If you follow the standards used by most "great places to live" rankings, Hoboken always winds up at the bottom. We don't have abundant verdant open spaces, affordable housing, or top-ranked schools. However, if you look beyond the beaten path, Hoboken excels.

Hoboken is one of the most walkable areas I have ever known, and it also has superb access to mass transit. The PATH train runs 24/7, and the Light Rail, NJ Transit buses and trains, and community shuttle make it one of the most crisscrossed square miles ever. With cobblestone streets, brownstones, and plenty of parks, its walkable charm feels very much like Park Slope in Brooklyn.

There is also a plethora of free or low-cost child activities. Outdoor Movies in the Park on Pier A plus the occasional carnival, toddler plays at Mile Square Theatre, concerts, petting zoos, all add up to make walking around Hoboken a delightful adventure where families can stumble on unexpected kid events.

I have made the trek into Manhattan to the New York City Fire Museum and been warned to keep the kids away from the exhibited trucks, only to discover that the Fire House at 201 Jefferson provides superb impromptu hands-on private tours of a 22 year old fire truck. Carmelo DeJesus, a 25-year veteran firefighter, kindly allowed my children to try on his fire gear and clamber over Engine 1. The fire department often hosts fire safety week, with free fire hats and badges given out to delighted children who wander in. The Exempt Hall Fire Museum at 213 Bloomfield (by appointment only, call 201-420-2007) also hosts an antique fire truck.

A bit higher on the cost spectrum, Cobra Fencing is located right across the southern border of Hoboken at 629 Grove Street. My husband and I are die-hard fencers who met on our college team and were nationally ranked for another decade, up until we had children. It is a well-known fact in the fencing world that New York City is the mecca of US fencing. Elite international fencers, including Olympic champions, come to train at the various clubs in advance of the 2010 US World Cup to be hosted this summer in Brooklyn. We plan to enroll our daughter in Cobra youth classes (foil, of course) when she turns five, and if she excels at the sport, then world-class training is readily available three stops away on the PATH train. With the largest facility on the east coast and over 80 junior fencers, Cobra provides an excellent entree to the world of fencing. If you would like to bring your kids to see what fencing looks like, Saturday mornings are the best time to walk in and observe youth classes. Membership starts at $125 a month, although the club hosts a free membership month twice a year.

Fencing is a lifelong activity. My old fencing club in Manhattan plays host to a contingent of geriatric foil fencers who are stalwart attendees of Tuesday and Thursday evening practices. Nationally ranked junior fencers are heavily recruited by top colleges, and there are lifelong health benefits. I am delighted that my two toddlers enjoy play fencing with each other; the future of the Zucker family fencing tradition looks very bright, and Hoboken is the ideal place to nurture it.

To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://hobokenmomcondo.com/momblog and follow her at http://twitter.com/zhobokenmom