Disclosure: We proudly partnered with WaterWipes for this event and post.

Have you ever wanted to do a big art project with your kids at home, but dreaded cleaning up the table, walls, kids, brushes, and pets afterward? It can be stressful just thinking about it!

Thanks to WaterWipes, an Ireland-based company founded by a concerned parent seeking a better baby wipe, we had the perfect opportunity get super dirty at the Zimmer Children’s Museum “Art Crawl” without needing to worry about the cleanup!

The Zimmer Children’s Museum is an interactive museum that allows children and parents to explore everything from water play to shopping for groceries. There is even a small model plane! The Zimmer regularly hosts events like Etch-A-Sketch Day, safety awareness days, and a summer camp.

For our L.A. Dads Group, they set up a whole room covered in butcher paper with every color of the rainbow for kids (and dads) to paint to their hearts’ desire! There was also an art table for older kids who didn’t want to run around in their underwear getting covered in paint, and snacks for both kids and adults.

And the best part of the day? After all the fun was done, our fathers used WaterWipes to clean off little faces, ears, hair, hands, toes and more! WaterWipes are the world’s purest baby wipes made with 99.9% water and a drop of fruit extract. They  were even awarded the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance.

“WaterWipes are great. We have been using them since our first child was born three years ago,” said Kevin “Kwick” Wick, father of a 3- and a 1-year-old. “They are very pure – just water added and that’s pretty much it.”

WaterWipes are available through many major online and brick-and-mortar retailers nationwide. For more information, visit www.WaterWipes.com/us.

Has your kid done something extraordinary (like, all the time!) and you whip out your phone or camera, only to miss it by a few seconds? Well, it happens to us all the time! This time, however, we actually caught one of our L.A. Dads Group co-organizers Juan Pablo on camera trying to film his son’s first attempt at surfing. We won’t give away the hilarious story…but the moral of the story might just be that we should all just “be in the moment” with our kids a little bit more often, rather than watching our kids through our phone or our camera.

Whatever you do, first enjoy our short film about his experience, and then post your funny camera experiences in the comments section.

L.A Dad Group Member Felix Barajas recently attended a Fodada event in Southern California, so we thought it would be a great idea to share his experience and a recent City Dads Group blog post about Fodada’s mission and “fun-raising” initiative. 

My daughter and I had a really great experience at the recent Fodada event hosted at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo. We had a wonderful time bonding as a family and getting to experience all the classic cars. We also loved the scavenger hunt, the car building activity, root beer floats, and ice cream! Thank you to Fodada for hosting such a wonderful event. – Felix Barajas, LA Dads Group Member

Fodada does more than just host awesome events – they help children in need by getting parents and kids to do extracurricular activities together that raise funds for a cause. Their unique platform allows you to change the life of a kid with a click of a button. Read more about it in this post by City Dads Group blogger Kevin McKeever.

https://citydadsgroup.com/blog/fodada-kidscholly/

The highlight of my Dad 2.0 Summit 2017 experience was when I had the privilege of moderating an exclusive talk with Marc Webb for the  City Dads Group.

If you are not familiar with Marc, I am sure you know his work. He is a producer and director, known for 500 Days of Summer (2009), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). We got to chat with him about his new movie coming out, Gifted.

Gifted

Gifted caught my attention because it tugged on that “fatherhood string.” I mean, what would happen to my boys if something were to happen to my wife and me? I can’t even imagine what would happen. The second thing that caught my attention – Captain America (actor Chris Evans)! But it wasn’t Captain America at all, just a regular guy who finds himself in an unexpected and challenging situation.

I don’t think any father is ready for the full scope of parenting, no matter how much they prepare. Fatherhood is just never what you think it’s going to be. The main character – Frank Adler (played by Chris Evans) – becomes a parental figure after his sister is unable to raise her daughter. I can feel for that guy. We all have difficulties, even when we start from birth!

I am also glad to see that through it all, family is the most important. I was impressed with their choice of Mary (played by Mckenna Grace). Marc found a shooting star that magically lit up the screen with her personality. In the interview, Marc discusses their hunt for her and the difficulty in the search for the actor with just the right personality.

