Jersey Kids

September 29, 2024September 29, 2024

Robbinsville Temple With Kids

I’d been wanting to check out the Robbinsville Mandir (technically the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir) in Robbinsville, since it opened in 2023. It’s been a year now, and my in-laws were coming in town. A perfect time to visit. Though it turns out they had already been on a previous trip with another family member. Oops!

Going into the Robbinsville Hindu temple complex. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

So this post will be less about the actual history and more about what you’ll see there. Note that on weekends, national holidays and Hindu festivals, you need a (free) reservation. They do check those before you enter the complex. Of course going to the Robbinsville temple with kids is easier on a weekend or holiday!

September 12, 2024September 12, 2024

Review: Suffs with Kids

A musical about the suffragist movement? (Don’t say suffragette). Sounds about as exciting as a musical about the history of Alexander Hamilton.

We know Hamilton is amazing. But so is Suffs. My husband is a history buff and even he learned new things about this time in history.

Suffs on Broadway. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

August 31, 2024August 31, 2024

Absecon Lighthouse With Kids

Absecon Lighthouse – copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

As New Jersey’s tallest lighthouse, the Absecon Lighthouse is 171 feet tall. It is also the nation’s third tallest. Go to Abesecon Lighthouse with kids!

August 31, 2024August 31, 2024

Review: Lucy the Elephant With Kids

If you’ve been in the Atlantic City area, you probably have heard about or seen Lucy the Elephant. Touted as the top roadside attraction in America, Lucy has been around in various forms since 1881, in Margate – just south of Atlantic City.

Lucy the Elephant in Margate. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

August 25, 2024August 25, 2024

Mercer Labs With Kids

If you haven’t heard of Mercer Labs, you’re not alone. Formally Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology opened in March, a collaboration between Israeli artist Roy Nachum and real estate developer Michael Cayre. The idea is to be a “place where the traditional hierarchies between art, architecture, design, technology and culture are dissolved,” the New York Times quoted from a news release (I couldn’t find the news release).

In the Limitless exhibit in this 36,000 square foot space, you’ll visit 15 rooms with multimedia and sensory experiences, climbing up and down stairs between the floors (of course there’s an elevator if needed). In the initial space, which was one of the least interesting, you’ll put on shoe covers and look at a digital moving object that looks like of like a space rock.

August 3, 2024August 3, 2024

Weekend in Vermont: Barr Hill Distillery Drinks

When visiting Vermont without kids, we spent a fantastic late afternoon and early evening at Barr Hill in Montpelier. We took a tour of the distillery and then settled into a table indoors to enjoy Bar Hill Distillery drinks and food service. In short, it was amazing. And with 4 of us, we got to try a lot of what they had (we need to go back to try some more, though).

August 3, 2024August 3, 2024

Weekend in Vermont: Visit the Barr Hill Distillery

Barr Hill Distillery – the garden out front. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

If you’re ever in or near Montpelier, Vermont, visit the Barr Hill Distillery for a tour/tasting and their award-winning bar. They’re open year-round and have outdoor spaces and indoor. The facility was opened two years ago, after being operated elsewhere.

May 6, 2024May 7, 2024

Is Cabaret on Broadway appropriate for kids?

It’s a little intimidating (okay, a lot) to review a classic show that’s been on Broadway before, and was also a classic movie. I’m talking about Cabaret. I can’t really say if I had seen it before, yet I know so much of the music without having bought the album, CD or mp3s.

Is Cabaret on Broadway appropriate for kids? We’ll get to that later on. But let me start by saying I’ve seen a lot of Broadway shows in my life. And I have never received as many emails before the show as I did with Cabaret.

Entering Cabaret on Broadway. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

April 20, 2024April 20, 2024

Is Water for Elephants appropriate for kids?

I read Water for Elephants many many years back and enjoyed it. I didn’t see the movie. I couldn’t even remember precisely what happened in the book, other than a guy joins the circus and there’s a love triangle. So if you ask me whether it follows the book, I think it did. But that’s only from memory. Is Water for Elephants appropriate for kids? We’ll get into that later.

Enjoy the posters around the stage at Water for Elephants. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

February 6, 2024February 6, 2024

Review: Tea Around Town with kids

Pop songs reconceived as chamber music are piped through the bus speakers as the children double fist sweet tea in travel mugs and miniature chocolate mousse pastries.

My girls, aged 5 years and 364 days, and 11, lounged against a banquet covered with a soft pink throw as the double-decker bus navigated the canyons of Midtown Manhattan. A tour guide shared a few factual tidbits, then broke out into song (and she could actually sing).

I don’t really remember what she talked about, and neither do the kids. The city information seemed beside the point on TopView’s “Tea Around Town” tour bus.