Are we all running out of ideas yet? I believe the forecast is for rain this entire week.

Heading down to the Tanforan Mall is one of my rainy day activities. We live in the city; a mall is a taste of comfortable suburban luxury. The Tanforan Mall gets bonus points for being just outside the San Bruno BART Station. You don’t even need to cross a street to get there!

If you’re super cheap like me, you can stick to the free indoor play area, with climbable foam farm animals and farm equipment. Some of the play structures have tunnels, always fun.

If you’re looking for something a bit more indoor-play-area-on-LSD-by-way-of-Japan, there’s the good old Hop ‘n Play. The entire playground is padded, which is necessary given all of the hanging carousel balls that kids can swing from. It’s $10 per child, and you can also get 5-visit ($45) and 10-visit ($85) packages.

AND, both play areas are just outside the Target, land o’ wonder for city dwellers.

AND, the mall is home to one of the only surviving Barnes and Nobles in the Bay Area, and which I believe doubles as another free kid play area.

AND, a food court and movie theater.

Basically, there’s no need to leave once you’re there.

Malls, what a great idea. You know, I think this whole “mall” thing is really going to take off!