The actors in this movie just seemed to click. You can’t fake this kind of chemistry, and I think there are only a few people in the world that can create this kind of magic. Marc obviously has the experience to not only work with big names but bring the magic to the big screen.

I am looking forward to seeing Gifted with my wife. The full movie comes out in April and rolls out to theaters everywhere after that. In the meantime, you can check out the trailer here. Check out our Facebook Live interview here. And stayed tuned, we will do our best to bring you all the newest information as it comes!

See you at the movies!

There are many reasons why I love Los Angeles. Is it the access to the many movie studio lots, the celebrities that live here or frequent here, the beaches, the sun, the light or what?! These are all great reasons, but my love is much deeper than that.

I moved here because I lived in the small town suburban area of Oxnard and Camarillo in Ventura County. Very suburbia, very! I clearly was gay and knew it. I needed to move to an area where I could be ‘me’ and thrive, let loose and have no one constantly look over my shoulder. I wanted a city. I wanted the lights, the sound, the bustle and hustle of it all.

So I moved here. I worked retail, the banking financial industry and even furniture/home goods too. I covered a lot of the Los Angeles County cities. Culver City, Santa Monica, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Rancho Palos Verde and the San Fernando Valley. I also commuted to Moorpark that first year I lived here as I was still in college. Yes, that was insane in hindsight. Oh the miles I put my car. Gas was cheap then. $1.99 for premium!

Fast forward to my first husband being diagnosed with terminal cancer and being given 3 to 4 months to live. He went through a lot of treatment options and traveled to and from New York. However, I found the Gay and Lesbian Center of Hollywood to be the best resource and assistance to getting him medical treatment. He wasn’t on my insurance at the time. Everything was covered. Sadly he passed away in my arms at a hospital in Burbank.

Then my work career thrived. I was moving up the corporate ladder as a bank teller, lead teller and then supervisor and then to an Assistant Operations Manager. That is where I met my current husband. We are on our 13th year of marriage. Technically speaking our 3rd year of legal marriage since gays only won the right to marry in 2013. I participated in many rallies and marches right in West Hollywood, a city where I could fully be my gay ‘ol self. I’d let my freak flag fly sky high. What’s wrong with being confident?

My husband and I then decided to start the journey to become parents. The agency was named Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency, which is now Extraordinary Families. This agency is located in the heart of Los Angeles between Korea Town and Downtown Los Angeles. They offered many parenting courses and prepared us for the foster-adopt process. Then children entered my life. So close was the court that the adoption was finalized. September holds a special place in my heart and significance for our family.

I am currently a stay at home dad. I have utilized all the FREE family events and children events offered by L.A. such as The Grove LA, Century City mall, Santa Monica and more. Plus the mountain areas and beaches are so close. I live 2 miles from the beach and I frequent there a lot. Many events happen here—art, music, farmer’s markets and more. Many organizations and non-profits also add to the availability of what one can do as an adult, a family and also for date night.

The one main love of L.A. for me is that even with today’s current turmoil and strong adversity around homosexuality, I can still be who I truly am. With my recent loss of a friend in the Orlando Pulse Nightclub tragedy, this was reaffirmed because I experienced so much love and support for me as a man and a parent. The many things I’ve listed are still there and still available. I utilized those resources for the therapy I needed to get over the death of my mother and best friend of 17 years. Plus two other close friends who passed away.

L.A., Los Angeles will always be the city that I call home. It welcomed my very gay self with open arms. It still embraces me the same way I embrace it. As a parent it has more value and substance that I was blindly unaware of during my single years. Even when coupled I didn’t know the abundance and value it offered. I learned this along the way while on my parenting journeys and during my beginnings as a stay-at-home dad.

My love, my city and my home is Los Angeles. The city to me has more value than a pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow. Dorothy has found her emerald city. The place where my dreams have come true beyond my wildest dreams. Hard work and diligence pay off. I welcome you to seek it out. Find me and I can show you around. I suggest finding it on your own because only you know what you want out of it. That is how I took the journey. I started here alone. I made my way. Go and make yours.

