While not an exhibit intended specifically for kids, The Art of the Brick definitely appeals to kids. And to adults too. The positive message extolling the virtues of art, and Nathan Sawaya’s optimism, “art can be anything” brings a fresh air to the exhibit. You can even be a successful artist like Sawaya, after going to law school and doing corporate mergers for several years. My son now wants to be a LEGO artist. Well, he did before too, but now he wants to even more.
See below for discount ticket information for the Art of the Brick.
Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The sign when you enter is probably the only thing in the exhibit NOT made of LEGOs (okay, the signs and tables aren’t LEGO either). Room after room continues to delight and surprise.
If you’re unsure whether to bring your kids to Body Worlds: Pulse at Discovery Times Square, look at the pictures below. If you think they can handle these pictures, then go (more details below). This is the second “body” exhibition I’ve taken my kids to. The last one was probably in 2007 or 2008 when my kids were much younger. They still remember it, especially seeing the black lung from smoking. That had an impact on them.
If you’re not familiar with the Body Worlds world, there is a lot of history behind it. Briefly, these people donated their bodies for plastination (controversial), the technique used here to preserve the body in various shapes. I’ll go into the process in more depth later. There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the Bodies exhibitions, ranging from whether people indeed DID donate their bodies, to the ethics of displaying bodies this way, to religious complaints, to the sale of plastinated organs and bodies. You can read more here – it’s quite interesting.
You’ll start out with a video which I found stressful. It talked about stress and the pace of life these days. The video was captivating (and frenetic) in that it was made with drawings of people and things that were done during the video (but sped up). For the first time in history there are more people that are over age 60, than under age 5. The show uses the plastinated bodies and organs to talk about health, how the body shows its health, how to stay healthy, focusing on areas like happiness, blood pressure, exercise, stress and food. And it shows how the body works.
Not comfortable in his own skin. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Learn about pirates and deep sea exploration at Shipwreck. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Groupon has discounted tickets as I post this, but act quickly. If you’re new to Groupon, get the tickets here. If you’re already a Groupon user, get the tickets here.Search under Long Island, NY in the search bar on top for “Shipwreck.” Tickets on Groupon are $12-15 (kid/adult), which is a savings. Read the Groupon fine print before buying.
As you might imagine, treasure seeking is a high tech affair. The exhibit focuses on finds from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a deep ocean exploration public company (NasdaqCM: OMEX) that salvages items from shipwrecks and does mineral exploration. They choose from the 6,500 shipwrecks in their database, evaluating them based on archeological importance, claims to the property, and other factors.
We won a Jersey City Pole Position birthday party at a silent auction (we were the high bidder!), and told our son that was his party the next year. It was the best birthday party ever. Fortunately only one of the kids had gone before, so it was a new experience for almost everyone.
Overview of the Pole Position Raceway in Jersey City. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The carts are electric. While the room is loud, it’s apparently quieter than if they use gas (and it smells better too).
They have party rooms overlooking the raceway on two sides of the building at Pole Position Raceway. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
I went to Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference, and flew Porter Airlines for the first time. While most flights go into the Pearson airport, my Porter flight arrived at the downtown Billy Bishop Airport, which is two minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. You can actually see the CN Tower (which looks like Seattle’s Space Needle) and downtown from the airline exit ramp. And if your staying downtown, even better. They run a free shuttle every 20 minutes dropping you off very close to the MTCC, Toronto’s convention center. My hotel was 1.5 blocks from there, making it a cheap way to get to/from the airport.
View of downtown from the Porter plane. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
On board, the flight attendants are dressed in really cute designer outfits with retro pill box hats. I couldn’t find a royalty-free photo to use, but you can see the Porter uniforms here. Even on short flights, they serve complementary mini meals, including free wine and beer in actual glass.
Complementary Porter meals with actual wine and beer served in actual glasses. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
It seems each year we make a summer trek to the New York Aquarium. This year was different. We made the trek a week or so after it reopened from Superstorm Sandy. Though normally open year-round, the Aquarium suffered flooding to its lower levels (and even a few week on the upper levels), power outages and equipment damage, forcing it to shut down for an estimated $65 million in total repairs ($7 million spent so far). It partially reopened Memorial Day weekend.
As you saw from my Toronto photo tour yesterday, I was recently in Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference. I visited Toronto’s Distillery District with a tasting tour and Segway ride. Next time the Segway people might want to have us ride the Segway BEFORE the beer tasting, but there were no accidents so we’re all good. Thank you to See Toronto Now and the Segway Ontario’s Distillery shop for hosting the great tour.
The brick buildings and cobblestone of the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The Distillery used to produce 250 million gallons of whiskey a year, and has a colorful history starting in 1831, including the company’s co-founder (James Worts) throwing himself into a well after his wife dies in childbirth. His milling partner William Gooderham recruits Worts’ 13 year old son to help him convert the mill into a whiskey distillery. A distillery that produced lots of whiskey for the Americans during the prohibition.
A fun sculpture at the Distillery District. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
Though the area is now paved as far as the eye can see, it used to be on the water. Garbage thrown into the water was eventually paved over into landfill (kind of like in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, though they didn’t use garbage), and the coastline is now much further away. Continue reading “Toronto: Distellery District Segway Food Tour”
I recently went to Toronto as part of a travel blogging conference. I hadn’t been before and made the most of my minimal free time. I thought the best way to show you the Toronto I saw was via photo essay.
Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
This was the view from the downtown Billy Bishop airport, during the ferry ride to the mainland. The skyline was gorgeous from any view.
Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
We shared the conference center with a bodybuilding conference and a Yu-Gi-Oh conference. It was not hard to tell who belonged at which! This is Julie Lockhart, who won second place in her class at Toronto’s OPA (Ontario Physique Association) Provincial Championships. She’ll compete next Continue reading “Toronto – a Photo Essay”
My daughter and I do a girls’ trip to NYC every summer to see shows and exhibits. This is the first year we’ve stayed over, and we’re so glad we did. We were guests of Hotel Giraffe, a boutique hotel on 26th Street and Park Avenue South, very close to Madison Square Park. Rated number four onTripAdvisor, out of 433 hotels in Manhattan, we had high expectations. And they were met.
Hotel Giraffe on 26th and Park Avenue South, NYC
Hotel Giraffe is part of a family of hotels in the Library Hotel Collection, four unique boutique hotels in Manhattan. I reviewed Hotel Elysee last summer. Hotel Giraffe has 72 rooms in a corner building, each room with a with small balcony. Unfortunately for us it was pouring rain while we were there, but we could still keep the windows open. We stayed in a king suite, which is the type of room I like to stay in when traveling with my kids. The kids get the living room, and my husband and I get the bedroom. It was quite spacious.
The king suite at Hotel Giraffe. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
The kids were privileged (!) to see two cicadas mating yesterday- at least that’s what I think they were doing – right there in the Bank of America sidewalk in their parking lot. In the 20+ minutes we were in there (exchanging U.S. dollars for Canadian dollars for my trip to Toronto – yay!), they stayed at it, though moving slightly to a different part of the sidewalk.
cicada sex. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan
We’re hearing that some areas of NJ – even some areas of our town – still haven’t seen any. So here are some pictures for those of you who are missing them. Continue reading “Cicadas in New Jersey – part 2”
