Weekend Highlights: Your Guide to a Fun Memorial Day Weekend

BY  |  Friday, May 24, 2013 1:00pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

Cloisters Museum

Memorial Day Weekend is here and there’s so much to do with the family if you’re staying local.

We’ve told you about the Memorial Day services and parades, Maplewood’s Rubber Duck Race, the West Orange Downtown Street Fair, and Maplewood MayFest, and there’s even more!

Check our Upcoming Events to find out all the local happenings. Also, if you haven’t already, sign up for our newsletter to get some great deals and find out about more great events and subscribe to our daily newsletter so you don’t miss a thing on Barista Kids. While you’re at it, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and check out our new Pinterest page. We post a lot of important information over there, so you don’t want to miss out.

Here are your weekend highlights:

The Met’s Cloisters Museum is holding  Family Festival: In Search of the Unicorn, a two day event celebrating unicorns, Medieval times and magic. (Saturday, May 25)

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Day Trips To Take Over Memorial Day Weekend

BY  |  Friday, May 24, 2013 7:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

Grab your keys, pack the kids into the car and arrive at your destination in less than two hours! A few of these Day Trips could be made into an overnight trip too.

Here is a list of Day Trips we’ve reviewed that offer fun for the entire family:

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Jersey Shore Round-up

BY  |  Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:30am  |  COMMENTS (0)

Jersey Shore

Tomorrow begins the Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of summer, so we’re giving a big fist pump to the Jersey Shore, which needs your love this summer, after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the area. Show the shore some love by taking the family to enjoy the beaches and attractions:

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Day Trip: Palisades Climb Adventure

BY  |  Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

palisades climb adventure

The world’s tallest indoor ropes course standing is at Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, NY, just about 30 minutes from Montclair.

Palisades Climb Adventure stands 85 feet tall and provides adventure, thrills and excitement for those looking for the experience. Since I’m not that person, my husband recently took our 9 year old daughter there to meet some friends and they both did the ropes course. Nervous at first, my daughter went through the course and loved it.

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Day Trip: LEGOLAND Discovery Center Weschester

BY  |  Wednesday, Apr 17, 2013 10:15am  |  COMMENTS (0)

LEGOLAND Discovery Center Weschester

LEGOLAND Discovery Center’s Grand Opening on March 27,2013

If you are looking for something new to do with the kids, the brand new LEGOLAND  Discovery Center Weschester at Ridge Hill in Yonkers, NY is well worth visiting.

We decided to skip the opening week crowds two weeks ago and went during this quiet week when Montclair schools are closed. Legoland  taps into the ‘build what YOU want’ creativity of the old Lego bricks and also uses the newer themes in their toys in a tasteful way. They have created an engaging, experiential play zone that will appeal to kids age 3-10. Parents will appreciate the variety of activities and the simple layout of the center. The area is entirely enclosed. Adults are not permitted without a child so it feels like a safe haven.  The most attractive feature is that kids can move easily between the activities and they can stay all day. The Center is open 10 am – 9:30 pm most days which sounds like a dare to kids!

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Spring Break Fun: Day Trips & Ideas For a Happy Family

BY  |  Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 10:30am  |  COMMENTS (2)

If you’re not one of the lucky ones vacationing for spring break, and don’t need vacation camps because you’re off from work too, day trips are a great way to feel like you did something special. Grab your keys, pack the kids into the car and arrive at your destination in less than two hours. A few of our suggestions could be made into an overnight trip too.

Here’s a list of some day trip destinations we’ve written about that are fun for the entire family:

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Day Trip: Imagine That!

BY  |  Friday, Mar 22, 2013 11:30am  |  COMMENTS (0)

imagine that! children's museum

One of the things I love about taking my son to children’s museums is that we (and he) always know what’s in store, more or less, but each venue puts its own spin on the genre. Imagine That!, a children’s museum in Florham Park, delivers just what little ones are looking for in a playspace and provides enough unique entertainment to make it worth repeat day trips.

Perched in an industrial park, Imagine That! is divided into roughly 3 sections: themed play areas (trains, grocery store, doctor’s office, dance studio, etc.); runaround room (a tubes-and-slides playset, a climbable pirate ship, and an area featuring a full-sized fire truck and cars and planes and such); and rooms for private parties or a family meal.

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Day Trip: MoMath: The Museum of Mathematics

BY  |  Thursday, Jan 03, 2013 8:00am  |  COMMENTS (1)

For my math loving oldest daughter’s 9th birthday on New Year’s Day, we visited the new MoMath: The Museum of Mathmatics in NYC.

We had a taste of what MoMath offers when its traveling exhibit Math Midway visited the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. The Square-wheeled Trike and Tessellation puzzles were a huge hit and they are now permanent exhibits at MoMath.

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Day Trip: Mary Poppins on Broadway

BY  |  Tuesday, Jan 01, 2013 10:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

For a while, my wife and I had been looking to take our five year old daughter to her first Broadway show. Given the cost, however, we were in no hurry. As luck would have it, we found an offer for discounted tickets to Mary Poppins on Broadway, and thought it would be a perfect Christmas gift for my daughter and my mom. (We had introduced the movie to our daughter over the summer and she loved it.)

We were not disappointed.

Mary Poppins is two and a half hours of pure joy. It has all of the familiar songs you love and characters you remember, plus some new ones. Of course, the show’s plot does stray from the film. (A lot, actually.) But I think that’s to be expected. If you go into it with an open mind, it won’t bother you.  The good thing for kids my daughter’s age, and a little younger, is there are no scary parts. There is, however, a mean nanny who replaces Mary right after intermission. She’s so over-the-top mean it’s funny, though.

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Day Trip: Thomas Edison Historical National Park

BY  |  Friday, Dec 28, 2012 3:00pm  |  COMMENTS (1)

The desk in Edison’s library

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ~ Thomas Edison

As an artist, people are always asking me where I come up with my ideas. As I develop ideas for Ask Holly, I have had loads that end up in the “Epic Fail” pile. Never did I think that taking the quick trip to the Thomas Edison Historical National Park complex in West Orange  would open so many doors in my mind. My children and I were fascinated  to learn the way this famous inventor worked.

Many of us know Thomas Edison as the mostly deaf  ”Wizard of Menlo Park,” who, before moving to West Orange, was the driving force behind inventing the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the first commercially practical incandescent light—to name only a few. He held 1,093 US patents in his name and was the driving force behind thousands of ideas and new concepts.

“I readily absorb ideas from every source, frequently starting where the last person left off.”

A trip to the Thomas Edison National Historic Park is a family day trip that you’ll love:

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