Raven's blog

Mother's Day is the main event on all of our sites, from New York City to Los Angeles. Moms, if you have Sunday all planned out, good for you. (Extra points if your family did all the work.) However, if you're still trying to decide how to celebrate in NYC, we've got lots of great suggestions, plus a roundup of our readers' favorite Mother's Day brunch spots.

In other news, strawberry picking season is in full swing and we've got roundups of family-friendly strawberry picking farms and festivals in Long Island and New Jersey. Another great excuse for a day trip: Outdoor festivals. We've got a list of a few fabulous spring festivals in Connecticut. Meanwhile, our Travel site has a beautiful Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort slide show. If your family still hasn't bought you a Mother's Day gift a vacation there would certainly make a good one.

Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.

No, the kids in the picture aren't caught in a net. They're playing in the new Ernesto Neto exhibit down in Chelsea, one of the cool things we posted about this week. Speaking of Chelsea, we'll be exploring this super-family-friendly area throughout May and we kicked off our coverage with our top 50 things to do with kids in the neighborhood. We also rounded up the best outdoor festivals and street fairs going on throughout the month, and we profiled the Queens County Farm Museum, one of 40 historic NYC sites vying for grants from Partners in Preservation. You can help pick the winners by voting for your favorite spot on our Facebook page.

Outside NYC, our New Jersey site has lists of the best family-friendly biking routes and hiking trails in case you're looking for an active day trip. Our Boston site has suggestions for easy-to-make homemade Mother's Day gifts. And our Travel site has a review of the Malibu Dude Ranch in Milford, Pennsylvania.

Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.

At the risk of sounding like one of those organized moms who always plans ahead (something I'm rarely accused of), I'm happy to share our picks for Mother's Day brunch spots in NYC a full two and a half weeks before the big day. We actually have our readers to thank for the awesome choices, so check it out and see if your favorite restaurant made the cut (and if not, add it in the comments).

We continued our spring culture coverage with a roundup of the best new museum exhibits for families and we wrote about two of our favorite free seasonal events happening this weekend: East Harlem's Street Games and the Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair.

Our sister sites are also buzzing about the best things to do and see this season. New Jersey has a roundup of cool exhibits for kids this spring and Connecticut has a list of amazing outdoor festivals in case you're looking for a fun day trip. Further afield, our Los Angeles site shared a very thoughtful post about things to do during Screen Free Week, and why a total technology tune out isn't necessarily beneficial for our kids. If you're looking for an exotic family vacation destination, we've got an enticing slide show of Avignon, France or the slightly less exotic, but cool Cleveland on our Travel site.

Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.

Figuring out where to eat on Mother's Day always gives me heartburn. Trying to find a place that will please me, my husband, my six-year-old and my own mother (since she lives in NYC, too) is quite a challenge.

So this year, instead of stressing out about where I'll end up on Sunday, May 13, I decided to turn to the experts: my fellow NYC moms. In addition to updating our list of fancy Mother's Day brunch spots in New York City, we asked our always knowledgeable Mommy Poppins readers to recommend their favorite restaurants for the holiday—or any day.

The spring culture season is really heating up in the city. This week, we rounded up 13 awesome kids' concerts, including four taking place this weekend. We're also very excited about the first-ever New York Children's Theater Festival, which kicks off this weekend on the Upper West Side. The outdoor festival season is also in full swing with the Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Cherry Blossom Festival coming up next weekend. (Glad they're not this weekend, since it's supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday.)

Earth Day is the main event on our sister sites. You can celebrate our planet at lots of festivals this weekend on Long Island, in New Jersey and Connecticut—many of the events are inside so you don't have to worry about the weather. Our NJ site also did a really cool post about Geocaching with your kids, a kind of technological treasure hunt. And if you're planning on taking a trip with young children anytime soon, be sure to check out our tips for traveling alone with a baby or small kids.

Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.