I moved to Los Angeles about 12 years ago following a business opportunity. I was growing tired of the gray weather in Seattle and jumped at the chance to start a new chapter in my life. What wasn’t exciting about L.A.? Disneyland, Hollywood, amazing beaches and more.

When you first arrive in Los Angeles you are as much a tourist as those who are just here to visit. The city is a hot spot for sightseeing, people watching, movies, concerts, sporting events, shopping and beaches. The list is nearly endless. And when you move here you do all that. Then, after a while, you begin to get a sense of the sheer size of L.A. It covers 467 square miles – not including the surrounding five-county metropolitan area, which boosts it up to more than 34,000 square miles. We’re talking millions of people (and consequently mind-numbing traffic).

Los Angeles has a different meaning to me now that my oldest has turned 6 and is more ready to enter the fray that is our great city. I want my boys to be citizens of the world and L.A. provides us some great stepping stones. Want to experience a Chinese New Year celebration? Chinatown is a hop, skip, and a jump away. Feel like eating traditional Korean barbeque? Yup, Koreatown has that. There is such a wealth of culture here that we don’t often realize it until we look through the eyes of a newcomer or child.

Let’s not forget the great outdoors. Yes, even our concrete jungle has a wealth of nature. From hiking experiences and parks like North of Malibu, Griffith Park and Baldwin Hills; to sandy beaches like Santa Monica, Venice and Huntington Beach. Swim, surf and sunbathe – you want it, we got it. And none of this even includes the amazing Los Angeles Zoo.

But let’s be honest, the heat can be scorching and a little much for outdoor activities. Never fear, museums are here! There is the Getty or Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the older crowd; to name just two. Then there’s Kidspace Children’s museum in Pasadena and Zimmer Children’s Museum for the younger crowd. There are free options as well, so don’t bust your wallet!

After living here over a decade, and being that both of my boys were born here, I consider Los Angeles home. I can’t wait to explore it all over again, this time through the eyes of my sons!

Los Angeles Dads Group will join the effort to raise awareness and funds to battle childhood cancer by setting up an Alex’s Lemonade Stand on Saturday, June 11, 2016.

L.A. Dads Group is one of 5 outposts of the national City Dads Group network to host lemonade stands that day. Other chapters include City Dads Groups inChicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York City, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. All money raised will be donated to the Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) for its work funding research to find better treatments and cures for childhood cancer.

“This is a great opportunity for our members and their families across the country to come together for an excellent cause close to all of our hearts,” said Lance Somerfeld, co-founder of City Dads Group.

The stands are City Dads Group’s contribution to Alex’s Lemonade Days, a three-day national event. The event grew from an initial front yard lemonade stand set up in 2000 by Alexandra “Alex” Scott, a 4-year-old Pennsylvania girl with neuroblastoma. Her first stand raised $2,000 and received national attention.

Since Alex’s 2004 death, “Alex’s Lemonade Days” are held every year over the same June weekend with an estimated 10,000 volunteers hosting more than 2,000 Alex’s Lemonade Stands around the nation making a difference for children with cancer. This year’s Alex’s Lemonade Days are set for June 10, 11 and 12.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 charity, has raised more than $120 million to date toward fulfilling Alex’s dream of finding a cure, funding more than 550 pediatric cancer research projects nationally.

“Los Angeles City Dads Group is honored to partner with ALSF to shine a light on the need to fund pediatric cancer research,” said Trevor Mulligan, co-organizer of the L.A. Dads Group.

You can help Alex’s Lemonade Stand in Los Angeles by donating today at: www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1223934. You can also help volunteer or recruit volunteers by emailing co-organizer Trevor Mulligan at mtmulligan@gmail.com. Location details for the fundraising effort will be posted on the blog shortly.

The other weekend, we were invited by Britax to celebrate Safe Kids Day with some celebrities, parents and hundreds of kids that was presented by Nationwide. This LA event was at Smashbox Studios was this was just one of 223 Safe Kids Day events taking place across the United States which helps raise awareness and funds for Safe Kids Worldwide.

