Your Guide to Family-Friendly Day Trips in New Jersey, New York…and Beyond
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?”
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).
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”
The Dead Sea Scroll exhibition tells the story of the foundation of three religions, in terms of ancient texts and times. The scrolls are more than 2,000 years old, written mostly before Jesus’s time.
When you enter, you’ll be in the room above, pictures/movies that change depending on what your guide is telling you. You’ll hear about the three jars – their origin and times, while seeing scenes of Israel and the area in historical context – the Dead Sea, digging at an archaeological site, the Western Wall, and more.
If there’s one way to get a kid to read a book, label it “Not for Parents.” That will attract their interest. As a travel writer, I collect guidebooks from the places we go, and try to get kid-friendly ones so my kids will take an interest. Usually they don’t. They were interested, however, in this Not For Parents: New York City – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know. But of course I had to sneak away and read it too.
Though it’s published by Lonely Planet, it’s not actually a guidebook, but a great way to get to know a city we visit often. As expected, it’s quite colorful with cute illustrations from a number of artists. Inside it tells the story of everything from street food, to the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, to wild animals in the city (yes, rats are included).
Continue reading “Review: Not for Parents – New York City – Everything You Ever Wanted to Know”
Those of us with kids in New Jersey public schools look forward to a two day school break in November, for the teachers’ convention. You can either sit around at home, or take off in the car or on a plane for a family trip.
It’s not too late to plan something! If you haven’t yet thought of what to do, I rounded up some great links to vacations in driving distance of New Jersey, provided by seasoned fellow bloggers and travel writers. Let me know where you plan to go!
NEW YORK CITY
For a staycation, here are some ideas for local fun. See a Broadway play. I’ve got reviews of Matilda here and reviews of Mamma Mia here. See all my Broadway reviews here.
Continue reading “Where to go during the New Jersey Teachers’ Convention”
We visited the High Line Park recently and happened upon the Melt Bakery cart on 23rd Street at the lawn. For the record, Melt Bakery to me sounds like a grilled cheese sandwich place. But it’s not. It’s an ice cream sandwich place. And it was yummy.
The kids got a full size “Cinnamax” – two snickerdoodle cookies surrounding cinnamon ice cream for $4.
Locals tend to avoid Times Square – for good reason. It’s crowded and touristy. However, if you’re a tourist, or plan to see any of the sites around there, a guide is helpful.
You’ve seen CSI the show (or maybe you haven’t). Now try it for yourself. CSI: the Experience is making its way around the country, and is in Discovery Times Square (I’m not sure of the ending date, though it is a limited engagement).
The exhibition has three scenarios (crime scenes). While we were able to go through all three (we had to complete one circuit and then go back to the entrance again), my understanding is that this is not the case any longer, and that you have to pay an additional fee to go through a second scenario.
Continue reading “Review: CSI: The Experience with Kids – New York City”
Have a great family day at a museum – for free! Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day made is possible, and they are doing it again on Saturday, September 25th. Download an admission card here, and get into New Jersey museums like the Newark Museum, the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, the Stickley Museum, and others. In New York, you can go to the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of the Barrio, Historic Richmond Town, the Intrepid (that’s a big ticket one), the New York City Fire Museum, the Jewish Museum and others
The card is good for you and one guest – one card per household. Find participating museums here:
This year, the 10th anniversary of September 11, falls on a Sunday. Given that the kids won’t be in school, it’s a good chance for the family to reflect on what happened, its impact on our lives, remember those whose lives were lost, and join with with the community. I posted some events here which you can consider attending. NYC.gov has a list of activities on its calendar.
9/11 Memorial Site – official opening is on 9/11/11 for families who lost someone in the attacks. The ceremony for family members starts at 8:30 a.m. and all the names of those lost will be read after the city-wide moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. There will be a second city-wide moment of silence at 9:03 a.m. and then affected families will be allowed to access the memorial to see their loved one’s names in the bronze plaques. Continue reading “What to Do on September 11 in New York City”