children into the zoo for free (so you can take a whole carload of kids if you want).

This summer we made time to plant a vegetable garden in the backyard. It's something the children immediately wanted to help with, perhaps due to the eternal mystique of playing in the dirt, and we were happy to accomodate them. We haven't seen any veggies yet—we got a bit of a late start since we moved at the end of June—but the tomatoes, radishes, sunflowers, herbs, etc. are growing like crazy, even with the cool weather we've been having.

Are you a mom who has trouble getting enough sleep? You're not alone! In this guest article, Dr. Lisa Brent offers some facts about insomnia and what you can do to combat it and get the rest you need and deserve.

“Sleep when the baby sleeps” is advice many mothers receive when they bring a new baby home. This is a really great idea, but it is not always so easy to do. For many women, sleep does not come easily, even when they are completely exhausted by the daily (and nightly) demands of motherhood.

The San Francisco Zoo is honoring and celebrating its zookeepers during the National Zookeeper Week from July 19-25. During this week, visitors will have the chance to meet the zookeepers in person, during special meet-and-greets at various exhibit locations throughout the zoo. Keepers will be on hand to answer questions and tell their favorite stories about the animals they care for each and every day.

The zoo is encouraging visitors to show their appreciation by bringing in a hand-made or purchased thank you card that will be placed on a giant display board at the zoo’s front entrance. A discount will be given to individuals who present a card (one per person) – $2 off adult admission and $1 off child admission. The zoo hours are 10 am–5 pm.The San Francisco Zoo is located at 1 Zoo Road in San Francisco. For more info, go to www.sfzoo.org.

Frozen yogurt isn't just a substitute for the ostensively less-healthy ice-cream—it's a food with its own sort of subculture, centered around slathering your bowl of yogurt with numerous toppings and add-ons, from fruit to cereal to chocolate to nuts to candy to… almost anything . We've been to the recently opened Twisters frozen yogurt shop in Novato a few times, and have found that it satisfies the frozen yogurt (and topping) craving.

Twisters opened up this spring in the San Marin Plaza shopping center, at 109 San Marin Drive in Novato. It always seems to be busy, most likely due to a prime location at the confluence of a busy high school, elementary school, and swim/tennis club. At Twisters, it's all about self-serve. You grab a bowl, available in numerous sizes, and fill it with your non-fat yogurt of choice. Then take your bowl over to their huge variety of toppings and pile on the chocolate sauce, gummi bears, Froot Loops, jimmies, peanuts, and what-have-you.

The catch is, you pay by weight. Weigh in your concoction at the cash register and pay 47¢ per ounce for your yogurt and toppings.

This weekend, Target (you know, that place where you buy diapers and bathroom cleaner and toys and the occasional dress or shirt) presents Arts & Wonder, a free family event with free general admission to six of San Francisco's leading museums and free art activities and performances.

This weekend-long marathon of free family fun kicks off Friday, July 16, 2010 from 5–8:45 pm at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, where you can turn Target's canine mascot Bullseye into a work of Andy Warhol-inspired "Pup" art and watch a ballet performance celebrating the work of Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. General admission and activities and performances are free, but if you want to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibition (highly recommended!) you'll have to get a special timed ticket—$15 for adults, $10 for children 6–17, and free for kids 5 and under.

With the recent surge in whooping cough cases, we asked local pediatrician and frequent Marin Mommies contributor Dr. Steven Martel to answer some questions our readers had about this potentially serious illness.

The re-emergence of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, has garnered much media attention due to the recent epidemic.

Pertussis is a highly contagious, vaccine preventable disease caused by a particular bacterium. The disease spreads via respiratory droplets which result from sneezing or coughing onto surfaces. The disease usually begins with symptoms that are similar to the common cold, particularly runny nose and fever. Over the course of 7–10 days the affected person develops a spasmodic, difficult to control cough which can make it hard to breathe. The infection’s characteristic “whoop” cough is responsible for its common name. However, the “whooping” sound is uncommon in infants. The cough usually lasts for about 6 weeks.

Last summer we undertook a road trip to the Gold Country. About a three-hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area, it's a fun long weekend or day trip that's steeped in California and American histroy. We had such a good time that when it came time to decide upon a road trip destination this year, we unanimously to head up there again. Like last time (which we wrote about here and here), our home base was the Gunn House Hotel in downtown Sonora, from where we explored the surrounding area, including Columbia State Historic Park. This time we made sure we went up in time to check out the annual Columbia Diggins 1852, a Gold Rush reenactment event held each year the weekend after Labor Day.