Re: New ideas for daughter's 5th birthday
Try Sulpher Creek Nature Center in Hayward. The woman who does the kid education there, Christine is fabulous. They have a whole birthday package. Dont'have the phone number or address handy, but they probably have a website. Hilary

Re: I need to borrow a rabbit!

Well they don't have rabbits, but the Sulphur Creek Nature Center in Hayward does have a pet lending library. They have guinea pigs, rats, mice, and hamsters. Each comes complete with a cage, food, water and food containers, and a animal-specific care sheet. My sister rented a guinea pig for her two girls and they loved it! The website is: http://hard.dst.ca.us/slphrcreek/llibrary.html -Kelly

My daughters (3 years, 18 months) were absolutely thrilled with the very sweet and gentle guinea pig that we borrowed for a week. The 18-month old ran around saying ``Guinea hold it'' ``Guinea hold it'' all day long, except when she said, ``Guinea eat it'' which we chose to interpret as ``feed it''. Also, the Sulphur Creek Nature Center is a great place to visit. Good luck finding a rabbit! -susan

Re: Birthday party with animals

Try Sulfur Creek (in the Hayward Parks and Rec program). Sorry I don't have their number, but it's similar to Lindsay and definitely has birthday parties. Crab Cove (EBRPD) has birthday parties too, though looking for crabs under the rocks, after a naturalist presentation, may not be what your 6 year old had in mind. Nice place, though! Nils