I don't know about you, but around February I start running out indoor things to do with my kids. We've played all the board games and gone to the aquarium who knows how many time, and if I have to watch one more lame animated feature I'm going to throw

$ Dive in. Take a swim in an indoor swimming pool. In Seattle nearly all the community center type pools are indoors, and very affordable. If you don't have an indoor community pool try the local hotels and see if anyone will let you purchase a day pass. This sometime works with family-friendly gyms as well.

$ Make like Frosty the Snow man...and visit a greehouse. Many cities have conservatories that provide a steamy escape from cold environs. Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park has a conservatory that features free-flying parrots, Chicago's Garfeild Conservatory is as large and varied, and Seattle's tiny offering  is free and takes you from the steamy world of orchid breeding to the weird cactus wonderland of the high dessert, all in the span of a few hundred feet.

$$ Eat ethnic. One of our favorite no-fuss field trips is a bus ride down to the International District. There the kids can spend thier piggy banks of Hello Kitty products, try unusual sweets, and feast the amazing array of food at a dim sum restuarant. Return home to a viewing of Spirited Away (for older kids) or a library-rent of Pokemon and you can write the weekend off as a cross-cultural experience.

$$-$$$ Get Cultured. My urban babies  love to go to the museum. The trick is to feed them first, let them bring sketch books (the galleries prefer pencils to markers or crayons), and don't stay longer than thier attention spans. (Or you'll have a full fledged revolt the next time you suggest a museum!) Most museums have something that will catch a child's eye -- suits of armor, minature castles, Egyptian temples, mummies, mythological statues, and colorful Andy Warhols have been kid pleasers on our outings. Many musuems have headsets with special "family" discussions of selected art pieces, and some have community 'studios' where kids and grown ups can get some hands-on experience, usually related to one of the current special exhibits. Taking a break for lunch or a snack at the museum cafe will allow you to break your stay into to touring sections and may expand your kid's attention span for the finer things in life.  (Musuem cafe's are notoriously spendy, so the price will go up if you include a luncheon.)

$$$ Stage a mini-vacation. Live near a big city? Priceline a weekend hotel room and get a pool, free cable, and all the massively entertaining trips to the ice machine you can handle. You can often  get a 5-star hotel for $50. That and the price of a pay-per-view movie sure beats listening to whinning all weekend -- and it's cheaper than tickets to Hawaii.

What do you do when the playgrounds are soggy?