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 Up to 125, er, 60 balloons at a time. (Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan) If the weather is good, the QuickChek Festival of Ballooning can be fun. When we went last year, it was approximately 300 degrees (heat index) outside and we were on an airstrip with no natural shade. Well, at some point we had a little shade when the tethered balloon carrying customers up a few hundred feet at $20 a pop went up, blocking the sun. But their ride was short, and so was our shade. Continue reading QuickCheck Balloon Festival
Having recently visited one of Puerto Rico’s Bio Bays, we were excited to see the American Museum of Natural History’s newest exhibit, Creatures of Light.
What we learned:
-Male fireflies use their light to attract females, and answer her flash by pointing his toward her for full effect.
-The male firefly lantern may be 10 times larger than the female’s.
-Fireflies may only have 2 weeks to reproduce, so don’t hold onto it for long!
-Firefly larva live in the ground and live fireflies spend the daytime hours in the grass.
Continue reading Review: Creatures of Light Exhibit – AMNH
Once was just nominated for a slew of Tony awards: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Best Direction in a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestration, Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Best Lighting (and Best Sound Design) of a Musical.
What makes Once different? When you enter the theater, you’ll notice something different from every other Broadway show. The stage is not only lit, it’s populated with the actors and musicians playing music (which started about 15 minutes before the official showtime). You’ll also see other people up there – audience members. Yes, you can go on stage before the show (and during intermission) to listen to the music and buy drinks at the on-stage bar. And you can bring those drinks (wine/beer in plastic cups with lids and straws) back to your seat. I would love to have taken a photo but they were making a lot of announcements prohibiting photography, even before the show started.
Continue reading Review: Once on Broadway (and is Once appropriate for kids?)
The Egyptians had their pyramids and burial chambers filled with goods they thought they’d need in the afterlife. Chinese emperors were buried with a full size army. Fortunately this army was made of terracotta, but 8,000 soldiers strong.
 Terracotta Warriors exhibit. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan (Tickets and discount ticket information at the bottom)
The army is thought to include 130 chariots and 520 chariot horses and 150 cavalry horses (2 of which are on display at this exhibit), and nonwarriors like acrobats and musicians. The soldiers formed a large army in complete battle formation. They were buried in three pits, which are not fully excavated. Continue reading Review: Terracotta Warriors at Discovery Times Square
Many zoos have sleepover programs you can attend with a group (like scouts) or on your own. We went to the Philly Zoo with our Cub Scout pack and thought we’d share our experience here. One of the great things about the sleepover program, is you can get a lot more “show and tell” type of experiences. Animal shows, some behind-the-scenes activities, early access to exhibits, and additional tours. By the way, the Treehouse is open to the public at some times, and only to members at others. You can see some grand arches inside – the building was designed by a church architect and is one of the oldest zoo buildings.
 Our host talks to the kids We spent much of the evening in the Treehouse (one of two indoor spaces you can sign up for). The space was awesome, with a large tree the kids could explore, dinosaur shells they could climb into, a large-scale beehive they could climb in, and more. Our host for the evening, Kaitlyn, was excellent at keeping the boys in line (something we parents have a hard time doing). Continue reading Sleepover at the Philly Zoo
We took advantage of Kids Night On Broadway (still going on this week!) and got tickets to Memphis the Musical, one of the few shows still available (on Super Bowl Sunday) that we hadn’t seen AND that was appropriate for a 10 year old. Continue reading Review: Memphis the Musical – Appropriate for Kids?
 NFL NY Giants Waffle Logo Press You won’t get it in time for the Super Bowl party, but you can use it to celebrate after! Get this NY Giants waffle/pannini press with the official logo on Groupon for only $29 (half price!).
If you’re new to Groupon, get it here – it’s on the Groupon Goods page.
If you’re already a Groupon member, get it here.
Find Jersey Kids on Facebook!
We recently had the chance to tour the new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. It’s called Beyond Planet Earth – the Future of Space Exploration, and it’s about…space exploration!
In it you’ll learn about the history of space travel (and see this Russian space capsule, the Vostok, that had all of four switches and 35 indicators inside. It carried Yuri Gagarin among other Soviet astronauts in the 1960s).
 4 Russians lived here in space. The best way to describe the exhibit is to go through some interesting facts we learned:
–Does the moon have a smell? Yes, but astronauts can’t smell it because there’s no air on the moon. They could smell the lunar rocks on board the space craft – they smell like gunpowder (but the smell didn’t last until they landed back on Earth).
–Since October, 2000 there has always been a person living in space. Continue reading Review: Beyond Planet Earth – the Future of Space Exploration at the American Natural History Museum
 Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan. All rights reserved. For all you’ve done and for all you continue to inspire, thank you Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is 3rd in a series of 3 posts about the Disney Wonder Cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Part 1 is an overview of the Disney cruise. Part 2 is a very in depth review of all aspects of Disney cruise ship life (kids’ clubs, food, pools, spa, staterooms, etc.)
While on board the Disney Wonder, we had fun trying to find Hidden Mickeys. I didn’t even look to see if there was any mention online until writing this post. Turns out there are a few Hidden Mickeys on the Disney Wonder (we even found 2 official ones, and one posted here – the stained glass). If you’re not familiar with Hidden Mickeys, they’re mouse shaped ears hidden in the design of things at Disney parks. If nothing else, it kept us entertained as we walked around.
The gingerbread house up for the holidays was teeming with them.
 Lots of Mickeys on the gingerbread house. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan Continue reading Hidden Mickeys on the Disney Cruise
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