There was so many fun things to do with the kids, one of our favorites was with the one and only an animal adventure, zoologist Jack Hanna and his baby animals (so cool!); we also played games with Clifford the Big Red Dog; sliding down our giant fire truck slide; splashing away in a bathtub ball pit and exploring Nationwide’s “I Spy” home safety game in Nate the Eagle’s Nest. Kids had got their faces painted, designed their own sunglasses, zoomed around the racetrack on Power Wheels and got their dance on and boogied on the dance floor.

There were celebrities that attended the event with their families helping to put a spotlight on preventable injuries, a the leading cause of death of children in the United States. Drew Barrymore, Kelly Rowland, Jeff Goldblum, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Donald Faison, and so many more were a part of all the activities featured at the event. We were so busy playing with our kids to enjoy rubbing elbows with the celebrities, but we love to see them and appreciate their continued support!

We are always excited to be able to hang out with Britax and other sponsors we work with on a regular basis, such as Kidde, Safety 1st. We always love it when we can help them spread safety education news. There isn’t anything more important than the safety of our kids, and the 2016 Safe Kids Day campaign has raised close to $1.3 million to protect children from preventable injuries. You can support their efforts by donating online today.
Safe Kids Day events are take place all across the United States. Find a local event near you, or celebrate Safe Kids Day in your own home by creating a #MyHigh5 checklist with your family. My High Five turns education into action, by inviting parents and caregivers to take specific steps to make homes safer and to increase safety on the roads and at play.
Thank you to everyone that made Safe Kids Day event a huge success. Thank you for allowing the L.A Dads group to be a part of this, and most importantly thank you for your commitment to protecting our children. We had a blast! Happy Safe Kids Day!

SafeKids

Check out Safe Kids blog overview along with all the other amazing sponsors

Learn more about Safety Experts Ranking Britax Car Seats #1 – http://bit.ly/1MNO3Xw
BRITAX web/social:
us.britax.com
facebook.com/britax
twitter.com/britax
instagram.com/britaxus
pinterest.com/britax/
BOB web/social:
BobGear.com
facebook.com/BOB.Strollers
twitter.com/bobgear

Kidde web/social:
kidde.com
Instagram.com/kiddefiresafety
https://twitter.com/KiddeSafety

For me, Los Angeles means diversity of cultures, languages, food, and ice cream. Lots of ice cream.

On a weekend, I can take my kids to the Thai Cultural Festival, an exhibit of a world-renowned artirst, or on a bike ride across major boulevards during CicLAvia. Or I can take my kids down the street to the local public library to be entertained by dragon dancers on Chinese New Year’s or Bob Barker’s Marionette Theater on a Saturday afternoon.

When we go to our local park, my kids are exposed to playmates speaking languages from all over the world – they can be recent immigrants or third-generation, but many of them speak multiple languages that represent their parents’ ancestry.

And the food – from the fluffiest tamales to melt-in-your-mouth sushi, the diversity of food across Los Angeles cannot be beaten. Within walking distance, I can choose between Cuban, Scottish, or even Tibetan cuisines (in addition to more “traditional” fare like Italian, Mexican, or Chinese foods).

And don’t forget the ice cream! From any flavor you couldn’t come up with in your wildest dreams (like the “fast food” flavor that tastes like french fries dipped in a vanilla shake) to frozen yogurt with dozens of topping choices, L.A. is the place for ice cream. There are so many choices that instead of doing a pub crawl for my birthday, I did an ice cream crawl across the city; and, yes, it tasted as good as it sounds!

Southern California is also the only place where I can take my kids to the beach on pretty much any day during the year; and while we never go enough, the mere fact that it is there makes living here so great.

Now L.A. isn’t all sunshine, ice cream, and movie stars. My four-year-old already asks, “are we on the 405?” whenever we get stuck in unending L.A. traffic. And the constant conversation over schools is hard not to indulge in as parents scramble to make the money, the connections, or do whatever it takes to get their kids into their school of choice.

Being a dad in L.A. isn’t easy either because, much like many other cities in the United States, being a stay-at-home dad is still considered “different.” I can tell by the looks of, “why aren’t you working right now?” while at the park with my kids or taking them to their swim lesson in the middle of the day.

But at the end of the day, as I put my kids to bed, I get excited for the diversity of fun adventures that await us tomorrow in Los Angeles.