A HAPPY MOTHER RATES FOR US

Underrated: Santa Monica Muscle Beach. Most of our beach outings end up being extended for at least an hour when we stop at the other muscle beach, just south of the Santa Monica Pier.

This is an excellent spot for the kids to shake out the sand and have some more fun. There are balance beams, climbing ropes and every type of gymnastics apparatus.

The young ones always end up doing something they didn’t think they could, like walk a tightrope, and this ambitious mom even got a round of applause for a geriatric but triumphant pass across the rings.

Or, if you just like to watch, there’s a melting pot of amazing pros and amateurs, undulating with hula hoops, practicing capoeira, juggling, tumbling, and swinging wildly across the rings with the greatest of ease.

As one observer aptly put it: This is like Cirque du Soleil for free.

Karen Bankhead

West Hollywood